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Reward for Mitzvos in This World – Is There Such a Thing?
November 19th, 2024 / 17th of Cheshvan 5785
In Maseches Kiddushin 39b, Rabbi Yaakov states that in this world, there is no such thing as receiving reward for mitzvos [commandments]. It follows that wherever the Torah mentions reward or benefit, the intent is the World to Come. For example, when it states (Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:16): “In order that your days should be many and it be good for you,” the intent is the World to Come. So too, when the Torah commands: do the mitzvah [commandment] of shiluach hakein [sending away the mother bird before taking her young or her eggs] “in order that it be good with you and your days be many” (ibid. 22:7), the intent is that it be good for you in the World that is entirely good, and have length of days in the world that has no end.
However, the Sages make statements that seem to contradict this idea. At the beginning of Maseches Pei’ah, it states: “These are the precepts whose fruits a person enjoys in this world, but whose principal remains intact for him in the World to Come. They are: Honoring one’s father and mother, etc.” In Kiddushin (40b), Rav Iddi explains that this Mishna is based on the verse in Yishayahu (Isaiah 3:10): “Tell the righteous that it is good; for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.” It seems clear that even in this world, one receives the fruits or benefits of at least some of his mitzvos. How can this idea be reconciled with that of Rabbi Yaakov above, that there is no such thing as reward for mitzvos in this world? Here, we see that a Jew does receive some sort of reward for mitzvos here in this world!
Reward in this world - "secondary," "leftovers"
In Devarim (28:11), it states that if we go in Hashem’s ways and observe His commandments, “Hashem will give over to you bountiful goodness, in the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your animals and the fruit of your ground.” Pachad Yitzchak comments on this verse: “The main effort to be made in doing the mitzvos is that the holiness of Hashem devolve upon the doer, as it states, ‘you shall be holy because Your G-d, makes you holy.’ This is the main reward in the next world, where crowns will be upon the heads [of the tzaddikim] and they will bask in the light of the Shechina [Divine Presence / Holy Spirit], etc., and there is no reward for mitzvos in this world. Reward that there is in this world is but of a secondary nature — meaning children, health and livelihood… this is the main reward of this world, and it is called a ‘leftover’ or nossar, because this reward is secondary as compared to the main reward of the next world. Concerning this secondary reward, the Torah states והותירך ה’ לטובה בפרי בטנך, such a thing deserves to be called nossar, as this is leftover.”
Pachad Yitzchak makes clear that the spiritual reward of the next world is what counts, and reward meted out in this material world is like “leftovers.” This derives clearly from the verse, which states that Hashem will “leave over for you for good the fruit of the womb, the fruit of your animals and the fruit of your land…”
Leftovers, but in a class unto themselves
Not only is reward in this world secondary to that of the next world, and described as “leftovers,” a further inference in lashon kodesh [the holy language] reveals that reward in this world cannot even be deemed a subcategory of reward in the next world. So far, we have seen reward in this world as being of a lower grade but still linked to reward of the next world, and even a direct outcrop of it. One of the laws of nedarim will show us our error, and that even if reward in this world for mitzvos may appear to be an outcrop of reward in the next, in halachic terms the two forms of reward are viewed as separate entirely.
In Nedarim (12a), it states that if a man declares that kosher meat is forbidden to him as if it were the meat of a korban, the kosher meat is now forbidden to him, because he made a neder [vow] on an object upon which a neder can indeed take effect. However, if he declares that kosher meat is forbidden to him as if it were the meat of a pig, his neder does not take effect, because the forbidden nature of pig meat is something that exists independent of a man’s proclamation. This, unlike the case of a korban, which becomes forbidden due to a man’s declaration. In the words of the Sages, the distinction is summed up as whether one makes a neder on an object whose prohibition is man-made, like a korban (davar hanadur) or an object that is intrinsically forbidden, like pork (davar ha’assur) — נדר בדבר הנדור ולא בדבר באסור.
Now, what is the halacha [“law”] if one declares that kosher meat is forbidden to him as is the nossar meat of a korban? At first glance, it seems such a neder should take effect, as nossar is the result of meat that was declared a korban (i.e., a davar hanadur), only this meat was not eaten or burned before the designated time, and must now be burned as nossar. In the laws of nedarim, however, nossar meat is considered a davar ha’assur [something inherently prohibited] and not a davar hanadur [something not inherently prohibited]. Why? Isn’t Nossar simply the outcrop of korban meat that did not complete its purpose and must now be gotten rid of? Nevertheless, we see that when meat of a korban becomes nossar, it takes on a new reality, it is in a class unto itself, unrelated to the status of korban that gave rise to it.
With this law of nedarim in mind, let’s now recall that reward for mitzvos in this world is referred to as nossar. Perhaps in some way it is an outcrop of the true reward we will receive in the next world, but at the same time, it is in a class unto itself, with no connection to the reward of the next world.
Reward in this world — like that of a day laborer
So if reward in this world has a status of its own, what is this status? What is its halachic geder [fence]?
In Devarim (23:25), it states concerning a field laborer: “When you come into the vineyard of your fellow, you may eat grapes as is your desire, to your fill, but you may not put into your vessel.” Based on this, we can say that reward for mitzvos in this world is like the fruit a worker is allowed to eat while he is out working on the fields. On the job, he is allowed to take some of the fruit at hand to satisfy his hunger (but not to store and bring back to his family, for example). The fruit he eats is not deducted from his wages. Rather, since these fruits give him the strength to continue working, they are granted to him as a “perk.”
This seems the right geder for reward for mitzvos in this world. Even though there really is no reward for mitzvos in this world, and such reward is truly inaccessible to us and has no place here, still, the fruits one eats in this world are like those fruits a worker may eat while on the job, as they enable him to proceed at his job even better.
So explains the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 9:1), that despite the fact that when the Torah states “in order that it be good for you, etc.,” the intent is in the next world, as per Rabbi Yaakov’s opinion, still, the blessings mentioned in Parshas Ki Savo refer to this world, as the Rambam explains: “We are promised in the Torah that if we fulfill it happily and with goodness of soul, and if we express its wisdom always, that He will remove from us those things that prevent us from doing it, such as sickness, war, hunger and the like, and will bestow upon us all the good things that fortify us to do the Torah, such as satiation, peace and increase of wealth, in order that we not spend all of our lives busy with matters of the body, rather we will be free to gain wisdom and do the mitzvah in order to merit the World to Come.”
Blessing in this world comes as assistance from Hashem, but does not detract from our reward in the next world.
Reward in this world is only for the next world
Going a bit deeper, we can infer that that the fruits we eat in this world have no other purpose besides helping us reach the next world. Why is Hashem interested in this means to this end? Because all of the commands of the Torah are meaningless for a dead man; they can only make a difference if a person is alive, and therefore the Torah states (Vayikra / Leviticus 18:5): “you shall live by them [the mitzvos],” to say: “and not that you shall die by them.” And elsewhere, the Torah states (Devarim 30:19), “and you shall choose life.” Meaning, Hashem’s will is that a man first live, and afterwards, that he keep the Torah.
Herein lies an explanation for reward for mitzvos in this world: Hashem gives a man reward in order that he be able to live, and why does Hashem want us to live? Because while we are alive, we can keep the Torah and mitzvos, and through this earn the reward of the next world.
This too is rooted in the words of the Rambam (ibid.): “…if you served Hashem with joy and guarded His way, He will bestow upon you these blessings, and keep the curses far away from you, so that you be free to grow in wisdom of the Torah and engage in it in order that you merit the World to Come, and it will be well with you in the world that is entirely good and your days will be lengthened in the world that is entirely long, and you will merit the two worlds, to live the good life in this world that brings to the life of the World to come, because if a man does not acquire wisdom and good deeds here, he’ll have no merits to his name, because there is no deed or calculation or opinion or wisdom in Gehinom [“Hell”].”
Meaning, eating the fruits of this world is not in order that a person live in this world, but rather to enable him to merit the next world. Eating the fruits of this world allows us to exist here and fulfill mitzvos, and through this to merit life in the next world.
This is a great chiddush [revelation] — whatever fruits of this world we can enjoy are here only for one who is a “day laborer,” the Jew keeping Torah and mitzvos. One who is chas veshalom [may it never be] not keeping mitzvos, he is not this day laborer, and the fruits he enjoys are in fact reward in this world, as it states (Devarim 7:10) that Hashem “And He repays His enemies in his lifetime to make him perish; He shall not delay for His enemy — in his lifetime He shall repay him.” For these resha’im [wicked people], this reward is not nossar, it’s all they’re going to get this is the only reward they will receive. What could have been theirs in the next world is now received here, in order to “pay them off” and leave them with nothing to expect in the World to Come.
The respective rewards of Yaakov and Esav
With this in mind, we can understand the Midrash’s explanation of the exchange between Yitzchak Avinu and Esav:
Yitzchak answered and said to Esav: Behold, a lord I have made him over you, and all his kin have I given him as servants, with grain and wine I have supported him, and for you, where — what can I do, my son?”
Midrash Seichel Tov explains that Yitzchak said: What can I do, my son? This cannot be undone; even when Yisrael is in exile, these blessings are fulfilled for them. The nations plow, plant and harvest, or they plant gardens and orchards, and Yisrael eats and drinks and grows great in Torah.”
The scene being described is Esav’s request for material blessings from his father. Esav tried to claim that Yaakov is a Ben Olam Haba [a Son of the World to Come]; he has nothing to do with the blessings of this world, so give those to me!
Yitzchak countered that Yaakov needs material blessing in order to operate in this world as a day laborer and grow great in Torah. In order to exist in the next world, one must first exist in this world. Therefore, Yaakov needed material blessing.
Esav then countered: “Have you but one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!”
The Malbim explains that Esav asked: If so, bless me too, father, that I shall find wealth and position of my own for the good of this world, and not in order to merit the next world together with Yaakov.” Just bless me with the good of this world to be enjoyed here and only here, with no connection to the next world.
Meaning, there are two ways to enjoy the fruits of this world. One is the way of a tzaddik [righteous person], who enjoys them not as reward for mitzvos but as leftovers, unrelated to his real reward, and not deducted from them, since as a laborer he is taking them only to help him work harder and achieve more reward for the next world. The other way is that of the rasha [a wicked person], who eats his main reward of the next world right here in this world. Since he does not serve Hashem, he does not have the status of the day laborer, and therefore has no right to eat in order to sustain himself to achieve still more reward. This enjoyment of fruits is in order for him to lose his place in the next world.
Excerpted with permission from Imrei Mordechai, Vol. 2, A Collection of Inspirational Insights from the “Mussar Shmoozes” of HaGaon Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein Ztzvk”l, The Imrei Mordechai Institute, Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Kislev 5779.
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