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Daily Chizuk #0922
Parnasa / Money
Always Gain: The Guarantee of Helping Others
Our Sole Motivation
The Chovot HaLevavot in the Shaar HaBitachon perek 4 teaches us the mindset we are supposed to have every time we do mitzvot between man and man, like chesed or tzedaka. Usually, the way the human mind works is that before a person does anything, he thinks about what he is going to get out of it first. This attitude could easily affect a person when it comes to him helping others as well. If someone is asked to do a chesed, he may think, Is it worth it? Will the one asking me be able to help me in the future? But that is obviously the wrong attitude.
The Chovot HaLevavot writes, our sole motivation in helping other people should be to bring us closer to Hashem, because helping others is a mitzvah and any mitzvah that we do brings us closer to Hashem. This means, for example, if someone asks for a ride home, the person with the car should think, I am now going to perform a mitzvah which is going to bring me closer to Hashem. And that is the greatest gain a person can get. It does not matter who the person asking for the ride is. It does not matter how much money he has or how connected he may be to influential people either.
No one can affect us other than Hashem. Our motivation in the performance of all mitzvot, including ben adam lechavero, should be purely to get closer to Hashem.
The Chovot HaLevavot in the Shaar HaBitachon perek 4 teaches us the mindset we are supposed to have every time we do mitzvot between man and man, like chesed or tzedaka. Usually, the way the human mind works is that before a person does anything, he thinks about what he is going to get out of it first. This attitude could easily affect a person when it comes to him helping others as well. If someone is asked to do a chesed, he may think, Is it worth it? Will the one asking me be able to help me in the future? But that is obviously the wrong attitude.
The Chovot HaLevavot writes, our sole motivation in helping other people should be to bring us closer to Hashem, because helping others is a mitzvah and any mitzvah that we do brings us closer to Hashem. This means, for example, if someone asks for a ride home, the person with the car should think, I am now going to perform a mitzvah which is going to bring me closer to Hashem. And that is the greatest gain a person can get. It does not matter who the person asking for the ride is. It does not matter how much money he has or how connected he may be to influential people either.
No one can affect us other than Hashem. Our motivation in the performance of all mitzvot, including ben adam lechavero, should be purely to get closer to Hashem.
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