Do you not do mitzvos so you should get a bigger chelek in oilum habba? So than why do you do it. What do you mean you do mitzvos or the sake of doing mitzvos?
No, I do not do mitzvos for the sake of getting a bigger chelek in Olam HaBah (remember — I don’t have one anyway — I don’t want to argue this point here — just take it for the sake of argument that I don’t).
I do them because I beleive that God commanded us to do them and they are the right thing to do.
So I daven because God commanded me to and because it’s the right thing to do.
I learn because God commanded me to and because it’s the right thing to do.
I help people with strollers up and down subway stairs because God commanded me to and because it’s the right thing to do.
And I can go on and on. That’s my approach. I have enough to worry about in Olam HaZeh. I have to do what is right here in this world. I don’t worry about Olam HaBah — why worry about things you can’t do anything about? I do what’s right here — HKBH alone will decide what happens to me in the next world. My mission is to focus on doing good here — not selfishly building up the best reward for me on the other side.
Let me ask you this — are you so rewards-oriented that you wouldn’t do the right thing without a reward? Let’s use the last example I mentioned:
Let’s say you saw a woman struggling to get a stroller down the subway steps. And let’s say, hypothetically, that you knew there would be no extra reward in Olam HaBah for helping her out. Would you still refuse to do so? Or would you help her out because it’s a kindness to do so and it’s just simply the right thing — reward or no?
The Wolf