Shabbos Foretaste Of Reward

במדרש שכרו בעקב כו'

In the Midrash: "His reward is in the heel (eikev)..."

The Midrash opens by reading the parsha's name "Eikev" as "heel," hinting that reward is held back, hidden at the very end like the heel of the foot.

כבר כ' במ"א כי מכל מעשה מצות ומעש"ט הקב"ה זורע צדקות ב"א ומצמיח ישועות כמ"ש מאמונתו של ב"ו א"י אמונתו של הקב"ה

I have already written elsewhere that from every performance of a mitzvah and from every good deed, the Holy One, Blessed is He, sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout, as it says, "From the faithfulness of a mortal man you can come to recognize the faithfulness of the Holy One, Blessed is He."

The Sfas Emes recalls a principle he taught elsewhere: every mitzvah and good deed becomes a seed that Hashem plants, from which He grows tzedakah and yeshuah, just as we recognize Hashem's faithfulness through the faithfulness we see in a trustworthy person.

לכן מקפיד המלך על מהירת חזרת הפקדון ממנו כי בעוד שמתעכב אצלו הוא משומר ועושה פירות

Therefore the King is particular about the swift return of the deposit from a person, for as long as it remains deposited with Him it is guarded and bears fruit.

He compares the situation to a deposit entrusted to a king: Hashem is in no rush to pay out the reward immediately, because while the merit stays with Him it is kept safe and keeps producing more.

ואין פריעת שכר בעוה"ז כי עוה"ב אין בו מציאות בעוה"ז

And there is no payment of reward in this world, for Olam Haba has no existence within this world.

The reason reward is not paid out now is that the true reward belongs to Olam Haba, and Olam Haba simply cannot manifest within the framework of this world.

זולת במצות שבת יוכל להיות קצת שכר בעוה"ז

Only through the mitzvah of Shabbos can there be a small measure of reward already in this world.

The one exception is Shabbos, through which a person can taste a portion of his reward even here in this world.

כי הוא מעין עוה"ב ע"י שמצות שבת הוא שביתות המעשה ולכן יש בו נשמה יתירה

For Shabbos is a foretaste of Olam Haba, since the mitzvah of Shabbos consists of resting from one's actions, and therefore it contains a neshamah yeseirah (an additional soul).

This is because Shabbos itself is a sample of Olam Haba; by ceasing from melachah a person mirrors the rest of the World to Come, and so he is granted a neshamah yeseirah.

וז"ש אתה מענג נפשך ואני נותן לך שכר ע"ש במד':

And this is the meaning of "You delight your soul, and I give you reward" — see there in the Midrash.

This explains the Midrash's words that Hashem says: "You delight your soul on Shabbos, and in turn I give you your reward" — the delight of Shabbos is itself a down payment of Olam Haba.

Summary: The Sfas Emes addresses why the Torah hints, through the word "eikev," that reward for mitzvos is deferred. He explains that every mitzvah and good deed is like a seed that Hashem plants, or a deposit entrusted to the King, which He deliberately holds back so that it remains guarded and keeps bearing fruit. The full reward belongs to Olam Haba, which has no place within the reality of this world, and so it cannot be paid out here. The one exception is Shabbos, which is a foretaste of Olam Haba: by resting from one's actions a person receives a neshamah yeseirah and tastes a measure of reward even in this world. This is the meaning of the Midrash, "You delight your soul, and I give you reward."