“This shall be the reward when you hearken to these ordinances…” (Devarim 7:12)

Rashi: If even the lighter commands which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), he will hearken to.

Chazal tell us that the mitzvos referred to are the ones which people trample upon because they seem trivial. Yet, Chazal teach us that we get an abundance of reward specifically for these “trivial” mitzvos. This needs explanation.

I would like to share with you an incident that happened to me many years ago. I stopped at a bus stop and gave someone a ride, yet ended up getting an earful from him! Not that he was upset at me, rather at all the other drivers who didn’t stop to give him a ride. He said to me, “I can’t understand it! To give a ride is so easy and is such a great mitzvah! Why don’t people do it?” I responded to him, “There is something wrong with your math! It can’t be that what you are saying is true.” I then explained to him that if it is easy to do, then there probably isn’t much of a reward. But if it is hard to do, then there probably is a big reward. “You are complaining because it seems to you that it is so simple for someone to stop and give a ride, and there is a great reward. However, the driver who is focused on getting somewhere, just to stop for a few seconds is a real test of helping someone else out versus interrupting his plans. This is why there is a great reward, because it isn’t ‘so simple’.” Mitzvos which seem so simple to do, in reality may be quite difficult. The above verse teaches us that precisely for this reason, there is an abundance of reward given for these “trivial” mitzvos, as the challenges are great. I believe that this is the simple explanation of what Chazal said.

However, I saw an even simpler explanation that I would also like to share. If one were to ask, “Is a million dollars a lot of money?” we would all say, “Of course!” But if you ask someone in the Fortune 500, “Is a million dollars a lot of money?” they would answer, “Of course it isn’t!” So, it seems that when we ask if something is a lot of money or not, we are asking a subjective question and not an objective one. But at the end of the day, is a million dollars objectively a lot of money or not? My answer is that it is, and I have two proofs: The first is that even today, a million dollars can sustain a person for many years, and therefore it can objectively be considered a lot of money. For the second proof, I would like to share with you a story that happened in Brooklyn a few years ago. A man walked into shul and told his Rabbi, “Today is the worst day of my life!” The Rabbi asked him what happened, and he responded, “I lost $30 million today!” The Rabbi then asked him, “Do you have any money left?” and he said, “Of course! But do you know how much money $30 million is?!” So here we see that even in the world of subjective assessment, we know that people appreciate the real worth of money, even if they have a lot more of it.

Let’s get back to our subject, the value of Torah and mitzvos. Some people have the misconception that small mitzvos are worthless, even though the objective value of these small mitzvos is priceless. In fact, the story is told of the sister of the Vilna Gaon, who crossed the street to get tzedakah money on behalf of someone else. Her partner didn’t cross the street. In a dream, she saw that this small act raised her to a totally different level of reward than her partner. Every part of every mitzvah, no matter how small, brings an abundance of reward.

Aside from the value of each mitzvah in its own right, and the challenge of performing it, one should remember that there is great value in performing mitzvos consistently. Many people are now on vacation, which may lead some to being a little lax in performing the mitzvos that they do the rest of the year. Mitzvos that are done consistently and with cognizant awareness get their own special reward. May we appreciate the opportunities of doing mitzvos and celebrate the value that these mitzvos add to our lives.