The Weight of Our Deeds

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Chazal tell us the Yevanim made the Jewish People write on the horn of an ox "אין לנו חלק באלוקי ישראל - We have no share in the G-d of Israel." The Sefat Emet asked, this phrase is seemingly self- contradictory. On the one hand they were told to write that they have no share, but they were also saying that Hashem is the G-d of Israel. The Sefat Emet explained, the Yevanim admitted that indeed Hashem was the G-d of Israel, but they wanted to destroy the emunah of the Jewish People that their actions matter. They wanted the Jews to think that their actions don't make any impressions in Heaven. And that's why one of the mitzvot which they tried to abolish was Rosh Chodesh, because that's a mitzvah which shows how we determine the calendar. They wanted us to think our actions are meaningless. But we know our deeds carry so much weight in Shamayim , and whatever we do is so precious to Hashem. The sefer Vaveh Amudim told a story which took place 35 years ago on one of the nights of Chanukah. In the beit midrash of the Admor , the Bet Yisrael , all of his chassidim wanted to be close to watch as the Rebbe lit the Menorah . They had a system where whoever was close up one night had to go to the back the next night in order to give everybody a chance to be close. A young man there decided to defy the rules and went up close even though he was already close on the previous night. The gabai politely told him to go back, but he defiantly refused. He told the gabai , according to the rules he also should move back, why should he get to be close every night? After the gabai repeatedly tried to get this boy to move, the boy kept becoming more and more brazen. It got to a point where the gabai took his hand and smacked the boy across the face. Everyone there watched in shock, and the boy ran out of the bet midrash humiliated. Thirty seconds later, the Beit Yisrael came in to light. After the lighting, the gabai regretted his actions and sent a messenger to go find the boy to ask his forgiveness, but the boy refused saying he would never forgive him for what he did. On Thursday of parshat Miketz , the Bet Yisrae l asked for this boy to come to his office. He was told about what happened and wanted to bring about peace. He told the boy to go read the Zohar of that day's Chok L'Yisrael, and that would help him figure out what to do. The boy went to the beit midrash and opened the Zohar . There was a story of Rabbi Abba who was sitting by the entry to the city of Lod, and he watched as a man went to lie down under a protrusion of rock which came out of a large mountain. Soon afterward, a snake was making its way toward that man to bite him when, all of a sudden, a heavy branch came off a tree and killed the snake. The man woke up and saw the snake and left the place where he had been lying down. A few seconds later that protrusion became dislodged and came crashing down right in the spot that man had just been lying in. When Rabbi Abba witnessed this man having two miracles performed for him, he went over to him to ask him about his deeds which warranted this type of special treatment. The man replied, "If anyone does something bad to me, I immediately forgive him, and if I'm not able to, I will not go to sleep that night until I forgive him. And when I forgive, I totally put out of my mind the evil that the person did to me. Furthermore, I make sure to go out of my way to do something nice for him." Rabbi Abba later said about this man that in this aspect he was even greater than Yosef HaTzaddik, because Yosef was able to forgive what his brothers did to him but, after all, they were his brothers. This man was able to forgive complete strangers. When the boy finished reading this Zohar , he understood what he needed to do. He went to the gabai's house and told him that he wholeheartedly forgives him. That same night, the boy was learning in his bed, and he brought the shamash candle close to use its light. Eventually, he dozed off but the candle fell on his bed and a fire started. Baruch Hashem , the boy woke up in time and managed to get out. His tzitzit was completely burnt, but the fire didn't touch him. That is when he realized he also had a miracle done for him to save his life because of his great deed of forgiving. Our deeds matter very much. Everything we do to serve Hashem is so precious to Him.