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Thought for the Day: If It is a Good Question, Keep Looking -- Sometimes There *Is* Reward in This World

Ok.... I ran into a couple of Gemaras (both in Brachos) that discussed the terrible consequences of acting less than menschlich, followed by: but if you do act like a mensch... מה שכרו/what is the reward? To me it sounded like: If you speed in a school zone during school hours, you will get a hefty fine; but if you don't speed -- wow! wanna know how much we pay you?!

A friend of mine shared a great link with me: alhatorah.org. With that, I was able to search all of Talmud Bavli for "מה שכרו". The question is asked seven times; five times in Masechta Brachos (those are the ones I had found and were bothering me -- 5a, 5b, 6b, 18a, 24b), once in Sanhedrin (92a), and once in Nedarim (40a). And -- TADA -- the one in Nedarim asks exactly my question -- מה שכרו?!? Of course, I worked hard to find that, so you, my dear reader, are going to have to get a taste of my journey. So here are the headlines:

  1. Brachos 5a: This one is not like the others. This says that HaShem send challenges to those whom He loves, and one accepts them with love; מה שכרו? So that is not so strange. We all have challenges and we certainly need encouragement to accept them with love.
  2. Sanhedrin 92a: One who withholds a halacha from a disciple, even the embryos in their mothers' womb curse him. And if he teaches him, מה שכרו? -- he merits brachos like Yosef HaTzadik. That's more like it. How about? מה שכרו? -- all of creation doesn't curse him?
  3. Brachos 5b/6a: If two people go to a shul (in a field) to daven ma'ariv and one finishes and then doesn't wait for his friend to finish, but just leaves, they tear up his prayers in front of him. And if he does wait, מה שכרו? -- brachos that come like a flowing river. Again -- isn't it enough to not have one's prayers torn up; and to his face, no less!
  4. Brachos 18a: a person who sees a Jewish funeral procession and doesn't accompany the corpse transgresses the prohibition of "insulting the poor and destitute". And if you do accompany him, מה שכרו? -- is is considered as if HaShem took a loan from him (which will surely be repaid!)
  5. Brachos 24b: if a person is walking through a dirty (read: human and animal waste) and is saying sh'ma, he needs to stop saying sh'ma. If he doesn't stop then he is put in the category of people who disgrace and denigrate the word of HaShem. And if he does stop his recitation of sh'ma,  מה שכרו? -- long life. Wild, no? (This is my personal favorite, btw.)
  6. Nedarim 40a -- the ma'amar we've all been waiting for! If someone doesn't not visit/check on the sick, he is like a murderer and heaven will have no mercy on him to save him from the judgments of gehinnom. But if he does  visit/check on the sick, מה שכרו? -- So here the Gemara itself asks מה שכרו?! what do you mean מה שכרו? how about he gets saved from the judgements of gehinnom! Answer the Gemara: no, no, no... we meant what is his reward in this world! And then all sorts of good things are listed. Take a look.

If you now look back at all the answers, you will see that all fit into categories of actual benefit in this world. Pretty cool, no? Besides the content, I think the real "takeaway" is that when you notice something out of the ordinary in Chazal, follow your heart and look for an answer. It may take days or weeks or who knows, but Chazal were infinitely precise and there is untold treasure to be found.

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