Ki Tetze תרל”ח
תרל”ח
במדרש אורח חיים פן ת’ נעו מעגלותי’ ל”ת כו’. ע”פ מ”ש במ”א פי’ המד’ לוית חן הם שהמצות מביאין האדם לידע מציאת חן בעיני המקום ב”ה שזה תכלית עבודת האדם בעולם למצוא נקודה אמיתית שע”ז נברא. וזו הנק’ מוצאת חן בעיניו ית’ והוא בחי’ השבת שיש להבורא ית’ נ”ר. כמ”ש וירא כו’ כל אשר עשה והנה טוב כו’. וע”י המצות יכולין לקשר ימי המעשה להשבת. והוא באמת שורש התורה שנק’ עץ חיים למחזיקים שהחזקה בתורה היא ע”י המצות שהם ענפי אילן הזה. והנה לבד שיש בודאי בכל מצוה ענין פרטי ושכר מיוחד שע”ז הוא המשל משינוי האילנות פרח לבן שכרו דינר זהב כו’. אכן עיקר רצונו ית’ לזכות לדביקות התורה ע”י המצות. ודבר זה עולה על כל הפרטים. ומצד זה אין הפרש בין מצוה חמורה לקלה. ול”ק על משל המדרש מה בכך שיעבדו כולם אילנות הטובים. ואין זה קושיא כי הפרדס צריך להיות נמצא בו כל השלימות וכמו כן אם כי בפרט מצוה זו חמורה אך מצד הבאה אל השלימות והוא התדבקות באורח חיים זה עולה על כולנה. וזה צריך להיות תכלית הכוונה בקיום המצות. וז”ש אורח ח’ פן תפלס פי’ שלא לשכוח בכוונה העיקרית לכן אין להשגיח בחמורה וקלה כנ”ל:
The Midrash explains that the reward given for mitzvot is not revealed in the Torah. This is because if one knew the reward of mitzvot one would only focus on the greatest rewarded mitzvot and forsake the rest, yet HaShem wants us to perform all the mitzvot. This can be compared to a parable of a king who wanted his garden planted with all different trees, yet he did not tell his servants how much he is paying for each tree. Once it was all planted he went through each tree and paid an appropriate amount. The servants queried this and asked why they were not told beforehand how much each tree was worth, and then focused on these? To which the king responded that if he did, he would only have gotten that tree and would not have a garden.
Therefore HaShem revealed the reward for only 2 mitzvot, the hardest and the easiest. The hardest being honoring one’s parents, and the easiest being chasing away the mother bird. The reward given for both is a long life!
As explained above (see תרל”ו 2) that the mitzvot are what enable us to find favor in Hashem’s eyes and connect to the true point of HaShem in everything, which is the ultimate goal of one’s service in this world. This point of HaShem is the idea of Shabbos, which causes HaShem pleasure, as it states “And HaShem saw everything that He created and it was very good”. It is through the mitzvot that we are able to connect the days of the week to Shabbos.
This is indeed the source of the Torah, as it states: It (The Torah) is a tree of life for those that hold onto it”. This means that the root of the Torah – the Tree of life, is upheld though performing the mitzvot which are branches of the tree.
Now aside from the idea that there is clearly a different reward for each one of the mitzvot, which is the parable in the Midrash above, nevertheless the primary will of HaShem is the one merits to connect to the Torah through the mitzvot! This is something that supersedes all the details. From this perspective of connecting to the source of the Torah there is no difference between and easy mitzvah and a difficult mitzvah. (Just as the Midrash states, they both merit a long life, meaning that they both can bring a person to connect to the source of the Torah).
The Midrash explains how the garden needs to be planted with all different plants, which means that each mitzvah has a different reward because HaShem wants the entire range. Yet each one no matter whether it is easy or difficult can bring a person to the root of the Torah, and the ultimate goal. This is the idea of the pasuk in Mishlei אֹ֣רַח חַ֭יִּים פֶּן־תְּפַלֵּ֑ס נָע֥וּ מַ֝עְגְּלֹתֶ֗יהָ לֹ֣א תֵדָֽע׃ She does not chart a path of life; Her course meanders for lack of knowledge. Meaning that so that everything does not come out the same, “the path of life is not chartered”, the reward of the mitzvot are not revealed.
בפסוק לא תראה כו’ והתעלמת כו’ השב תשיבם כו’ הקם תקים. יש לפרש כשאדם מרגיל עצמו כך שלא יוכל להתעלם מהפסד של חבירו. הן בגשמיות הן בתיקון הנפש. אז בכחו להשיב אליו אבידתו ולהקימו. ומכ”ש באדם עצמו שענין זה נוהג כשא”י לסבול את הפחיתות שבו אז הוא נושע:
The pasuk (Devarim 22:4) If you see your fellow ass or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it; you must raise it together.”.
This can be explained as follows: when a person trains oneself to not being able to hide himself from the loss of his friend. Whether it be in physical matters or in spiritual matters, then this generates an energy inside of the person that he can help him with his lost article or help with his heavy load.
This certainly also applies to a person in his own endeavors. When one can’t stand his own shortcomings, then he surely will be saved.
מוצא שפתיך תשמור אז ועשית כאשר נדרת כו’. כמ”ש במ”א כי קבלת האדם עושה רושם. וכפי שמירת הפה כך דבריו עושין רושם. וחז”ל דרשו ועשית אזהרה לב”ד שיעשוך. וכן המשפט ע”י שמקבל האדם עליו באמת דרך הטוב אף כי א”י לגבור במעשה נגד היצה”ר אז משמים כופין אותו. ואמת גם זה בכלל הבחירה מי שבוחר לצאת מן הבחירה ושיכפוהו משמים כופין אותו לטוב:
You shall guard what comes out of your mouth, and you shall do as you vowed to do (Devarim 23:24). This idea is that when a person accepts upon himself to do something, this in itself has an effect. Therefore as much as one is able to guard one’s mouth, in proportion to that, the words that come out of it, will have an effect.
Our sages explain that this pasuk is also teaching us that Beis Din are commanded ot force someone to do certain things. This too has an application for a person, that when one accepts upon himself the correct path to follow, even though one may not be able to overcome his evil inclination, nevertheless he will be forced from Heaven to overcome it. The truth is that this is also considered free will (even though he is being forced from Heaven to go against his evil inclination, however) since he has chosen in his desire to go change his ways and he does not want the free choice of struggling against the evil inclination, he is therefore rewarded that he is forced to do good.
