Who prompts a good deed transcends the doer of it/ Who makes others do good is greater than who does good himself.
One who brings others to perform good deeds is more important than one who actually performs those good deeds. The initiator of the action is greater than the one who executes it.
(“Rabbi Elazar said: The deed itself is greater than the one who performs it, as it is stated (Isaiah 32): ‘And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the labor of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever.’” (Baba Batra 9a) “And likewise: If it were not for the writings of Rabbi Pinchas, who sent them abroad… he would not have been stirred, and so too many others, to rise and go forth. And behold Itamar: the deed itself is greater than the one who performs it.” (Y. Burla, Kisufim, p. 173) “And the deed itself is greater than the doer, since all his deeds are only in his pen; otherwise, he would have remained in his stinginess.” (Mordechai ben Yechezkel, Sefer HaMa’asiyot, Part IV, “The Poor and the Stingy Usurer,” p. 55))
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
גָּדוֹל הַמְּעַשֶּׂה יוֹתֵר מִן הָעוֹשֶׂה
Definition (Hebrew)
מִי שֶׁמֵּבִיא אֲחֵרִים לַעֲשׂוֹת מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים חָשׁוּב יוֹתֵר מִמִּי שֶׁעָשָׂה אֶת אוֹתָם מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים. יוֹזֵם הָעֲשִׂיָּה חָשׁוּב יוֹתֵר מֵהַמְּבַצֵּעַ בְּפֹעַל .
("א"ר אֶלְעָזָר: גָּדוֹל הַמְעַשֶּׂה יוֹתֵר מִן הָעוֹשֶׂה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (יְשַׁעְיָהוּ ל"ב) וְהָיָה מַעֲשֵׂה הַצְּדָקָה שָׁלוֹם, וַעֲבֹדַת הַצְּדָקָה הַשְׁקֵט וָבֶטַח עַד עוֹלָם"- בָּבָא בָּתְרָא ט ע"א, וְכֵן:"שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מִכְתָּבִים שֶׁל ר' פִּינְחָס שֶׁשּׁוֹלֵחַ לְחוּץ לָאָרֶץ...לֹא הָיָה הוּא מִתְעוֹרֵר, וְכֵן רַבִּים אֲחֵרִים,לָקוּם וְלַעֲלוֹת. וַהֲרֵי אִיתָמָר: גָּדוֹל הַמְעַשֶּׂה מִן הָעוֹשֶׂה"- י.בּוּרְלָא/ כִּסּוּפִים, 173, וְכֵן:"וְגָדוֹל הַמַּעֲשֶׂה מִן הָעוֹשֶׂה, שֶׁהֲרֵי כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו אֵינָם אֶלָּא בְּעֶטְיוֹ, וְאִלְמָלֵא הוּא הָיָה נִשְׁאָר בְּקַמְצָנוּתוֹ"- מָרְדְּכַי בֶּן יְחֶזְקֵאל/ סֵפֶר הַמַּעֲשִׂיּוֹת חֵלֶק רְבִיעִי, הֶעָנִי וְהַמּוֹכְסָן הַקַּמְצָן, 55)