There’s Nothing More Priceless Than Torah and Mitzvot

My rebbi used to say that sometimes you are in yeshiva but you can’t help but look at outside world and notice all of the things that they have.

You see that they have all these malls and all these vacations. They go to sporting events and movie theaters. They seem to be having so much fun and really enjoying life.

He would say: Imagine if I would take you to my host and show you a beautiful, diamond-studded medicine cabinet. Then I open it up and tell you, “Look at how many medicines I have! I have Advil and Tylenol and Aspirin and Tums, and so many more!”

Would you look at the fancy medicine cabinet and its contents and say, “Wow! You are so lucky. You have so much medicine in so many flavors! How amazing!”

Wouldn’t that be incredibly foolish?

Why would anyone be jealous of someone who has a lot of medicine?

When you look at this world, it appears fancy and nice. It looks big and vast. But there really is nothing there.

Don’t look at their movies, sports and fashion and become jealous of their culture because there really is nothing to see. It’s all there just to keep them busy. They only have it because they need it. It is the medicine that they need to keep them going.

But we as Jews do not have time for such things!

We are able to do Torah, mitzvot and good deeds. We are able to teach and spread Torah. Why in the world would you look at any other culture and desire it? It is all just medicine. You have much more than that. You are capable of much more. You are able to learn Torah and do mitzvot!

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Rabbi Yaakov Rahimi has created a storm in the Jewish world bringing back many unaffiliated young men and women to the pathways of Hashem. He has been involved in the Chazaq and Torah Anytime organizations, among others including NCSY, BJX, and Partners in Torah. He has since returned to his hometown of Lakewood, N.J. Rabbi Rahimi is a graduate of Deal Yeshiva, and learned in Beth Medrash Govoha becoming a very close talmid of Rabbis Yeruchem Olshin shlit”a, and Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlit”a. Rabbi Rahimi partook in the Sephardic halachic project Mishnah Berurah Tiferet. He can be reached at, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..