Honoring Parents

The Talmud in Masechet Kidushin, discusses the importance of the Mitzva to honor our parents. It tells the story of a non-Jew named Dama Ben Netina, who showed great honor to his father.

The Beit Hamikdash sent representatives to Dama Ben Netina, to negotiate the purchase of one of the precious stones of the breastplate of the Kohein Hagadol. They were willing to pay a large sum of money for this purchase.

Dama passed up this opportunity because he refused to wake up his father to get the key, where this precious stone was being stored.
As a reward for showing such great honor to his father, the next year, a Red Heifer was born to Dama’s herd, and he received the same amount of money that he would have earned the year before.

The Chidushei Harim asks why he was rewarded in this fashion. Couldn’t his loss have been made up in some other way?
He answers that the Red Heifer was his reward in order to protect Am Yisrael. If there would have been some kind of prosecution in the Heavenly court against the Jewish people, we would have a proper response.

If it was said that we should be embarrassed that we were outshone by the Gentile, Dama Ben Netina, who was willing to lose a big sum of money for honoring his father, we would answer as follows.

Dama was willing to lose money for a Mitzva that was logical and had merit. But the Jewish people were willing to spend a huge sum for a Mitzva that had no logical explanation.

Therefore, the merit of the Jewish people was even greater than that wonderful act of Dama Ben Netina.