RABBI DONIEL FRANK | Director, M.A.P. Seminars, Inc., Marriage and Family Therapist

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If we go in Hashem’s statutes and observe His commandments, the Torah promises us incredible rewards. Rashi says that “going in Hashem’s statutes†means to toil and labor in Torah.

What exactly does that it mean to labor in Torah?

And why does laboring in Torah specifically lead to the rewards in our Parsha?

The Gemara says that the section of our parsha that describes the rewards begins with an aleph (the first letter of “im be’chukosaiâ€) and ends with a taf (the last letter of “komimiyusâ€).

What’s the significance of that?

We’ve often discussed the need to be passionate in life, and that one of the litmus tests to see if we’re really passionate about something is whether or not we get blocked, or slowed down, by obstacles. That’s because if we’re really passionate about something, we don’t let things get in our way. Passionate people are not ambivalent. They are fully committed to their passions and, as a result, they don’t spare any effort or personal resources when they pursue them.

By focusing on toiling, our Parsha is not simply describing the basic mechanics of reward and punishment, the simple interplay between doing good things and then getting good things in return. Instead, it’s describing the expression of a relationship between a People that’s passionate about their GD, and a GD that’s passionate about them.

When we toil in Torah, we leave nothing behind in pursuing our knowledge of Hashem and doing His Will. They say that Rav Yisroel Salantar would labor in learning until he had no strength left… and that’s when he’s literally fall asleep. His last step was into his bed. He put everything out. That’s passion. And when we do that, Hashem, in return, does the same, by emptying out His storehouse of blessings, from the first letter of the alphabet until the end. He holds nothing back either. That’s the measure for measure.

The book of Iyuv says that man was created to labor. The gemara has a discussion about that and there is a lot to say about that discussion. But the central message is clear: Toiling is not a bonus. It’s not extra credit. It’s how we were designed to live.

But what we choose to toil in is up to us. That’s where our free choice kicks in.

Our parsha gives us an opportunity to revisit the whole topic of passion, and to evaluate our own behavior and see whether our passions are the ones that we were designed to have. Our introspection should lead us to ask: Towards what pursuits do we mimic Rav Yisroel Salantar? When are the activities in our lives towards which we give it our all?  And if we, in our brutally honest search, find that they are areas of interest that, in the big picture, aren’t really so meaningful, then it might be time to raise our standards and begin redirecting all that energy to the things that matter  most.

Hashem wants a relationship where we give Him our all because He wants to be in a relationship where He can give us back His all! That’s what man was created to do!   

DEDICATED TO A REFUAH SHELAIMA FOR YITZCHAK ben DEVORAH

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