“Speak to all who are wise in heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, and have them make Aharon’s garments, to sanctify him to serve Me [as kohein].” (Shemos 28:3)

There are two aspects to doing mitzvos – the actual performance of the mitzvah, and the preparations. From a halachic perspective, the preparations are sometimes referred to as the hechsher mitzvah, which can have many details to them. In some cases, it may even be considered a mitzvah unto itself, e.g. building a sukkah. The Shulchan Aruch actually rules that one makes a brocho on the sukkah construction, even though it is only made so that we can facilitate the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah on the holiday of Sukkos (l’maase, we don’t make this separate brocho today).  But aside from the physical preparations, there is also preparing oneself mentally in order to execute the mitzvah.

In order to understand the importance of this mental preparation, we can compare a suit purchased off the rack to a custom-made suit. They both may fit, but the one that was custom-made for the individual based on the tailor measuring the person, will fit “to a T”! This is because the tailor not only has a general vision of what to make, but he has the intent that it should fit the person for whom he is making the suit in the best way possible. The more we think about the mitzvah we are about to do, the more the mitzvah will fit us to a “T”.

Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman (1900-1987) points out the Sforno, which tells us that when the clothing was to be made for the Kohanim, it was meant to be made with the intent to sanctify the Kohanim with the clothing. Not only that, but even when the raw materials were collected from the citizens for these garments, that had to be done with the same intent.

The Medrash tell us that the garment that Shmuel Hanavi wore, was made by his mother. Her life’s yearnings were that her son dedicate his life to Hashem and she wanted him to wear this garment his whole life. Because of her holy thoughts and love, the garment miraculously grew together with him and he never wore anything else because of the holiness these garments had (See Sichos Mussar, Maamer 3 – Teivas Noach).

The gemara (Bava Metzia 85b) tells us that Reb Chiya wanted to ensure that the Torah would not be forgotten. In order to do this, the whole process was done through thoughtful actions: Sowing and reaping flax, spinning flax into thread, sewing nets, catching deer for their skins, preparing the parchment, and finally writing the text. The commentators tell us that if you would like something to have longevity, it is necessary that from the bootstraps up, it is done with the proper kavana.

This idea is expressed again by the Sforno (Shemos 38:21) when he tells us that the Mishkan, which was built through righteous people and pedigreed Jews never fell into the hands of the enemy. This is unlike the Beis Hamikdash, which was built by the servants of Chiram the King of Tzur, which did not have the ability to withstand the onslaught of the enemies and was eventually destroyed.

It is evident that preparing oneself to do a mitzvah is not just a separate act through which a mitzvah can be executed, rather it is an intrinsic part of the mitzvah, increasing the mitzvah’s character and prominence.

This week, with Hashem’s help, we will be having our Melaveh Malkah which required a great deal of preparation. Certainly, the selflessness of those involved will add to the vibrancy and success of the event, With Hashem’s help, all of us, in our own lives as well, need to realize that if we take a few seconds before we perform a mitzvah to think about what we are doing, then that mitzvah will have a greater effect on us in this physical world, and we will soar to a higher sphere in the realms of spirituality as well.