Okay, the name of the subject as it was written is the reward for mitzvot. But really what I had in mind was not exactly the reward of mitzvot, but the non-reward for mitzvot. In other words, what the real intentions a person must have when you do a mitzvah, which is definitely not for the purpose of reward, as I will explain. Anyway, in order to get into the point, I think I would start with a מאמר חז\"ל, with a saying of our sages, of the חכמים, concerning the reward of mitzvot. In Pirkei Avot, the חכמים say: שכר מצוה מצוה. The literal translation is the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah. Now what does that mean? The simple, very, very simple translation, interpretation is that the reward for a mitzvah is that a person gets a chance to do another mitzvah. When a person does a mitzvah, as a reward, Hashem gives him the opportunity to do more mitzvot. Actually, there is a saying people say when someone does a mitzvah and you want to thank him, so instead of saying thank you because we don't want to thank a person for doing a mitzvah, he doesn't deserve a thanks, he's doing what Hashem wants, so the term goes, תזכו למצות! They say you should merit to do more mitzvot. Say you done the mitzvah, right? But there is an expression that תזכו למצות, zei zoche, you should merit to do more mitzvot. And that's the simple meaning of the words שכר מצוה מצוה, the reward of a mitzvah is that you will be able to do another mitzvah. But then there is another interpretation given in the commentaries, that שכר מצוה מצוה means that the pleasure that a person has when he does a mitzvah is in itself a mitzvah. So according to this interpretation, the words שכר מצוה, even though usually the word שכר means reward, in this case the word שכר would mean the reward, the reward feeling that a person has when you do a mitzvah, that itself is a mitzvah. Which means that if a person does a mitzvah and also at the same time enjoys doing the mitzvah, he automatically has two mitzvot: the mitzvah itself and the fact that he had hana'ah, he had pleasure from the mitzvah, is in itself a mitzvah. That's the meaning, שכר מצוה, the fulfillment that you get when you do a mitzvah, the good feeling you get when you do the mitzvah, is a mitzvah in itself. So you have two mitzvot when you do a mitzvah with feeling. And the truth is it's a very important thing to do a mitzvah with the proper enjoyment. Now, just to elaborate a little bit on that point, we know that there is a concept called simcha shel mitzvah, the joy of doing a mitzvah. The Rambam in the end of Hilchot Lulav, the laws of lulav, the Rambam writes that שמחה של מצוה עבודה גדולה היא. To have simcha when you do a mitzvah is a very great service of Hashem. The Rambam is not referring to doing the mitzvah in itself. Obviously, when you do a mitzvah it's very important. The Rambam is specifically talking about the simcha, the joy that a person has when he does a mitzvah. And the Rambam explains why, just in three words, but these three words the Rambam puts in a lot. The Rambam says the simcha a person has when you do a mitzvah, or a person should have when you do a mitzvah is שמחת הקל שצונו, which means it's the simcha of Hashem that commanded us. The mere fact that we realize what it means that Hashem commanded us to do a mitzvah, that itself should bring a person to the greatest simcha, to the greatest joy. When we start thinking, what is the meaning of a mitzvah? The meaning of a mitzvah is that Hashem told us to do something, Hashem asked us to do something. Now imagine if you would have a great person come over to you and say, \"Please, do me a favor, do something for me.\" And the greater a person is, the more joy you would have. Imagine if the the the the Rebbe, or lehavdil the President of the United States would walk over to you and say, I mean, I don't mean, oh no, a president would would ask you to do him a favor. What would be? You would jump from from joy. Imagine this great person asked me to do him a favor. And if a person isn't happy about the fact that he was asked by this great person to do him a favor, it just shows that he doesn't realize the greatness of that person. Or to give another example, imagine a person wins the lottery, wins millions of dollars. Automatically he has to be happy. If a person wins the lottery and is not happy, he's one of the two: or er iz nisht kein normaler, there's something wrong with him, or he just doesn't know what money is. But if a person is only normal and understands what money is, must be happy, it's only natural. And the same here, if a person only realizes what it means that Hashem commanded us to do a mitzvah, the fact that Hashem lowered Himself from His high, high, high level and came to me, because actually He commanded every single Jew, asked me, who am I, just a small creature, and He came to me and asked me to do something for Him, that itself should make the person very, very happy. And if a person doesn't have simcha shel mitzvah, it just shows he doesn't realize what a mitzvah is. Because if he is only normal, and he only understands what a mitzvah is, then he must be happy. That's why it's so important to have simcha shel mitzvah, to have the joy when you do a mitzvah. It says that Arizal, the great, great mekubal, the Arizal writes that his great level that he reached, the spiritual level that he reached, was because of his שמחה של מצוה, because when he did the mitzvot he did it with great simchah. He doesn't write because of the mitzvot themselves. We could imagine in what way the Arizal did the mitzvot, with the greatest kavanot, and he did it definitely with the greatest hidur, in the best way possible, but that's not what made him reach this high, godly, spiritual levels. He writes it's the שמחה של מצוה, the fact that he was happy when he did a mitzvah. So this is one of the meanings in the words שכר מצוה מצוה, that the sechar of the mitzvah, meaning the fulfillment of the mitzvah, the happiness the person shows when he does a mitzvah, that itself is also a mitzvah. So this is a second interpretation in that statement of the sages, שכר מצוה מצוה, that the sechar of a mitzvah... So we have one which says that the reward of a mitzvah is that you will be able to do more mitzvot. The second interpretation is שכר מצוה מצוה, that the sechar mitzvah, the fulfillment that a Yid has when he does a mitzvah, the happiness that he has when he does a mitzvah, the hana'ah, the joy he has, the enjoyment that he has in doing a mitzvah, that itself is a mitzvah.

But then there is another peshat in שכר מצוה מצוה: the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah. Meaning, the word mitzvah, as we all know, has another meaning other than the simple one. The simple meaning of the word mitzvah is commandment. It comes from the word ציווי, commanded. But then there's another meaning to the word mitzvah, it comes from the word צוותא וחיבור. צוותא means connection in Aramaic, but I think it's even used nowadays in modern Hebrew, they use the words צוותא as the word for connection. Anyway, but in the Gemara it's used many times, it means connection. The word mitzvah means connection. A Yid, when he does a mitzvah, connects himself to Hashem. It's from the same, it's from the same same root. Because every time we do a mitzvah, we get closer to Hashem, our connection gets stronger. In truth, every single Jew is connected to Hashem no matter what. The fact that we are Jewish, the fact that we have a neshamah, that itself means that we are connected to Hashem, no matter what level the Yid is, how far he might be from Yiddishkeit, he's still connected to Hashem. That's why the Gemara says, ישראל אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא. A Yid, even if he sinned, he's still a Yisrael, still a Yid, and because he's still a Yid, he is connected to Hashem. Actually, in the word Yisrael we have Hashem's name. Yisrael has, is made up of two words: ישר and then קל, which is Hashem's name. So every Yid is connected to Hashem, because the neshamah that the Yid has, and this is what makes the Yid into a Yid, is part of Hashem. We know that it says in many sefarim, in Tanya it speaks about it at length, that the neshamah of a Yid is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש. It's a חלק, a part of Hashem from above, mamash, really. It is really, really part of Hashem. And actually it's not only from Tanya, it's a pasuk in Chumash. In Parshat Haazinu, in Chumash, it says כי חלק השם עמו, that a part of Hashem is His nation. So we are a part of Hashem. So no matter what, every Yid is connected to Hashem. But that connection is not always revealed. It's possible for that connection to be hidden. In order to reveal that connection, we have to do mitzvot. And the more mitzvot we do, that connection gets more revealed, that connection gets stronger. And that's the meaning of the word mitzvah, mitzvah means connection. When a person, God forbid, does an aveirah, he weakens that connection that a Yid has to Hashem. And that's why the word aveirah, which the simple meaning is to transgress, but aveirah also means to pass, to pass over. You pass an opportunity of connecting to Hashem, or you're missing. The word aveirah also has a meaning of has a word chet. The word chet, which means sin, has another meaning. The word chet means missing. There's a pasuk that says והיו אני ושלמה בני חטאים. Story in Tanach when Bat Sheva came to complain to David that it seems like someone else is going to become king instead of her son Shlomo, and if that happened happens, she said to her her husband, והיו אני ושלמה בני חטאים, me and my son Shlomo will be chata'im. Now chata'im here doesn't mean sinners, because if it would mean sinners, it would say chot'im, sinners. Chata'im means sins. Now it doesn't make any sense, me and my son will be sins? So the mefarshim all say the word chata'im here means missing. So the word chet means missing, because every time a person does an aveirah, there is a void, there is something missing in that connection that a Yid has to Hashem. He passes over, the word aveirah means to pass, ויעבר, he passes away from that connection, and he is missing that connection. On the other hand, when you do a mitzvah, so that itself makes the connection, and that's the meaning of schar mitzvah mitzvah. The reward of a mitzvah is the fact that through this mitzvah you get connected to Hashem. That's the greatest reward. Now we know Hashem promised reward for mitzvot, that He will give us Olam Haba. In Chumash it says, אם בחוקותי תלכו, if you will go in My ways, and ואת מצותי תשמרו, and you will keep the מצוות, ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם, השם said, I will give your rain, and I will give you everything that you need. Fine. But the real reward is the fact that through the mitzvot we get connected to Hashem. And that is really what a person is supposed to have in mind when a person does a mitzvah. Not for the sake of other rewards, but for the sake of connecting oneself to Hashem. This is the concept of doing a mitzvah lishmah. We find in sefarim and we find in the Gemara the term that a person should always try to do the mitzvot lishmah. Lishmah means for its sake. Shelo lishmah means not for its sake, for other reasons. Lishmah means for its for it its own sake. Now it doesn't mean if a person is not at a level that he is able to do a mitzvah for its own sake, he shouldn't do the mitzvah. As a matter of fact, the Gemara says לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה. A person should always get involved in learning Torah and doing mitzvot, even if it's not for its own sake, for other reasons. And the reason is because שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה, because from doing it for a while not for the proper reasons, you will eventually come to do it lishmah. So a person should do mitzvot even if it's not lishmah. But that is not the real level a person should try to reach. The real level is a person should do a mitzvah lishmah, which means to do it for its own sake. What its own sake? Its own sake is that this mitzvah brings a connection between a Yid and Hashem. And this is basically the meaning of what it says in Pirkei Avot that אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשין את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס, do not be like servants that serve their master in order to receive rewards. אלא, you should be כעבדים המשמשין את הרב שלא על מנת לקבל פרס, you should be like servants who serve the master not in order to get rewards. Because when we have other things in mind when we do a mitzvah, we're not doing it for the sake of the mitzvah, then we're doing it for our own sake. If a person does a mitzvah so he should become rich, then really, who does he care about? He cares about himself. And he knows that one of the ways that he will gain, he will gain, is through doing a mitzvah. So really, really, what's behind all this is himself. The real way a person is supposed to learn Torah and do mitzvot is not for himself, but for Hashem's sake, which is for the mitzvah's sake, for the fact that this will make a person closer to Hashem. And the truth is, when we talk about Chasidut and the whole philosophy of Chasidut and the whole דרך of Chasidut, which was started by the Baal Shem Tov, this plays a very, very major role. In the whole דרך, in the whole way of Chasidut, direction of Chasidut, this idea of a person caring less about himself and more about Hashem, that plays a very, very important role. One of the things the Baal Shem Tov stressed very much when he started his דרך החסידות was this idea that a person is supposed to not think about himself. And therefore, when a person does a mitzvah and thinks that he's going to go to Gan Eden, and therefore there he'll have the greatest enjoyment, it's fine. But whatever, as long as you think about that, you're thinking about yourself, because you're looking for enjoyment. Just like a person down here looks for enjoyment, but he enjoys physical things, he enjoys good food, so here you're in a higher level, so you look to enjoy other things, spiritual matters. But still, as long as you're doing it because you will gain some enjoyment, that is not really where it's all about what it's all about. You have to do it because this mitzvah will connect you to Hashem. That's what they say, this is like a a mashal or it's not like a true thing, they say that the the Gehinom was burning for so many years, after all, you know, the furnace, finally it caught fire. That's what there's a joke like this, it caught fire. Imagine, the whole Gehinom burned down. So, they had to build a new Gehinom. So they had a meeting up there in heaven, the בית דין של מעלה, discussing plans for a new Gehinom. And this one gives this idea, this one gives this idea. Finally, one מלאך gets up and he says, \"I have a bright idea. Why should we build a new Gehinom? Let's make the old Gan Eden into Gehinom, and let's build a new Gan Eden.\" So they said, \"Well, that sounds like a good idea. Let's do that.\" And that's what they did. They turned the old Gan Eden into Gehinom, and they built a new Gan Eden. Now, this is supposed to be a mashal for the time of the Baal Shem Tov. When the Baal Shem Tov came and he stressed certain points in Torah, things that till then were considered Gan Eden, that old Gan Eden, we realized later turned into Gehinom. That's really Gehinom, I'll explain it. And Gan Eden is something completely different. What is it? The Baal Shem Tov stressed so much that when a person cares about Gan Eden, thinking that he will have a great enjoyment, you should know that's Gehinom. Why? Because as long as you care for your own gain, it could be the greatest gain possible, the gain of sitting there and having, you know, pleasure in the glory of Hashem and all kind of great things, but as long as you have that in mind, you're thinking about your gain, in truth, you are not in Gan Eden. That's not the real Gan Eden, that's Gehinom. So there's this saying, things that before the the Gan Eden from before really turned into a Gehinom. What did he say is the Gan Eden? Oh, he said Gan Eden is something completely different. Gan Eden is a place where we don't care about ourselves. All that we care about is Hashem and the fulfillment of Hashem's will, that's all. And this is the approach the Baal Shem Tov taught a Yid is supposed to have when it comes to do a mitzvah. Not to do it for any other reason, but schar mitzvah, the best the greatest reward of a mitzvah is the fact that with the mitzvah you get close to Hashem. It's not for your benefit, it's for the benefit of getting closer to Hashem. And this is the proper way a person's supposed to do a mitzvah. But there is even a higher level than that. When we talk about the proper way of doing mitzvot and what's the greatest reward of doing mitzvot, and we just finished saying that it's not the money and it's not the health and it's not even Gan Eden, it is connecting yourself to השם, but there is something even deeper than that, even a higher level than that. And in order to explain what is that higher level that a person is able to have in order when you do a mitzvah, I have to this is going to get a little bit involved in explaining a few halachot in the Rambam. And we'll have to read from inside. Here he quotes many halachot from the Rambam, and from here we will see what kind of high level a person is able to reach.

There seems to be a contradiction in the Rambam. Okay. Yiddish we say, \"Men darf halten kop.\" You have to follow this, because this is going to get a little bit involved. The Rambam writes in Hilchot Teshuvah, and I'm going to read the words: אל יאמר אדם, a person should not say, הריני עושה מצות התורה ועוסק בחכמתה, that I'm going to get involved in learning תורה and the חכמה, כדי שאקבל כל הברכות הכתובות בה, in order to get all the blessings that it says, או כדי שאזכה לחיי העולם הבא, so I should merit the life of the world to come, ואפרוש מן העברות עבירות, and I'll stay away from עבירות, שהזהירה התורה, and that the תורה warns us not to do, כדי שאנצל מן הקללות הכתובות בתורה, so I should be protect, saved from the curses that the תורה says, או כדי שלא יכרת מחיי העולם הבא, or I shouldn't get cut off from עולם הבא. אין ראוי לעבוד את השם על דרך הזה. It's not proper to serve השם in that way, שהעובד על דרך הזה, because if you serve השם in that way, הוא עובד מיראה, that's considered a person who serves השם out of fear, ואינה מעלת הנביאים, this is not the level of the נביאים or the prophets, ולא מעלת החכמים, this is not the level of the חכמים, ואין עובדים השם על דרך זה, and on this way no one serves השם, אלא, but, who would serve השם in this way? עמי הארץ, which would mean the ignorant people, or amei ha'aretz could mean the people of other nations. Then one word maybe I should skip. No, I won't. והנשים, and the women, והקטנים, and the children, שמחנכין אותם לעבוד מיראה, that they train them, the children, that they're trained to serve השם, but you train them to serve Him from fear, עד שתרבה דעתם ויעבדו מאהבה, till they will grow in their minds and they'll be able to serve Hashem out of love. So he says like this: to serve Hashem because of a reason, even because of reaching Olam Haba, that's not a proper way, that's not the way the chachamim did. That that's a way for lower levels, for young children, he says, you you have to train them. Actually he doesn't bring it here, but the Rambam continues and says, there is no other way we can train a child. You can't train a child right away to start learning because there's a mitzvot to learn. It won't work, you've got to start at a lower level. Actually the Rambam in one other place, in Pirush Hamishnayot, he even gives an order how to do it. At first, promise the child candy, so he'll do it for the sake of the candy. Then the Rambam says when he gets a little older and he doesn't really appreciate candy, promise him you'll buy him a pair of shoes. For some reason, the Rambam picked an example of a new pair of shoes, and that's why he should learn. Then when he gets older, then you promise him money. Then when he gets older, you promise him kavod, honor. And then eventually, after all these years, he will reach a level of learning Torah because you have to learn Torah for the sake of Hashem, and the same with mitzvot. But this is, but otherwise, for a level, a proper level, it is not. So the Rambam says here very clearly, if a person would learn Torah or do mitzvot in order to get עולם הבא, this is not the way of the חכמים and the נביאים. The Rambam himself in a previous chapter in Hilchot Teshuvah writes like this: when he speaks about Mashiach, and the same says in the end of the Rambam which is in Hilchot Melachim, when he talks about Mashiach, he says like this: why did the נביאים and the חכמים want Mashiach so much? Why were they waiting so much for Mashiach? They were longing for Mashiach. It is not because they wanted to rule over the world, which we will, but that's not the reason, that's not what they cared about. Not because they're going to have all the physical things, that's not what they cared about. So why do they want Mashiach? So this is what the Rambam says, I'll quote it: ומפני זה נתאוו כל ישראל נביאיהם וחכמיהם, and this is why all the Yidden, including the חכמים and the נביאים, why they longed לימות המשיח, for the time of Mashiach. So he says, כדי שינוחו ממלכיות, כדי in order they should be free from all the government, שאינם מניחות להן לעסוק בתורה ומצות, they don't allow us to learn Torah and מצות כהוגן, the way we're supposed to, וימצאו להם מרגוע, so we'll be in peace. And what will happen if we won't have all these obstacles? וירבו בחכמה, so they will be able to have more חכמה, more Torah. And then he continues: כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא, so they will be able to learn Torah peacefully in order to get עולם הבא. In other words, the Rambam it seems, it seems is saying here that the reason the חכמים and the נביאים wanted Mashiach, so they should have more time to learn so they should be able to get more Olam Haba. Now didn't the Rambam just say, as we quoted before, that a person should not learn Torah in order to get Olam Haba? Certainly he said this is not the derech, the way of the חכמים and the נביאים. And here the Rambam himself says that the reason the נביאים and the חכמים were waiting for Mashiach, so they should have, they shouldn't have any obstacles, so they have more time to learn, and the Rambam should have stopped there, they have more time to learn, and that's it, because learning is a mitzvah to learn. No, he says so they should have more time to learn so they shall get more Olam Haba. Now this seems to be a contradiction. Now let's go further. There is even a stronger contradiction in the Rambam. The Rambam The Rambam later on continues and he says like this, and now I'll read the expression of the Rambam again: והעובד מאהבה. Who is a person that serves Hashem out of love? Because if you remember before he said the one that serves him for the purpose of a reason of a certain gain, that's called mi'yirah, that's out of fear. Out of love is the one that does it lishmah, does it for the proper reason. So the Rambam here says like this: והעובד מאהבה, the one that serves השם out of love, עוסק בתורה ובמצות, is a person who learns תורה, does מצות, והולך בנתיבות החכמה, goes in the ways of the חכמה, לא מפני דבר בעולם, not for any reason in the world, ולא מפני יראת הרעה, not because he's afraid of something bad will happen to him, ולא כדי לירש הטובה, not in order to inherit the good, אלא עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת, he does the truth because it's true, no other reason, because this is true. וסוף הטובה לבא בכלל, that good will come anyways. He's not saying that there will be no reward, there will be, but this is not why he does it. Now he says like this: ומעלה זו, and this level, היא מעלה גדולה מאד, is a very high level, this level of doing מצות and תורה just because that's the truth. And then he says: ואין כל חכם זוכה לה, not every חכם could reach this level. והיא מעלת אברהם אבינו, this is a special level אברהם אבינו was able to reach, שקראו הקדוש ברוך הוא אוהבי, Hashem called אברהם the one that loves me, לפי שלא עבד אלא מאהבה, because he served Hashem only out of אהבה. So what is the Rambam saying here? That this high level of serving Hashem out of ahavah even the chachamim and the nevi'im can't reach, only few, not all the chachamim. But this again seems to contradict what he said before. Because the Rambam, that we learned before, said that the derech, the way the chachamim and the nevi'im behave is that they serve Hashem out of ahavah, out of love, and they do the mitzvot not for any other reason, not in order to get Olam Haba, but they do it out of love of Hashem because that's what you're supposed to do. So he made it very clear before that this is the derech, the way of the chachamim and the nevi'im. And here the Rambam says, and it's all within the same two chapters, here the Rambam says that he describes what it means to serve Hashem out of love, doing it for no reason, just doing the truth because it's true, and he says and this is not a level that every chacham could reach, not a level that every navi could reach. But before he said who doesn't, before he said who doesn't reach this level? עמי הארץ, children. Here he says that even chachamim might not reach that level, which seems to contradict what he said before. So obviously there is something much deeper here in this Rambam, and this sheds light in understanding what it means in truth to do a mitzvah not for any other reason but לשמה. So to explain it, explain it like this: Olam Haba, the world to come, has in it two aspects. Have this clear: two aspects. One, it is the reward. It is the reward that Hashem promised the Jews for doing mitzvot, for learning Torah, etc., etc. It is definitely a reward. But then there is something else in Olam Haba. Olam Haba is a time when a Jew or all Jews are going to be very, very close to Hashem. Actually, this is the reward. The greatest reward that Hashem could promise a person is that he will reach a stage where he'll be very close to Hashem. And a person does a mitzvah out of ahavah, what does that mean? He does a mitzvah out of love. As we said before, that's the way the Rambam describes a person who does the מצוה לשמה, the proper intention. Doing mitzvot and living a life of loving Hashem means, the Rambam describes in a different place, it means a person constantly, constantly feels close to Hashem. Actually, I'll reach, I'll read the words that the רמב״ם says in הלכות תשובה: כיצד היא האהבה הראויה? What is the proper love that a person should show to השם? He says, הוא שיאהב את השם, to love השם, אהבה גדולה יתירה, a great love, עזה מאד, very strong, עד שתהא נפשו קשורה באהבת השם, your nefesh, your soul should be tied into the love of השם, ונמצא שוגה בה תמיד, he should always think about it. And he even gives an example. He says an example of a person, if you are you have love to another person, the real way you really feel love is that you can't you can't stop thinking, you can't put take your mind away from that person. You always think about the person, he's always in your heart, he's always Same thing when you love Hashem, you should always feel In the person's mind, always think about it. And he continues, דבר ידוע וברור, it's known and a clear thing, שאין אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא נקשרת בלבו של אדם, that the love of Hashem cannot be tied in the heart of a person, עד שישגה בה תמיד, unless you always think about it. And he says, לפיכך צריך אדם ליחד עצמו, a person should always set himself aside, להבין ולהשכיל, to think, בחכמות ותבונות המודיעות לו את קונו, about things that notify him and get him closer to Hashem. So, really the love that a person has for Hashem, and we say a person should do the mitzvot out of love, means that you constantly think about it. Imagine when a person will reach the level of עולם הבא. Then the person will have reached the greatest level of love you can have for Hashem. Because in עולם הבא, the Jews will be very, very close to Hashem. In other words, what a eid wants to accomplish through doing a mitzvah, not doing it for other reasons, but doing it for the mitzvah itself, is to get clo- like the climax of doing the mitzvot. When a person does a mitzvah, and we said you do it not for any other reason, you do because you want to get close to Hashem. We know that in עולם הבא, we will be the closest to Hashem possible. And therefore, when a person does a mitzvah in order to have עולם הבא, that is not considered that he's doing it for another reason. There is a possibility for a person to do a mitzvah because he wants עולם הבא as a reward. That person is not doing it לשמה. So, when the Rambam says in one place that the real way to do a mitzvah is not to have in mind עולם הבא, he means not to have in mind עולם הבא as a reward. If a person feels, I want to get paid for my mitzvot, and I understand that עולם הבא is the best payment I could get, and I'm doing it in order to get the sechar of עולם הבא, that is called שלא לשמה. You're not doing it for the proper reason. That's called doing the מצוה על מנת לקבל פרס. Yes, you're interested in getting a reward. You're just a person that understands that עולם הבא is better than reward of money. Fine, he's greater than the person who does it because he wants money. But still he's doing it for a reason of a reward. But then you have another person that will do it in order to get עולם הבא not because he wants the reward, because he knows he has to do the מצוה, שכר מצוה מצוה, in order to get that connection, and he knows that that connection will get stronger when you will have עולם הבא. So, to do the mitzvah because you want to get עולם הבא for that reason, that is called doing lishmah. So, when the Rambam says that the reason the chachamim and the nevi'im longed for Mashiach, and he says the reason was so they should be free from all the problems, so they will have more time to learn Torah in order to get עולם הבא, the Rambam does not mean in order to get עולם הבא as a reward. Because that the Rambam said already before that the chachamim, their level was not to get the reward of עולם הבא. He says that's for children, that's for עמי הארץ, but not for the chachamim. They definitely would not care about rewards. But what he says that they did, they wanted Mashiach in order to learn more Torah, to get עולם הבא, means to reach the level of connection to Hashem that will come when you get when you will reach עולם הבא. But there is another level, which is even higher than that. When a person does a mitzvah in order to get עולם הבא, not as a reward, but to get closer to Hashem, after all, he's doing the mitzvah for a purpose, not a purpose of himself, but for a goal, in Hebrew we could call it for a מבוקש. There is something that you are looking for. Now, if a person does it because he's looking for money, that's שלא לשמה. If a person is doing it for looking for the rewards of עולם הבא, it's also שלא לשמה. If a person does it because he wants to get close to Hashem, that's not called שלא לשמה. But, on the other hand, it is for a מבוקש, he is looking for something to accomplish. The real level a way a person is supposed to serve Hashem is not even looking for that. You're supposed to do a mitzvah because Hashem said to do the mitzvah, even if it wouldn't accomplish anything, even if it wouldn't get you closer to Hashem. You're supposed to do the mitzvah just for that reason. And that's what the Rambam means in the third place. I quoted the third place where the Rambam says that, I'll read again, that the real way of doing it me'ahavah is to do it not in order because you're afraid of the bad, not because you want the good, אלא עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת. You do emet, you do the truth because it's true, just for that reason. And he says this is a level that not every chacham could get. But we said before that all the chachamim were at the level that they did it lishmah, that means they did it not for any reward, they did it because they wanted to get closer to Hashem. That's called lishmah. But then the Rambam adds a new level that there is a higher level, not even to do it for that, to do it just because it is true, not to look for anything, because as long as you look for something, you are not doing it for the sake of the mitzvah itself. The real level of lishmah is to do a mitzvah just because Hashem wants us to do a mitzvah, even if the mitzvah would not accomplish anything.

This is basically the meaning of there's a statement of the Chazal, they say like this: אילו, to show the greatness of the Yidden and we say to Hashem: אילו נצטוינו לחטוב עצים, had You commanded us to chop wood, we would have done it also. In other words, we will do anything You tell us. And this is supposed to bring out how, how much we care about Hashem, that even if You would have commanded us to chop wood, we would have done it. But the question is, what's so special about that statement? If Hashem would command us to chop wood, it would be a mitzvah. So obviously we would do it! Just like now, Hashem told us to take a box, a leather box, and put it on our hand in the morning. We do it. Why do we do it? Because Hashem told us to do it. There's no physical reason why you want to do it. If Hashem would tell us to chop wood, then that would be the mitzvah. There is nothing more in putting on tefillin than chopping wood. The only reason putting on tefillin is special because it's a mitzvah, because Hashem told us. Chopping wood, Hashem didn't tell us. If Hashem would tell us to chop wood, then obviously we would do the mitzvah of chopping wood. I mean, what does, what do the Chazal mean by making that statement, you say, had Hashem told us to chop wood, we would have done it too. Obviously! But there's a lot of depth to this statement. What it means is, had Hashem told us to chop wood, and the chopping wood would have been the same way it's now, just like now when we chop wood we accomplish nothing, there's nothing that we gain. When we put on tefillin we gain: we put on tefillin, we get closer to Hashem, and if you learn other sefarim you know that every time you do a mitzvah there are all kinds of great things that happen in the higher heavens. So when we put on tefillin a lot of things happen. If a person now goes to chop wood, nothing happens. What we're saying is, had You told us to chop wood, in other words, had the mitzvah been chopping wood and it would have accomplished the same thing it accomplishes now, which means nothing, we would still do it. Why? Because the reason we do mitzvot, or the reason we're supposed to do mitzvot, is not because we're going to accomplish something, not accomplish physically, not because we're going to accomplish spiritually, not because we're going to reach the level of Olam Haba, not all that. Why? For one simple reason: because Hashem said do it. We don't care what it does, what it accomplishes, whether it brings us closer to Hashem or not, it's the mitzvah of Hashem. And this is a very, very high level, to just do it just because Hashem, that he says, עושה האמת מפני שהוא אמת, to do the truth only because, that's a very high level. That to really reach that, we could speak about it, we're talking about it right now and I'm explaining it, but I don't feel it. I mean, I'm not at that level to really do the mitzvah. To reach that level to feel it, that you have to be a very great person, and even the chachamim, he said not every chacham among the chachamim were able to reach such a level to do the emet just because of emet. At least they reached a level of doing it because this connects them to Hashem, which is also not personal, not because they care for themselves, they care about Hashem. But this is even a higher level. This expresses itself in the Tzemach Tzedek writes that his grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, all the times when he used to get into a deveikut, get very absorbed in his thoughts about Hashem, he would sometimes roll on the floor, and this is what he would say. He would quote a pasuk. The pasuk says: מי לי בשמים ועמך לא חפצתי בארץ. What do we have to me in heaven, and what with You do I want in the earth? He would quote the pasuk, and he would continue in Yiddish. In the sefarim it's brought down actually in Yiddish and then translated. He used to say: זע, like look: איך וויל ניט דיין גן עדן, איך וויל ניט דיין עולם הבא, איך וויל נאר דיר אליין. I don't want your Gan Eden, I don't want your Olam Haba, I don't need it. I want You! And that's a very high level. That means, and this is the level that is talking about here: wanting You, just what You said, that's it. And the truth is, this is hinted in a Midrash. There's a Midrash that describes also different levels. The Midrash says that there were, a mashal, there was a king who once entered a city with his whole entourage, you know, with his whole cabinet, conquered a city, and now he's the king. And there were people watching everything that's happening, And there was a discussion amongst the people. One person says, \"You see this guy who is, I guess he's the Secretary of State, I like this guy. I, I think with him I'm gonna have a good relationship.\" Another guy says, \"Oh, you see this guy is Secretary of Education, I think this guy...\" in each one. Then the Midrash says, היה שם פיקח אחד, there was one smart guy there. And he said, אנא נסיב מלכא, \"I'm taking the king himself. Each one was looking at his, I'm gonna go straight to the king, I don't need all this.\" And this is the same idea. All other things are as if a mashal. Every mitzvah, everything that we do is part of Hashem's, you know, being details of Hashem is one, then there is Hashem Himself. And how do we get Hashem Himself? By doing what He said and that's all, nothing else, for no other reason. And this is the highest level that a person could reach. Now now, like the Rambam says, it's something that not every person could reach, but when Mashiach will come, this is a level that every single person is going to reach. We're all gonna be at a level of doing the mitzvot, because when Mashiach will come, we will still do the mitzvot. As a matter of fact, when Mashiach will come, we will do the mitzvot even better than ever. We say in davenen, in Musaf Shabbat we say, ושם נעשה לפניך כמצות רצונך. Then, meaning when Mashiach will come, we will do for You כמצות רצונך, the mitzvot of Your will, then we will really do the mitzvot. In which way will we do the mitzvot then? In a way that we will feel that we want to do the mitzvot for no reason, not even the reason of getting close to Hashem, which is a מבוקש, which is a purpose, but only because Hashem said that we should do it. And this is the highest level. Now, in order to reach the time of Mashiach, we have to do things now that will prepare us to the coming of Mashiach. So we have to try to do our mitzvot now the best way possible, possible for us on our level of lishmah, and through this we will reach a time of Mashiach when we'll do it lishmah 100%.

Yes, now we take questions. Now, this is such a high level that I don't know if anybody will have a question. Right. So what you're saying is actually one of the sayings of the Chazal. The Chazal say, אל תהי יושב ושוקל במצותיה של תורה, it says, \"Do not sit and weigh the מצות of the תורה. קלה שבקלות כחמורה שבחמורות, the lightest of the lightest, the simplest of the simplest should be as important as the strictest of the strictest. Why? Like you just said, because in truth, every mitzvah is the emet, and every מצוה השם wants. On the other hand, at the same time, we do say there are קלות and חמורות. There are lighter ones and stricter ones, because every mitzvah has two parts to it: There are the details of the mitzvah, and then there is the essence of the mitzvah. The essence of the mitzvah, this is the will of Hashem, they're all the same, they are all the same. Then the details, how you the the the actual mechanics of the mitzvah, and that part is the are differences. That's why it's interesting, we see in every mitzvah we make we make a berachah. Usually, before we do a mitzvah we make a berachah. So if we look at it, we see first half of the ברכה, all the mitzvot are the same, and the second half is where it changes. And what's the first half? ברוך אתה השם אלקינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו. That's it! Every mitzvah is וצונו. Every mitzvah, You commanded us. And that's one point. That's it's emet and pashut emet, there's nothing to talk about. Then there are details: וצונו what? הנחת תפילין, ואכילת מצה, the different mitzvot that we have. So the נקודה, which we call the עצם, the essence, the point of the mitzvah, every mitzvah is the same. Then the גילוי, the superficial part, the actual mechanics of the mitzvah, every mitzvah there are different levels. And why are there different levels? Not because as far as we're concerned there are different levels, there are different levels because Hashem said there are different levels. And therefore, the so it's part of the the tzivui of Hashem. Hashem wants this should be more important than this, so it has to be more important, but not from our side. The fact that Hashem wants it, we do it. So, even more than that, even when it comes to a מצוה דרבנן, with דרבנן, only the Chachamim were the ones that established it. How can we compare that to a mitzvah that Hashem said? Nevertheless, we see we make the same berachah: ברוך, when when we bentsh Chanukah licht, Chanukah licht is a מצוה דרבנן, we say אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו, and we consider He commanded us. And the truth is, a דרבנן to us is just as important as the Torah, because they did it בכח that Hashem gave them, and therefore it's just as important, and it's the emet because it's emet. Ay, why is the din that we do know על פי הלכה, when it comes to a מצוה דרבנן it is not as strict as a מצוה דאורייתא? For instance, there is a halachah: ספיקא דאורייתא לחומרא, ספיקא דרבנן לקולא. If there is a doubt when it comes to a question of a mitzvah of the Torah, you have to go to the strict side. If it's a question of a מצוה דרבנן, you go to the lenient side. So it's not because, as far as we're concerned, it's not so important, so yeah, you know, we don't care. care about it. That's not. We care about it just as much as the... Hashem said so! It's part of the Torah. The Torah says that if it's a מצוה דרבנן, you should be lighter, you shouldn't be that strict. But as far as we're concerned, it's emet and they're all the same. Yes? Isn't there a reward intrinsic to the mitzvah whether you do it lishmah or not? As you speak of the positive versus negative and the punishment... Sure, there are. See, we're not talking here about whether there is reward or not. There is reward. And the Rambam, I quoted the Rambam before, he says you should do it just because it's true, not for any reason, and then the Rambam adds: וסוף הטובה הטובה לבוא ולהגלות. The end will be, the good will come, the reward is going to come. We're talking about the intentions of the person. See, there was somebody who made that mistake. We know that there were two groups in the time of the Gemara called the צדוקים and the בייתוסים. These were groups of people, they were Yidden, and they didn't believe in the תורה שבעל פה, in the oral Torah, and they turned away from Klal Yisrael, etc., etc. Why, first of all, why were they called Tzedukim and Baitusim? Because their leaders, one person was called Tzadok, so his followers were called Tzedukim. One person was called Baitus, so his followers were called Baitusim. This Tzadok, these two people, Tzadok and Baitus, what made them turn away from Yiddishkeit? They were students of great chachamim. They were students of, let's see, the Pirkei Avot, Antigonus Ish Socho, yes, they mentioned it. So here it says like this: Antigonus Ish Socho said, he was one of the early, early tannaim, time of the Beit HaMikdash, he said the statement that I quoted before: אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשין את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס, don't be like servants who serve their master to receive reward, אלא הוו כעבדים המשמשין את הרב שלא על מנת לקבל פרס, but you shall be like servants who serve the master not to receive your reward. This is what Antigonus said. These two students heard this from their rebbe, from Antigonus, and they said to themselves: ah, so he's telling us there is no reward! In that case, they turned away. Because of this statement, that they made a mistake. Now, this is not what he was saying. He was saying that's not why we should do it. There is reward, and Hashem will give it, and אלע גוטע זאכן! But that's not the reason we have to do the mitzvot. But they didn't understand it, and because of that they turned away. So you have to remember that what we're talking about here is all what intentions a person should have. And here we just went through many, many levels. Just if you want to put it in a nutshell, we went through many levels. One level is you do it shelo lishmah, you do it for a reason of gain, that you want to gain it. That's also a level a person should do if you can't be better than that. Then there's a level of doing it lishmah just for the sake of of itself, which means you could do it in order to get closer to Hashem, which is lishmah. But then as we said there's another level that you should do it not even for that reason, not even to get closer to Hashem, just do it because Hashem wants us to do it. Is it ever possible when you offer a reward for somebody for something and they know the reward is there, you've already set your mind whether you how you do it, you're always... You see! What you're explaining now, what you're... what you're saying now, what you're saying now is the explanation in the Rambam. Why does the Rambam say that this is a very hard level to reach? Even a chacham, not every chacham, because of what you just said. Because there is the reward, and that's not impossible, but human nature is that if I tell you that I'll give you a reward, to completely forget about it and not care at all, at all, at all, and not even for the sake of getting closer to Hashem, just because... it's very hard, it's very hard. But he says not every chacham, not every... Avraham Avinu, he says, was zocheh. He gives an example of Avraham. But when Mashiach will come, we'll all be zocheh for that level. Yes? We couldn't care less. And we do it not for that reason. Right, right, right. Right, right, right. We don't do the brit milah because it's healthy. That's all. Whenever we talk for instance similar to that about kashrut, and they all say kashrut is healthier, and I always make it very clear: you're right, kashrut is healthy and fine and good, that is not the reason we do mitzvah, we do kashrut. We just do it because Hashem wants us to do it. Yes? Is there a relationship about the fact that two mitzvot are told to lead to אריכות ימים, כבוד אב ואם and to send away the bird? Is there a relationship between these two? Between these two mitzvot? You know that mention that they give the same reward. Yeah, but usually in the Torah we don't find the Torah should mention what reward you get for them. It's a very, very seldom. In this these two mitzvot we do find. And the simple peshat why these two mitzvot are for long life, because they are mitzvot that are connected to doing something very proper as far as as as your person's the person's life: to honor your father and your mother, father they brought you to this world, they gave you your life, so that the reward for doing that is your life will be long. And for sending away the bird is also you're having rachmanut, really. Even though that's not the reason we have to do it, it says clearly you should not do the mitzvah of שילוח הקן because of that, but nevertheless this shows the mitzvah of rachmanut. You have pity on this, so Hashem has pity on you, and gives you more life. But this is an exception. Right, tell the story that this person whose father sent him to take the bird, which means that he did both mitzvot together that the reward, and he fell and he died on the spot, and he was young. So obviously this is could mean in Olam Haba, but that's something else that doesn't mean necessarily b'gashmiyut a long life. Anyway, okay. Im yirtzeh Hashem, hope to see you next week.