Reward in This World

21 Iyar 5782

“By the word that proceeds from G‑d’s mouth does man live.” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 49)

Man lives by the words G‑d’s mouth, the Torah. Specifically by studying the Torah and speaking about it out loud does he cause an indwelling of G‑d in his Divine soul extending to his vivifying world and the entire material world.

“If you walk in My statutes . . . I will give your rain in due season” (Vayikra 26:3)

“Since we know that the reward for the mitzvot, and the good which we shall merit if we keep the way of G‑d written in the Torah, is solely in the life of the world to come … and the retribution exacted from the wicked who abandon the ways of righteousness written in the Torah is the cutting off [of the soul] … why does it say throughout the Torah, ‘If you obey, you will receive such-and-such; if you do not obey, it shall happen to you such-and-such’—things that are of the present world, such as plenty and hunger, war and peace, sovereignty and subjugation, inhabitancy of the land and exile, success and failure, and the like?

All that is true, and did, and will, come to pass. When we fulfill all the commandments of the Torah, all the good things of this world will come to us; and when we transgress them, the evils mentioned in the Torah will happen to us. Nevertheless, those good things are not the ultimate reward of the mitzvot, nor are those evils the ultimate punishment for transgressing them.

The explanation of the matter is thus: G‑d gave us this Torah; it is a tree of life, and whoever observes all that is written in it and knows it with a complete knowledge merits thereby the life of the world to come. … Yet G‑d also promised us in the Torah that if we observe it with joy … He will remove from us all things that may prevent us from fulfilling it, such as illness, war, hunger, and the like, and He will bestow upon us all blessings that bolster our hand to observe the Torah, such as abundant food, peace, and much gold and silver, in order that we should not need to preoccupy ourselves all our days with our material needs, but be free to learn the wisdom and observe the commandments by which we shall merit the life of the world to come…” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 9:1)

“He blesses them and they multiply greatly, and He does not decrease their cattle.” (Tehillim 107:38)

On top of the primary reward in the World to Come, G‑d also bestows upon us material blessings in this world to aid us in our task of refining the physical world. As the Rebbe comments on Maimonides above: “Maimonides’ concept of the ‘reward’ for mitzvot in this world has a parallel in Torah law. The law states that farm workers must be allowed to eat of the food they are working with; even an animal may not be ‘muzzled as it threshes.’ This is not payment for their work—their wages they receive later, after their work is done—but a special provision that says that they must be allowed to eat from the produce they are working with.

By the same token, we are employed by G‑d to develop and elevate His world through the performing of mitzvot. The actual reward for our work will come later, in the world to come, after our task is completed; but G‑d is also ‘obligated’ to allow us to enjoy the material blessings of this world, which is the object of our toil.”