NCSY Senior Executive Team Conference
The NCSY Regional Directors and National administration recently met in Newark for the annual Senior Executive Team meeting. Rabbi Shraga Neuberger of Ner Israel joined us to deliver words of inspiration. His words were so impactful, I thought I’d share some of them.
We see from the Torah that G-d punishes those who persist in their parents’ sins for four generations, but He rewards those who follow His ways for 2,000 generations. The reward for mitzvos is 500 times greater than the punishment for sin! (Hold that thought; we’ll come back to it.)
The Torah, in Deut. 13:7-12, speaks of the meisis, one who attempts to entice others to worship idols. He is put to death, even for a failed attempt at drawing Jews away from Torah. The Torah is strict regarding the meisis in other ways. For example, he can be entrapped so that he makes his idolatrous “pitch” in front of witnesses, which would be inadmissable in other areas of law.
Think about that. The Torah has someone put to death just for unsuccessfully attempting to lead others away from G-d! If G-d’s reward for mitzvos is 500 times greater than His punishment for sins, imagine how great the reward must be for attempting to bring someone back to Torah - even unsuccessfully! (And successfully? It must be immeasurable!)
The Mishna in Avos (2:21) tells us that we can’t always get results, but we still have to make the attempt. Rabbi Neuberger provided ample motivation to forge ahead with the message of Torah, secure in the knowledge that even the apparent failures are precious in G-d’s eyes.
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