Does a mother get reward, if raising her child is all happiness and no distress?
ANSWER:
I'll tell you a little story. There was once a tzadik Reb Elimelech. Reb Elimelech was once standing in the bais hamedrash warming himself on the stove in the winter time. A man came in to his brother, the Rebbe, in the next room and he asked the Rebbe, “How is it possible to serve Hashem with simcha? There's so much trouble in the world, so much difficulty in the world, how can you serve Hashem with simcha?”
So the Rebbe said, “Go out and ask my brother Reb Elimelech.” So he went out to Reb Elimelech who was standing against the stove, and his face was flaming. He said, “Tell me, how can one serve Hashem even though there's difficulty and tzaar in the world?" Reb Elimelech was a very poor man all his life, he hardly had anything to eat. So Reb Elimelech said, “To tell you the truth I am not competent, I never had any tzaar in my life!” He never had any suffering in his life.
If a mother so enjoys her task of raising the children that she overlooks the tzaar and thinks it's only happiness, she's going to get double reward. When a person learns Torah and he groans, it's difficult, he's breaking his head, and looks at the clock all the time, when will the shiur be over? He'll get reward too, but the person who looks at the clock and says, so soon! The shiur is over? It's a pity! He gets more reward.
And therefore a mother who enjoys raising children certainly will get more reward.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
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