At the start of Parshat Eikev, this week’s Torah portion, we read about the benefits of keeping the commandments. There we read:
וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב-And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that God made on oath with your fathers (Deuteronomy 7:12)
The simple reading of this is that obedience will be rewarded by God. But, what is the reward?
On this passage from our Torah portion Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev comments:
It is an accepted principle that the “so-called” reward that God grants us for performing the commandments of the Torah is the least of all the pleasures that we will experience. The major pleasure is the satisfaction we derive from having been able to give the Creator a feeling of satisfaction that God created mankind, and that at least part of mankind, Israel, has seen fit to acknowledge this. This is what the Mishna in Avot 4:2 meant when the author states that שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה the true reward for performing the commandments is the commandment itself. When we reflect on the significance of the performance of the commandment we will realize that having performed it was an unparalleled pleasure. Even the reward that God has “saved up” for us in the hereafter pales into insignificance when compared to the satisfaction of having been able to provide God with pleasure. This is what Moshe had in mind when he described the mitzvah performance with the word עקב in our verse above. This word, meaning “heel,” when used elsewhere in Scripture, is used by Moshe to describe the minute part of the pleasure that God’s “reward” provides for us when we compare it with the pleasure we provided for ourselves by having been the instrument to please the Creator. (Kedushat Levi, Deuteronomy, Eikev 1)
In this sense the Kedushat Levi is saying that the reward for our obedience is that God gets the reward . He also offers this idea that the essence of this “heel” of עקב is that the true reward for performing the commandments is the commandment itself. Neither seems to be accessible rewards to me.
These words שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה are featured in this amazing music video by Mordechai Shapiro:
Besides being a crazy catchy song and having the video be filmed at camp ( Morasha), I love this video because it takes the notion of שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה in a little different direction. It is not just that your doing a mitzvah is its own reward, or as the Mishna in Avot says, Mitzah Goreret Mitzvah, that it will lead to your doing more mitzvot. Rather, the video explores a paying-it-forward notion. In this sense the reward of your doing a mitzvah is that it will lead to someone else’s doing a mitzvah.
I was thinking about this idea of Mitzah Goreret Mitzvah being a notion of paying-it-forward recently when talking with my colleague Jonah Wagan. He showed up to work complaining about Chabad Shaliach asking him again to put on Tfilin. I asked him if he objected to this practice. Jonah replied that he did not mind it, it was just that the interaction felt yucky. In conversation we explored the idea of what might change if he could enter into the interaction as an equal. So the next time he was asked to do this mitzvah with a Chabad Shaliach he resolved to offer the Shaliach the opportunity to do a Mitvah that was meaningful to him with him. Now Jonah is thrilled to do this mitzvah of putting on Tfilin as he does the mitzvah of raising money from the Shaliach for Eschel. Mitzah Goreret Mitzvah; they trade mitvot. In so doing they enjoin each other to do more for the world.
I would encourage each of us to explore putting on Tfilin, supporting the holy work of Eschel, or what ever might be your signature mitzvah. And then I think we should think about trading them with each other. If you join me in doing my mitzvah I will gladly join you in doing your mitzvah. In this trading mitzvot framework the “heel” of עקב it the first step in a collaborative journey of equals to create a common path ( read here the literal meaning of the word Halachah) and fix the world. Now that seems like is a worthy reward.
Said to Myself 
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