A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parshah, it's Parashat Lech Lecha. After Avraham Avinu had the war with the four kings with Kedorlaomer and won the war, so the pasuk says Hashem said to אברם, אל תירא אברם אנכי מגן לך שכרך הרבה מאד. Don't be afraid Avram, I'll protect you, you have a lot of reward. So Rashi says, what did Hashem mean don't be afraid, why was he afraid? So Rashi says that he was doeg, he worried concerning his schar. Because since he used up his zechuyot, since Hashem helped him already win the war, so he thought maybe he doesn't have any more schar. So Hashem said to him, don't worry על קיבול שכרך about receiving schar, your schar is great, שכרך הרבה מאד.

The Rebbe asks a question: Why would we think that Avraham Avinu cared about the schar? Actually, the Rambam writes that the real way to serve Hashem is to serve Hashem from ahavah, by loving Hashem. And he says לא מפני דבר בעולם, not for any other reason in the world, not because you're afraid of something bad might happen to you if you don't serve Hashem, and not because you're going to get good, but you do it just because that's the right thing to do, עושה האמת מפני האמת, you do the truth because it's true. And then the Rambam adds והיא מעלת אברהם אבינו, that's the maalah, the level of אברהם אבינו, שלא עבד אלא מאהבה, he served השם מאהבה, it was only lishmah, only for the sake of Hashem. So how does Rashi say that in this case Avraham Avinu was worried that he might not get schar? He didn't serve Hashem in order to get schar. He's the epitome of a person that served השם מאהבה, served השם לשמה. So the Rebbe explains: What does it mean to serve Hashem lishmah, to serve Hashem out of love? That a person doesn't care about his personal gain. He only does things for the sake of Hashem. That's the meaning of lishmah. When a person is in that level that he only serves Hashem lishmah, then when he gets sachar for it, he doesn't feel that it's sachar that he gets. When he gets Hashem gives him money, Hashem gives him health, Hashem gives him kavod, all these different things, it's not that he feels he gains something. To him, this is for the kavod of Hashem, for the sake of Hashem. That a person wants that people should see that if you do mitzvot and you serve Hashem, you'll get rewarded. So other people will also do mitzvot. So this is part of serving Hashem lishmah. Wanting sachar in a person like that is not because he wants to gain whatever the sachar is. Wanting sachar means that he wants that the kavod of Hashem should get greater. And that is by people seeing that he gets sachar for serving Hashem. And this is what it meant here. The Eibershter told Avraham, you're probably afraid that you don't get sachar anymore because your sachar, so to speak, was used up. Don't be afraid. Why was he afraid? Because he knew if he gets sachar and people will see that he gets sachar, that'll add to the kavod of Hashem. And he was afraid that he won't be able to do that, they won't, he won't be able to be part of adding to the kavod of Hashem. So Hashem said to him, don't worry.

And actually, this is the pshat what it says in Pirkei Avot: הנוי והכח והעושר והכבוד, the beauty and the strength and the riches and the honor, נאה לצדיקים ונאה לעולם, is good for the tzaddikim and good for the world. Why is it good for the tzaddikim to be rich? Why is it good for the tzaddikim to have kavod? And the answer is because this is not his own personal kavod, but this is the kavod of Hashem. And really the Rebbe says this is the pshat when it says לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. A person should learn Torah and do mitzvot even if he doesn't do it lishmah, for the sake of Hashem, because מתוך שלא לשמה, through doing a lot without being lishmah, you will eventually reach to do lishmah. And the Rebbe taytsh't, it doesn't mean that. It does mean that, but it's a deeper pshat. The toch'she of שלא לשמה, תוך means not only mitoch means because, through, mitoch means the toch, the inner, the deeper meaning of שלא לשמה, even if you do it שלא לשמה, what's really behind it is lishmah. That means when a person does something not lishmah, but he does something in order to gain, to gain money, whatever it is, and that's why he does the mitzvah, the fact that he feels that he wants the gain, he wants the reward, that's an outer thing, that's a superficial thing that comes from his נפש הבהמית, from his body. But מצד הנשמה, what he really wants is to have the kavod and to have the riches, but not because it'll be his gain. The toch, the inside is the lishmah, that really he cares for כבוד שמים, that the אייבערשטער'ס כבוד should be greater, because people will see that for learning Torah and doing mitzvot, Hashem rewards you. And the same thing is with Avraham, that what he was worried about that he will not be able to help כבוד שמים by not getting schar, and Hashem said to him, don't worry, you will get schar and you will be part of adding to the kavod, to the glory, the honor of Hashem.