Succos (1): Easy Money

The Gemara tells us that the nations of the world ask Hashem for a Mitzvah so that they may receive some reward as well. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "I have an easy Mitzvah: Succah!"

This is perplexing in that we don't regularly regard Succah as a particularly easy Mitvzah. The preparation is difficult and laborious. In a decadent society such as ours, unpacking the hammers, nails and boards and climbing ladders is way out of comfort zones. This is the so-called "easy" Mitzvah that the Goyim are supposed to cash in on? Is this some kind of joke?

Rav Moshe Wolfon: Mashgiach of
Torah Va'Daas, Rav of Beis Medrash
Emunas Yisrael and author of the
Emunas Itecha series as well as many
other Seforim

HaRav Moshe Wolfson Shlit"a answers with a simple parable: Let's envision to ourselves the most backbreaking labor we can imagine. We'll take dragging five-hundred pound boulders two miles to a site where they must be broken down into pebbles with no electrically powered equipment. Sounds pretty hard. This is to be done all day for the whole week. As the weekend comes the laborer is handed his pay of twenty-two million dollars. All of a sudden all of that crushing work sounds pretty appealing. For all of that money the stress doesn't seem so overbearing anymore.

שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא - There is no reward in this world for a Mitzvah. The physicality of this realm cannot contain within its confines the pleasure reaped from even one good deed. Take the most laborious Mitzvah you can think of and it sounds like pie in contrast to the reward received for it.

This is why Succah is called the מצוה קלה, the easy Mitzvah. This seemingly strenuous Mitzvah isn't really such a big deal if your goal is to get a payday. When the Goyim come asking for a Mitzvah this is the one they get.

This teaches us the important lesson that Chazal have already told us: that we should weigh the שכר מצוה כנגד הפסידה, the effort and investment of the Mitzvah against the returns on that investment. Armed with this knowledge we can inspire ourselves to do Mitzvos that seem otherwise out of our reach and continue to do the ones that we already carry out with a hightened level of Simchah!