Count the Cost: Weighing the Loss of a Mitzvah Against its Reward

"Be careful with a minor mitzvah as with a major one, for you do not know the reward given for the mitzvot. Calculate the loss of a mitzvah against its reward, and the reward of a transgression against its loss."

Here the Tanna [Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi] tells us: Be careful not to miss any mitzvah, not even one that seems "minor" in your eyes, because you don't know what reward is given for mitzvot, and perhaps that "minor" mitzvah will earn you a greater reward than another mitzvah that seems more significant to you.

The Tanna continues and says: "Calculate the loss of a mitzvah against its reward" - when you're about to perform a mitzvah, sometimes it may seem like you're losing something. You might lose time, money, possibly face social discomfort or other difficulties. But calculate and offset all these "losses" against the great reward awaiting you for it! Conversely, also calculate "the reward of a transgression against its loss" - when you're about to commit a transgression, it may seem beneficial: perhaps you'll gain money, become more popular, or experience great pleasure. But please, calculate and offset these gains against the punishment and terrible loss in the World to Come! If you just pause before acting to make this calculation, you'll surely succeed in choosing the most correct and profitable actions!

The Reward of a Mitzvah

There was a story about a Hungarian Jew whose entire family was coldly murdered by the Nazis, may their names be erased, and he ended up in Auschwitz. There in the same barracks was a righteous Torah scholar who knew all the prayers by heart and could calculate the Hebrew date. When the month of Nisan arrived, this righteous Jew said to him: "It's already Nisan, Passover is coming soon. We have plenty of bitter herbs here... but what about matzah?"

At that time, the Allies bombed a grain warehouse in the area. Some tormented Jews decided to seize the opportunity and try to take wheat from there to bake matzah. That Holocaust survivor related that he volunteered to take the risk and go there. He managed to leave the camp without being caught, reach the wheat warehouse, take wheat, grind it with stones, and somehow bake a few individual matzot.

He tried to sneak back into the camp with the matzot and succeeded, but upon entering the barracks, he was caught by a Gestapo officer who sensed he was hiding something on his person. The officer took the matzot from him and beat him mercilessly until he fainted. When he awoke, in agony, he searched for the matzot and managed to find only a few pieces that together constituted a "k'zayit" [about 30 grams, the minimum amount required for fulfilling the mitzvah of eating matzah].

He told his friend everything that had happened to him, and his friend asked and begged him to allow him to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah: "Give me the matzah and I'll recite the entire Haggadah for you"... He pleaded extensively, and finally the owner of the matzah agreed to give it to him, but on one condition: that the reward for the mitzvah would go to the giver, not the eater! And so it was. Shortly after Passover, the righteous Jew was killed sanctifying Hashem's name.

The Jew who gave up the matzah for his friend ultimately survived and immigrated to Israel. Several years later [in 1978], his righteous friend appeared to him in a dream, pleading and crying: "You gave me the matzah in Auschwitz but kept the reward for the mitzvah for yourself... please, give me the reward for the mitzvah too."

That Jew woke up disturbed and went to the Makhnivka Rebbe. He told him the whole story and asked him tearfully: "Must I give up the reward for the mitzvah too?" The Rebbe answered: "From the perspective of fairness, it would be proper for you to give up the reward for the mitzvah too." "Why?" asked the Jew. The Rabbi replied that he had been privileged to live and fulfill many more mitzvot, but his friend who died prematurely couldn't do this... The Rebbe gave the Jew two keys and said: "I'm giving you two keys: one to my study hall and the second to the Holy Ark. Go there, open the Ark, close the curtain behind you, and there, before the holy Torah scrolls, tell your whole story, don't spare any words... After that, say that you're giving up the reward for the mitzvah of eating matzah to that Jew. Then come back to me."

The Jew did as the Rebbe instructed and told his story at the Holy Ark, for a long time and with many tears, and finally said several times that he was relinquishing the reward. When he finished, he felt extremely weak. He gave the keys to the attendant and said he couldn't go up to the Rebbe now because he was completely exhausted. He went home and fell asleep. The deceased appeared to him again in a dream, radiating with happiness to thank him. When he woke up, he went to the Rebbe and told him about the second dream.

The Rebbe said to him: "Look, that Jew who was righteous and a Torah scholar, who merited dying sanctifying Hashem's name through suffering in the Holocaust, who surely fulfilled numerous mitzvot during his lifetime, still came to you begging you to give up the reward for just one mitzvah... Do you have any idea what a mitzvah is worth?!"