I saw a politician who said in an interview that "It is not about [his name]" but about what is good for the State of Israel.
Let us get this straight. There is no such thing. There is ALWAYS some element of ego. Only the greatest of the great can be completely self effacing. The only question is how much is about the ideal and how much about oneself. But we should never fool ourselves into thinking that we are totally one hundred percent free of any personal interests.
That is what Mussar so correctly teaches.
כי בחטא יחמתני אמי - Chazal explain: When one acts to produce a child he can try to have the purest of thoughts, but there will always be an element of the yetzer hara.
Fooling oneself into thinking that one is totally pure is fraught with danger.
People say that they want to get rich in order to give a lot of Tzdaka. I don't doubt it. But *maybe* there are other reasons that people want wealth.
I write this blog and have put probably thousands of hours into it. I give shiurim. Thousands more hours and hard work. I am not naturally some genius [despite my ethnicity and religious heritage]. I have to sweat in order to understand things sometimes. This is done all for free. Not a penny to my pocket. No kavod. No features on me in Mishpacha or Ami. I LIKE to think that I am לשם שמים. Baloney. Or as they say in this Modern State Of Ishmael Israel: שטויות במיץ עגבניות. My thoughts of my own pride, ego, self fulfillment etc. etc. are never completely absent.
So the Avoda for all of us is to try to cleanse our motivations of any thoughts of personal gain as much as possible but never fool ourselves into thinking that we made it and are 100 percent pure.
Probably the biggest most successful Rosh Yeshiva/Fundraiser Shlita was reportedly asked by Rav Shteinman ztz"l how much of his motivations are not לשם שמים. He said about 95 percent. Rav Shteinman said: Too bad on the remaining 5 percent. If you were a hundred percent לא לשמה you would raise even more money for Torah....
