Avrohom Avinu was informed that his nephew,
Lot, was captured. Against all odds and in a most courageous manner, Avrohom
waged war against the combined armies of the four kings. Miraculously, he
was victorious and freed Lot.
After these events, HASHEM appeared to
Avrohom and said, “Do not fear; your reward is great.” Rashi explains that
Avrohom was afraid that since this great miracle had been done for him, he
had used up all of his merits and had no reward waiting for him in the World
to Come. HASHEM allayed those fears by saying, “Everything that I have done
for you will not cost you. Do not fear; your reward is great.”
The question is: how is it possible that a
man as great Avrohom could possibly think that he had used up all of his
reward? After years and years of serving HASHEM, surely the reward waiting
for him was phenomenal.
The answer to this is based on viewing life
from a different vantage point.
Pesach in Arizona
Imagine that your father-in-law invites you to
join him for Pesach in Sedona, Arizona. This is the ultimate Pesach
extravaganza. No expense is spared; the guests are showered with every
imaginable luxury and amenity. A five-star hotel, French chefs, an 18-hole
golf course on premises – the best of the best. You graciously accept and
are ready to have the time of your life. But as it turns out, by the time
Pesach comes around, things at work aren’t going well, and lately you’ve
been fighting with your wife, as a result, you’re in the worst mood you’ve
ever been in. For the nine days that you are there, you barely leave your
hotel room.
When the vacation is over, your father-in-law
approaches the hotel manager, and says, “My son-in-law hardly ate the entire
time he was here. He didn’t come to a single gala Kiddush. He didn’t use the
golf course. Not once did he step foot in the spa. Normally, I am not the
type to complain. But I just can’t see paying the regular rate, so I’ve
decided to pay half the bill, and expect you to waive the other half.”
How do you think the hotel representative
would respond?
Earth: A Five Star Hotel
This planet that we occupy is a five-star
hotel. We have every imaginable pleasure and amenity available to us. We
enjoy majestic sights and experiences that constantly surround us. From
magnificent floral scenes to exotic sea life, from the glory of the night
sky to the clear aqua green of the ocean, from a flower in bloom to the
plumage of a jungle parrot, all of the pomp and ceremony of a sunrise – a
world created in Technicolor.
And more than that, we were given the tools
with which to enjoy it. We have legs with which to walk and hands with which
to hold. We have ears, a tongue, a nose, and fingers that bring us an
astounding array of pleasures from the world around us. We have foods that
explode with a burst of different flavors, aromas, textures, and colors. We
are surrounded by untold pleasures and riches.
But more than anything, we have been granted
the extraordinary privilege called life. We were given this golden
opportunity to shape ourselves into what we can be for eternity. Is there
any way to measure the value of life? Is it worth a million dollars? Ten
million? A hundred billion? Is it even possible to put a value on our
existence?
Whether we recognize it for its extraordinary
value or not, we are the recipients of an unfathomable amount of good. And
as such, we owe. From the moment that we are born, the clock starts ticking
and the debt begins. For every breath that we breathe, for every pleasure we
enjoy, for every moment of our being, the bill increases. We owe our Creator
for that which He has given us.
No Free Lunch
Somehow, we assume that all of the pleasures
of this world are free – on the house. I certainly won’t be charged
for them. However, the Chovos Ha’Levovos explains that in reality, we
do owe for them. They were given to us by HASHEM, and as a result we owe for
them.
For this reason, Avrohom was afraid. He made
a calculation based on what he received from HASHEM versus what he had given
in return, and he came out only slightly ahead. “Now that HASHEM has brought
this great miracle for me,” he thought, “what possible reward do I have
left? Surely it has been all used up, and there is nothing left for me in
the World to Come.”
Avrohom Avinu wasn’t out of touch with
reality. Quite the opposite, he was highly attuned to a part of the
calculation that we rarely think about.
Yet HASHEM answered him, “Do not fear
Avrohom; your reward is great.”
HASHEM’s Answer: The Boss’ Expense Account
Essentially, HASHEM was saying, “Every
pleasure that you took from this world was to better serve Me. Every moment
of your life was used to do My bidding. How can I possibly charge you for
your use of this world? You were working for Me! It is all on the
Boss’ expense account. Avrohom, you have nothing to worry about.
Your reward is complete, untouched, and waiting for you.”
Because we live in a materialistic world,
this concept has great relevance to us.
If we take pleasures in this world because
they help us better serve HASHEM, then they are free. They help us do our
job, and therefore the Boss doesn’t charge us for them. But the moment we
focus on pleasure for pleasure’s sake, then they come at a cost, and the
cost is that they come off our reward in the World to Come.
While we hope that we have followed the
Torah’s system – using this world as is expected from us so the pleasures
that we take from it do not come off of our reward in the World to Come –
the reality is that we owe a huge debt to HASHEM for creating us and giving
us life.
This perspective should be a major driving
force in our serving HASHEM – prompting us to on some level pay back the
astounding good that HASHEM constantly bestows upon us.
For more
on this topic please listen to Shmuz
#17 Acquiring Olam Habbah the Easy Way
