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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Ben Waxman <<A title=mailto:ben1456@zahav.net.il
href="mailto:ben1456@zahav.net.il">ben1456@zahav.net.il</A>><BR><BR>I heard a
Gra story once in which someone who had the only lulav in town<BR>allowed the
Gra to use it on condition that the owner get the zchut.<BR>The Gra agreed but
later said that there is no such thing as giving away<BR>a zchut. How he agreed
to the deal if it was worthless wasn't
explained.<BR><BR>Ben<BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>How it works is I do my part and Hashem does His.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>=============</STRONG><BR>Romney -- good
values, good family, good
hair<BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
<DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV>
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