לְפוּם צַערָא אַגְרָא Adina Broder

Hi, Shira. Bubby is coming for Shabbos. Yay!!

Can you please get your room ready Can you please get your room ready? Bubby will be sleeping in there with you. Oh.

Well… it doesn’t seem so fair that I have to share my room with Bubby. What’s wrong? Well… it doesn’t seem so fair that I have to share my room with Bubby.

You know we don’t really have any other place for Bubby to sleep You know we don’t really have any other place for Bubby to sleep. What isn’t fair about her sharing your room with you?

It’s just that it’s not the same for Malki when her grandmother visits her.

In their house, they have a special guest room, so Malki doesn’t have to share her room with her.

But we don’t have a separate guest room But we don’t have a separate guest room. There’s nothing we can do about that.

I know… it’s not that. It’s just that Malki and I are both doing the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim – having guests.

Why should it be the same mitzvah for both of us, when for her it’s so easy to do it, and for me it’s much harder.

I think I understand what you’re saying. Shouldn’t I get a bigger reward since it’s harder for me to do the mitzvah?

You actually DO get more of a reward since it’s harder! I do???!!!!

Yes. There’s a famous saying: Did you ever hear of that? .לְפוּם צַערָא אַגְרָא Did you ever hear of that? No.

to have done that mitzvah. It means that your reward for doing a mitzvah depends on how difficult it was for you to have done that mitzvah.

Wow! So I’ll get a bigger reward for doing hachnasat orchim than Mallki will, since I have to share my room with Bubby but she doesn’t? That’s exactly right!

So, how do you feel now about sharing your room with Bubby? Much better! Thanks!

I will, and then I won’t mind spending all that time and effort. You should remember that pitgam whenever it feels like it’s taking a lot of time or a lot of effort to do a mitzvah. I will, and then I won’t mind spending all that time and effort.

(meaning “the effort”) לְפוּם צַערָא אַגְרָא According to the pain (meaning “the effort”) is the reward

According to the pain/effort לְפוּם צַערָא אַגְרָא According to the pain/effort is the reward