[Avodah] why stop learning?

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Ben Waxman <_ben1456 at zahav.net.il_ (mailto:ben1456 at zahav.net.il) >

I heard a  Gra story once in which someone who had the only lulav in town
allowed the  Gra to use it on condition that the owner get the zchut.
The Gra agreed but  later said that there is no such thing as giving away
a zchut. How he agreed  to the deal if it was worthless wasn't  explained.

Ben




>>>>>
 
How it works is I do my part and Hashem does His.
 
The G'ra declares his willingness to give up his schar and Hashem either  
does or  does not transfer the G'ra's merit to the lulav-owner's Heavenly  
bank account.  Possibly He gives the lulav-owner the G'ra's schar for this  
mitzva -- and then gives the G'ra a new and separate "deposit" as a reward for 
 being willing to give up his reward and do the mitzva purely lishma.   
 
In Pirkei Avos it says "al tehi ke'avidim hameshamshim es harav al  menas 
lekabel pras" but it doesn't say that a person who serves Hashem out  of pure 
love, with no thought of the reward, will not in fact receive a  reward.
 
In the case of learning in the zechus of a person who [A] needs a  refuah 
sheleimah or [B] has gone on to the next world, it may similarly be the  case 
that I express my wish and intention that my learning go to purpose A or B, 
 and Hashem either does or doesn't apply the "deposit" of my learning to 
the  account of the person I wished to benefit.
 
In case B, where a shiur is said in memory of a person, say a yahrzeit  
shiur, and that shiur would not otherwise have been said, it is more clear that 
 the deceased person gets some zechus out of it, because it wouldn't  have 
happened without him.  The /only/ way a deceased person can get  more zechus 
is by means of the actions of living people here below.
 
It may be that a statement of the type, "This learning is in the merit of  
Ploni" is actually a tefilla that the learning will be in the merit of  
Ploni.
 
Please bear with me while I briefly recount a true story, involving  the 
two sons of a friend of mine.  The younger son, "Shimon," became a big  
masmid, on fire with love of learning.  The older son, "Reuven," went off  the 
derech, dropped out of yeshiva high school, stopped wearing a yarmulka,  went 
to public school, earned a college scholarship.  For a whole year,  Shimon 
started each day's learning by saying out loud, "My learning today is  in 
honor of my brother Reuven."  His mother told me this with tears in  her eyes.
 
Some time after that, she told me that Reuven had taken a trip to  Israel.  
And what do you know, somehow Reuven ended up in Ohr Someach and  -- the 
rest is history.  Did Shimon's learning "work"?  I think it  did.
 


--Toby Katz
=============
Romney -- good  values, good family, good  hair


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