It Matters

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The mishna in Pirkeh Avot says, in the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, that if three people sit down and eat at a table and nobody says a word of Torah, it's considered as if they ate from food that was used in the service of an idol. This is an astonishing statement. This means even if the people ate without speaking one word of lashon hara and no other forbidden speech, even if they just sat there quietly the entire meal, it's considered as if they ate the worst kind of tumah, impurity. What could be worse than idol worship? But the mishna continues, If they do speak words of Torah, then it's considered as if they ate at the table of Hashem Himself, the holiest form of eating possible. This means that to transform a meal from avoda zara to sitting with Hashem, what does it take? Someone to say one word of Torah. Rabbi Yaakov Sofer pointed out from here how powerful a word of Torah is. Sometimes people feel that they learn and learn, but they don't see any change in themselves. This mishna is coming to give them chizuk. We are inside of a physical body, and it's hard for us to feel the spiritual growth that we gain from Torah and mitzvot. But it's a reality. One word of Torah could elevate the worst form of tumah into the greatest kedusha. How much more so does it have an effect on our neshamot that are already in the holiest of realms! We don't have the eyes to see, but everything we do spiritually brings about kedusha and even physically changes things for the better. The mishnah says, every mitzvah we do creates a heavenly advocate for ourselves. If a person says a beracha properly on his food, he creates an angel. If he had spiritual eyes, he would see the angel appear right in front of him and then fly up to shamayim to be an advocate for him now and after 120. Rabbi Zamir Cohen said a study was done in Israel about the physical effects that a beracha has on a cup of water. They took seeds and put them in the same environment. Some of them were watered with water from the tap, and the others were watered with water that had a beracha said upon it. Two weeks later, they saw a major difference in the two, with the water that had a beracha clearly producing much more growth than the other one. So if the water which had a beracha said upon it affects the growth of a plant, how much more so does it do to the body of the person who said the beracha on it? If a person is, let's say, walking in the street and sees an acquaintance of his who looks sad, and he says a couple of words to cheer him up, he just created an angel who is going to help him for all eternity. The same applies to every single mitzvah that we do. The more difficult the mitzvah is, the more powerful the angel is. If a person says divrei torah at his table all the time and uses his table properly, the table itself will go up to shamayim and stand for him in his judgment after 120. Rabbi Yehuda Tzadka said on the words of the pasuk: זה השולחן אשר לפני ה ', the table itself will stand in front of Hashem to testify on the person's behalf. Everything we do matters. We may not see it now, but the effects are there and we will see them in the future. If a person utilizes his time here and learns Torah and does mitzvot, he is benefiting himself both in this world and the next.