This week, I sat down to dinner with some friends in Montreal. The head of the household began to tell a story of the dedication of a new Torah in the community. It was a small Torah, the sofer’s first, and so was very special. At the celebration, the rabbi said something interesting to the man who was dedicating the Torah.
“I want to know what mitzvah [good deed] you’ve done,” the rabbi said. “I know this is a great mitzvah to be dedicating this Torah, but I want to know in the merit of what mitzvah you were allowed to do this mitzvah. What great mitzvot have you been doing in your home, out of the sight of others, with no accolades, that has given you the merit to be able to dedicate this Torah?”
In Judaism, we have a concept that the reward for doing a good deed is that you get to do another good deed. This is contrary to most religions, where the reward for doing a good deed is to get wonderful things here on earth, or “brownie points” up in Heaven. Judaism isn’t a religion that’s about “what can I get?” or “what is going to happen in the next world?” – it’s about what’s happening in the here and now that’s important. And what could be more important than doing the right things? So naturally the reward for doing one mitzvah is that G-d lets you do another one! Of course, you can get other material and spiritual rewards, but the true reward is getting to do that extra good deed.
I wrote already about the mitzvah of shooing the mother bird away from her nest before you take her eggs. As I said, this particular mitzvah always struck me as really strange. Even with an understanding of it, it’s still easy to say, “Okay, that’s a very interesting mitzvah, but it’s not really all that important, in the grand scheme of things.” Still, we must avoid thoughts like this because every mitzvah is important to G-d. Birds are G-d’s creatures, too, and who are we to say that showing them compassion is only a minor mitzvah?
If we want to take these ducklings, we must first drive away the mother. It seems such a small mitzvah, yet it brings such a big reward, including the reward of doing another mitzvah! We can never underestimate the power of even a small good deed, such as showing compassion for animals.
One of the ways we can see just how important this mitzvah is, is to look at the reward we get for it. The passage in the Torah immediately following the one about the bird states that “If you build a new house, you shall make a fence for your roof…” How is this a reward? How is it even connected?
Rashi, one of the greatest commentators on the Torah to ever live, explains that “If you fulfilled the commandment of sending away [the mother bird from] the nest, your end [will be] to build a new house.” We can understand this because it says “If you build a new house,” which is something it really doesn’t need to say. It could simply say “You shall make a fence for your roof,” since this commandment applies to all houses, even if you’re buying or inheriting it. But as a reward for doing the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird, G-d will give you the gift of building a new house, as a vehicle for you to do the mitzvah of building a fence around the roof, which you may not be able to do on a purchased or inherited house, as the previous owner may have beaten you to it! The real key, according to Rashi, is that “a commandment drags another commandment [after it]“… in other words, if you do one mitzvah, you get the benefit of doing another one.
As we each try to do more good deeds, we should remember this and look upon it with joy. No good deed is too small or too insignificant! They are all precious to G-d… sometimes much more than we realize.
Shabbat Shalom!
