Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

"Ben He-He said: According to the effort is the reward"

Isn't true that anything that comes easy probably isn't worth it? Here the Mishna tells us that we will reap the benefits of our actions by putting maximum effort into something. It can't be with that type of effort we will come out on the short end of the stick.

If that is true regarding physical things then it must be true for spiritual things as well. After all, if our goal in this world is to be close to G-d, the more obstacles thrown our way to keep his commandments should be commensurate with the reward that we will receive. After all, if we keep mitzvos that are hard to do, won't the reward be that much greater?

The reality is that with everything that we do, we want to put our best foot forward and succeed. We may not always reach our goals but that doesn't mean that we should give up. If we keep plugging away and are vigilant to keep the Torah and its mitzvos at the highest level, then the satisfaction we will receive seems endless!

Imagine in times where it was hard to secure an esrog for Sukkos and at the last second with great herculean effort you acquire that precious esrog! Will he just be happy to fulfill the mitzvah or will he be jumping out of his skin in exhilaration for what has transpired. In spiritual terms we can see this in other ways as well.

If a person has a problem with cursing for example and make a concerted effort to combat this, can we imagine what joy they will have when they feel like cursing and they don't? They may have worked for days and months on this and then the opportunity occurs to put it into practice.

They are busy building their sukkah and all of a sudden a strong hammer blow comes to ones finger and although they are hurt and in pain, guess what, not one curse word comes out! The effort has paid off to the extent that they have actualized what they learned. Obviously easier said than do but this is what the Mishna is speaking about.

Putting great effort into our actions and then reaping the benefits of our actions is what we are speaking of here. This doesn't mean that we don't have setbacks and trials and tribulations but rather we will revel in the fact that we have beaten our adversary the yetzer hara at this time and we will witness that our hard work paid off!

We have a tremendous amount of joy and satisfaction knowing that we have tried hard and persevered. When we do this it gives us strength to continue other actions in this way as well which will give us tremendous enjoyment of what we are able to accomplish!