Tefillah - 037 Danger In Going Out To Work

[addressed to avreichim faced with the pressures of financial instability]

After The First Sin, Man Is Cursed With Having To Go To Work

מכלכל חיים בחסד –“Hashem supports the living with kindness.” Hashem supports the world with life-sustaining energy.

Adam, before the sin, was completely supported by Hashem. He didn’t have to work to get a livelihood. Hashem’s kindness was at its complete level ; angels prepared him all his meals. But after he sinned with the Eitz HaDaas, mankind was cursed with having to work - “By the sweat of your brow”, in order to be supported.”

The chessed we enjoy today from Hashem is not the same kind of chessed which Adam enjoyed, which was a state of total chessed from Hashem. However, Hashem still supports all of the world through His chessed; it is just that now, there is a curse placed on mankind that effort is needed in order to make a living, as a result of the sin. The Mesillas Yesharim says that the fact that we have to make effort to make a living is a “penalty” placed on mankind as a result of the sin.

On one hand, Hashem supports us with His kindness (even though it’s not the same as Adam before the sin). At the same time, there is a penalty placed on mankind that a person has to make effort in order to make a living.

Work: Using Your G-d Given Talents So You Can Be Supported

Each person has to make a different kind of effort in order to make a living, according to his own situation. What exactly is the concept of making effort to make a living? The Chovos HaLevovos speaks about this at length. How much effort do we need to make? The Chovos HaLevovos explains that Hashem gives each person his own talents in order to make a living. Our talents which Hashem gives us are a tool that helps us gain a livelihood.

Therefore, we need to be aware that making a living is not about “making a lot of money”. It’s about using the talents Hashem gave us as a tool to be able to be supported.

‘Cruel’ Labor – When People Work In Jobs That Don’t Suit Them

We know that there is such a thing as exile. Exile can take place in our own soul as well. When a person has to make a living, he needs to do something that’s for him. If he works at a job that’s not “him”, it’s like he is exiled to the cruel labor of Egypt (avodas perach) in which men had to do women’s labor and women had to do men’s labor. It’s torture to do something that’s not your type of thing; that was the depth of the “cruel labor” in Egypt.

When Adam was cursed with having to work hard, that was one kind of curse. But in Egypt, this curse became worse, when the people were given labor that was torturous. The “choimer and levainim” (bricks and mortar) in Egypt was that men couldn’t use their abilities and women couldn’t use their abilities; they each had to do the other gender’s kind of labor. It was therefore a whole new kind of curse of hard labor.

What It Means To Have Bitachon

The Alter of Novhardok zt”l would explain that bitachon (trust in Hashem) means to resemble the level of Adam before the sin. In order to have bitachon, we need to somewhat connect ourselves to the level of Adam before the sin, which is when man recognizes that he is a neshamah.

However, at the same time, we were cursed with having to make effort. We need to use our talents in order to make a living. Yet we must be aware that this is not the ideal situation of mankind; it is a curse.

The highest level a person can reach is when he lives totally in his bitachon, connected to the state of Adam before the sin. We find that there were Sages in the times of the Gemara who worked. They were able to go to work and be unaffected by the world, because they remained connected to their neshamah.  The middle level of having to go work is to use one’s talents in order to work. The lowest level is when a person works and he’s not doing a job that utilizes his talents – such work resembles the cruel labor of Egypt.

First let us examine the inner layer of this concept of having to make effort to make a living, and then we will examine the external layer of this concept.

The Situation Of The Workplace Today

If a person lives a life of neshamah (soul, or your G-dly essence), he is inwardly connected to the state of Adam before the sin. Such a person lives in the state of neshamah, and therefore he can merit somewhat to be supported by Hashem, similar to how Hashem supported Adam in Gan Eden. But if a person doesn’t live a life of neshamah, he lives life from his body, and he is connected to the materialism of the body; he is apt to connect to the entire world of materialism – the outside world, which is very materialistic - especially in today’s times.

This is not an issue about if a person should “sit and learn” versus “going to work”, which is an issue of how much Bitachon to have versus how much hishtadlus\effort that one has to make. Bitachon means to live a life of neshamah. If someone doesn’t live a life of neshamah, he can’t be connected to Bitachon. That is one issue, and this issue has been around for a long time: How much effort should I make, and how much bitachon do I need to have? It depended on one’s spiritual level.

Now there is a new issue in going to work. These days, if a person lives life through his body and not through his neshamah - and he goes out to work - he is very connected to the materialism of this world. In today’s times, the materialism of the world is very strong, and by going to work, a person connects himself to this impure, materialistic world.

If a person is connected to the materialism of the world, he is in grave, spiritual danger. This is the inner problem going on in today’s times when it comes to making a living. In previous generations, the Sages were able to go to work (and they had to, because there is a curse placed on mankind to make a living), because they lived a life of neshamah, and therefore they were disconnected from the materialism of the world as they worked. Therefore, a person can’t say that “I want to go in the footsteps of the Sages” and work just like Rav Yitzchok Nafcha (who was a blacksmith) did. The Sages were able to make a living while at the same time being connected to their neshamah, which people today are not on the level to do.

In today’s times, leaving Kolel to go to work is not just a question about how much hishtadlus\effort to make a living is needed versus how much bitachon one needs to have. It is more than just a hishtadlus\bitachon (effort vs. faith) issue. Going to work endangers one’s very spirituality! Going to work today these days means to be heavily connected to the world, which is more impure than ever.

In the Gemara’s times, when a person lived spiritually, and he also worked, this was like using the “beauty of Yefes” and incorporating it into the “tents of Shem” [Yefes was the son of Noach, was blessed by Noach to have success on this world. Shem was the older son of Noach, who was blessed with success in Torah – he was the ancestor of the Jewish people]. There was a concept of using this world in order to elevate it to holiness, to take advantage of what “Yefes” has to offer. But these days, going to work is like connecting to Cham, the other son of Noach, who was cursed, because he was totally impure. Chaim was steeped in the worst kinds of impurity; Cham represents the current situation of the world, which is at the lowest level of impurity.

These days, to leave Kolel and go to work is a spiritual death!

We Need Mesirus Nefesh

Of course, the question now is obvious: “So how are we supposed to make a living?! How will we eat and be supported?! What are we supposed to do if we don’t work – we’re supposed to starve?!”

The answer is: Would you rather die spiritually or physically? Which one is worse? Our Chazal (in Tractate Kiddushin) tell us that spiritual death is worse than physical death, and that if a person is given a choice, he should choose physical death.

We can all see the terrible spiritual problems that happen to people who are too connected to the world because they had to go out to work. We are indeed faced with a problem - may Hashem help us to be saved from the predicament we are in.

These days, going out into the world to make a living is a spiritual death. A person should be prepared to die rather than have his soul burned up!

If someone still has a spark of holiness left in him, if he demands the truth, then he should realize that we need these days is mesirus nefesh (sacrifice) – to be prepared to give up our lives rather have to go out to the world in order to work!

If a person goes even beyond this and he purifies himself internally, Hashem will indeed help him be supported; he will merit siyata d’shamaya (Heavenly assistance).

Either we can make the wise decision, or we make the foolish decision. There are no compromises. If we stay in the Beis Midrash, at least we’ll be able to survive with bread and water. But if a person goes out to work, he’s dead.

This is not an issue of “how much” one is learning, like if he has a morning seder (Torah study session) and a night seder and he works during the day. This is a whole different issue: it’s a danger to one’s entire soul these days if he goes out to work.

If a person is in a situation in which he has to go to work, he should daven and cry to Hashem that he be saved from this situation, the same way that Yonah HaNavi cried to Hashem that he be saved from having to go to the wicked city of Ninveh. We must connect ourselves to the world of Torah, to the world of Hashem, to the inner kind of life – and not to a world of death.

May we merit the meaning that our support should come from a pure place – as Chazal say, “The Torah was not given except to those who ate the manna” - so that our hearts will thus be pure to recognize the Creator.