One Mitzvah Leads to Another
In this week’s Torah reading, we have the mitzvah (commandment) of Shiluach Haken, sending away the mother bird before taking her eggs or chicks, which is juxtaposed to the mitzvah of Ma’akeh, making a railing around a rooftop.
Rashi says the reason for this is that if you do the mitzvah of Shiluach Haken, you will build a new house and have the mitzvah of making a railing, because one mitzvah brings along another. This concept is mentioned in Pirkei Avot (4:2). The Mishnah says that one should run to do a mitzvah, because one mitzvah leads to another, and one should run away from sin, because one sin leads to another.
On the Right Track
Rabbeinu Yonah explains the reason for this phenomenon and says that when a person does a mitzvah, he gets himself into the mode of serving God, and this makes him inclined to serve God even more. Once a person sets himself on a good track, it becomes much easier to follow it. On the other hand, when one sins, he puts himself on a bad track. Once a person is in the mode of giving in to his personal lusts, he will find himself being inclined to do so with little opposition.
Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (Da’at Torah, Parshat Kedoshim) says that this is why the Mishnah is advising to run to a mitzvah and run away from a sin. It’s not just a matter of the mitzvah or sin itself; it’s about the track that a person sets himself on. The mere decision to do the external act of running to a mitzvah, on its own merit, is already setting a person in the right mode. So too, the mere act of running away to avoid a sin is putting himself on a track which will naturally lead him in the right direction.
The Maharal (on this Mishnah in Derech Chaim) adds that there is also a spiritual component involved. All the mitzvot have a spiritual connection by being part of one Torah. Because of this connection, when a person does one mitzvah, there is a spiritual compulsion which leads a person to perform more mitzvot of the Torah. Therefore, the Mishnah is advising a person, that if it is difficult for him to do mitzvot, he should run to just start with one mitzvah, because by doing one mitzvah, he will become driven to do more. Similarly, the Vilna Gaon says that when one sins, a spirit rests upon him which craves more sins, and when one does a mitzvah, a spirit rest upon him which craves more mitzvot.
A Small Step to Eternity
There was once a rabbi who wanted to extend his apartment by building a porch to build a sukkah on it. In order to do so, he needed to get permission from all his neighbors. All his neighbors agreed, except for one. After a while, the neighbor’s wife finally convinced him to do this mitzvah and give permission to build the porch for the Sukkah.
The rabbi, upon hearing the good news, decided to implement the idea of “one mitzvah leads to another.” His neighbor was not observant, and the rabbi seized the moment and suggested that he start doing the mitzvah of laying tefillin every day. The neighbor agreed, and requested that the rabbi assist him, since he never did it before. The following day the rabbi arrived to help him lay tefillin, and the rabbi also showed him the Shema prayer for him to say, which was another mitzvah.
The next day, the rabbi waited for the phone call from his neighbor to come and help him with the tefillin again, as they made up he would do, but the call never came. The rabbi went to see what the story was with his neighbor, and the neighbor’s wife told him that after he left the previous day, her husband said the Shema prayer with great emotion and tears for a long time. As soon as he concluded the prayer, he suddenly passed away.
Small Steps = Big Leap
This concept can have tremendous implications in our lives. Often, the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) tempts us with minor infractions, and we fall for them, thinking, “it’s no big deal.” But the Yetzer Hara is very clever. The Yetzer Hara knows that one small infraction can lead to a lot worse. On the other hand, we can be in a situation where we find it difficult to do the mitzvot we know we should do. If we think about all our obligations, we might feel overwhelmed. But if we decide to just focus on one easy mitzvah and take one small step in the right direction, we can end up accomplishing far more than we imagined. Because each mitzvah that we do will lead to another.
Parshat Shoftim by Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber torah4every1@gmail.com
