The Ultimate Rewards Plan

If you could have an affair without any consequences, would you do it? Even if your wife found out, she would never bring it up, love you any less for it, or make you pay. You can have the wildest time and continue with your life as if it never happened. Would you do it?

If you could, yet still chose not to, that would be the ultimate show of love for her.

What if I told you that you can spend your entire life living outside the Land of Israel, make good money, enjoy status, respect, and fame, and never be held accountable for spurning the mitzvah of living in Israel, would you go for it?

If you still choose Israel, knowing that it wouldn’t matter either way, it shows how much you love the Jewish Nation.

What about G-d?

If you could live a life of sin without punishment, would you? If you could wake up in the afternoon, eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, watch television all day, then scarf down a burger and milkshake before hopping off to work to tend bar at the local night club – yet still be guaranteed a place in the Next World . . . would you still get up at 6AM to pray the earliest morning minyan?

What if you saw that the people who were loved the most in this world were the ones who cheat on their wives, buy huge homes in Brentwood, and flat out ignore the Torah, would you still pursue a lifestyle that goes against everything that seems to be working in this world? Is this the ultimate test of the physical world?

On the surface, Harvey Weinstein had a lot of fun for decades, getting what he wanted from the most physically attractive and gorgeous women on earth. He was rich, powerful, and famous. How many people are out there just like him who got away with it and are still pawning their power for pleasure? How many celebrities do we see, every day, that spurn everything sacred, and appear to get away with it scot-free? They have been A-listers for years and there is no stopping them.  

Hashem wants our ultimate love. He wants to know that even in a reality where we can choose the most tantalizing desires and feel no consequences, we still choose Him.

If there were ever a reason for the bad to be rewarded, this is it! What is reward anyway? A billion dollars sounds like a nice reward, but would it feel that way to Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Ellison? Influence and fame would be a nice reward, but would it feel that way to Jared Kushner or Michael Bloomberg?

Half the reward is to gain something others don’t have. A $500,000 salary is valued most once you understand that it makes you a one-percenter. A new home is cherished once you realize that it is the biggest on the block.

Through this lens, there is no reward to serving Hashem in this generation. We get no distinction for performing the mitzvot. That’s the real reward in this world!

We can fulfill the verse in Ethics of the Fathers, “Do not be like workers who serve your master for the sake of a reward, be like workers who serve your master not for the sake of receiving a reward.” (Pirkei Avot 1:3)

We can serve Hashem out of pure love for Him. A pure desire to get close to Him. That’s the whole ballgame.

* * *

David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.