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Part I.Life of LaborLOTS OF GOOD THINGS FOR THE LABORERWe will begin with the well-known words of Rashi found in the beginning of ourparsha– but first thepossuk. It says אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ… וְנָתַתִּי גִשְׁמֵיכֶם בְּעִתָּם – “If you will walk in My statutes and observe My mitzvos… then I will provide for you your rains at their proper times” (Bechukosai 26:3-4). And not only rain; thepesukimgive a long list of rewards that Hashem promises to those who “walk in My statutes and observe My mitzvos.” וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח בְּאַרְצְכֶם – “You will dwell securely in your land, וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ, and I will provide peace in the land.” Take a look inside thechumash; there are a lot of good things that come when you walk in the statutes of Hashem.Only that we have to know, what does it mean towalkin themitzvos, towalkin the decrees of Hashem? And that’s the question that Rashi asks: What do these words, “Walk in My statutes” refer to?Yachol zeh kiyum hamitzvos, “I might have thought that it’s referring to fulfilling the commandments,k’shehu oimer, but it explicitly says: וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ – “And you should observe My commandments.”Thosewords are talking about doing themitzvos; so what do the words אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ – “You should walk in My statutes” mean? And so Rashi tells us: It means שֶׁתִּהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים בַּתּוֹרָה – “That you should belaboringin the Torah.”Teileichu– “You should walk; that means you should be moving forward, making progress. You can’t just be ‘keeping’ the Torah – you have to beameilin it. And that means we have our work cut out for us.EVEN AMERICANS MUST LABORIf you want to serve Hashem it takesameilus, labor. Now, I know that for our American ears, it’s something difficult to accept. We don’t want tolabor– maybe to work a little bit, OK, we’ll consider it; but to labor, to beameil, that we’ll leave for others. So the first thing we have to get into our heads is that we came to this world to labor.In Iyov (5:7) it states:Adam l’amal yulad– “Man was born into this world foramal, for toil.” Now, the truth is that all of creation must work in this world – birds, plants, reptiles, mammals; they also have to make a certain effort. But that’s not theirpurpose. They’re notbornfor toil- they’re born for utility. The world needs them; there’s an ecosystem where they fit in and therefore even an ant must toil to maintain himself, to preserve his existence. Animals must labor to find food, to find shelter, to survive; nevertheless that’s not their purpose. But Mankind is different:adam l’amal yulad, his purpose is totoil. It’s a very important principle you’re hearing now. In fact it’s the principle of principles.AMEILUS BATORAH!Now, to labor in Torah includes many subdivisions, but the first thing that comes to mind when we read the words of Rashi: שֶׁתִּהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים בַּתּוֹרָה isameilusinlimud hatorah.Learning Torah is very important! If you have any chance to learn – not just to learn, but to beameilin Torah – there’s nothing better than that. Because even when learning Torah, a person can choose the path of avoidingameilus; he could study easier things. He could bema’aver sedrah, and then he could learnMishlei. And afterMishlei, he sits and saysTehillim. And it’s all important, but if you were born to beameil, then you have to labor in learninggemaratoo.Gemarais never easy, you know; it’s never easy. לֹא כָּרַת הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּרִית אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל תּוֹרָה שֶׁבַּעֲל פֶּה – Hashem made a covenant with our nation only because of theTorah sh’bal peh(Gittin 60b). And thegemarasays מִשּׁוּם דְּתַקִּיפוּ לְמִיגְמְרִינְהוּ – because it’s hard to learn theTorah sh’bal peh.Especially before they had printedgemaras, everything was done by heart; it’s very difficult to learnb’al peh.CHAZARA IS AMEILUSOf course, to labor means that you have to sit by thegemaraand learn for many hours, no question about that. And it’s not only what you learn but how you learn. To review what you’re learning, that’sameilusba’Torah. You should say the words of thegemaraover and over again. If you learn aperek, and you review it again and again until you know theperek, that’sameilus. And if you labor inTosfos,surely good. But even if you just labor in a plain piece ofgemara, and you can say it likeashrei, you’re a success. And actually there’s nothing sweeter than knowing a wholeperekinside – even thegemaraalone. If you can run through thepereklike you sayashrei, it’s asimcha, a real happiness.We say it every morning: וְהַעֲרֶב נָא הַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵינוּ, “Make the words of Your Torah sweet in my mouth.” How does it become sweet? You know when you keep a piece of bread in your mouth longer it becomes sweeter; every time you chomp down, it becomes sweeter and sweeter. Because the bread is starch and the starch turns into sugar through the action of the saliva on the starch. The enzymes mix with the starch and it turns to sugar. The longer the bread is in your mouth the more sweet it becomes. And the Torah is no different – the longer the Torah is in your mouth, the sweeter it becomes. So review and review and review; theameilusofchazarais wonderful.THE MORE DIFFICULT THE BETTERThere’s a world of achievement for you. Every male should have a goal of learningkol hatorah kula.All of it!Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi; there’s no end to what you have to accomplish. And you’ll only achieve it by means of hard work; it’s not easy street in this world and therefore you won’t succeed unless youlaborin Torah.And it’s the labor, it’s the hard work, that Hashem wants. That’s the great principle ofl’fum tzara agra,according to the difficulty is the reward. The more difficult it is, the more is the reward. Let’s say it’s a hardsugya;you don’t understand it and you’re discouraged – so you get more reward than when you do understand it. The morekashasyou have and the less you know about thegemara, so you’re struggling more and you’re working on it, so you get more reward.You know,Tosfoshad morekashasthan we have because he wasameilwhen he learned asugya.Tosfoswhen he finished thesugya, he would say, “I don’t understand thegemaraat all!” But we learn for a few minutes and “I got it; I understand everything!” – because we’re not working.Tosfoshas questions on thegemarabecause his mind was laboring, he was always thinking. SoTosfosgets more reward because he suffered more in his learning. Whatever it is, difficulty in doing good things certainly gives you a greater reward.WHAT’S “TO DO” ALREADYIn the beginning of the creation of the world, it says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu blessed the seventh day, כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים לַעֲשׂוֹת – because on that day, He stopped all His workthat He created to do(Bereishis 2:3). Now, if you pay attention to thatpossukit seems likela’asosis a superfluous word; He createdla’asos, “to do”. That word “to do” is hanging on like a tail at the end of thepossuk. He created; that’s all! What is “to do”?Now, inpashtusit means that He created the world to function continuously; that means that after Hakodosh Boruch Hu established the entirebriyah, it continues to function. All living things work in tandem and this very complicated world runs on its own,k’viyachol, living, producing, functioning. A cow, for example. Cows are giving us milk and meat and leather, and other good things. There are baby cows, and they eat grass and become big cows and the process starts again. And Hashem made itla’asos, that it should continue to function this way on its own.WE DO MORE THAN COWSNow this explanation is a true explanation, no question about it. However, ourchachomimtell us that there’s something more important than that. Because man after all is the most important creation in the world and hisla’asosis a different kind ofla’asosthan that of the cow – he’s created not just to function; to eat and reproduce. Man is created to do something more than just live.On this word,la’asos, there’s aMedrashthat states as follows. “It’s amashalto a craftsman who is working in his shop and his little son is looking on. After the boy becomes older, so the father says, ‘Now you take over.’” That’s themashalin theMedrash.Now, what’s thenimshal?As follows.Before the creation of the world, man did not exist yet and therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu was the sole doer; Hashem was the Creator, the only doer. But when He finished and He created man, so He said, “Nowyoutake over; now it’s you turnla’asos; I wantyouto get busy doing.And therefore the words אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים לַעֲשׂוֹת – “He created –to do,”means that from now on, man must do.WELCOME TO THE WORKSHOPAnd so when you enter this world, you’re coming into a workshop.You’re not coming into a vacation place.It’s not a place where you’ll lull on the beach or sit in an easy chair. This is a place for work.That’s the lesson that is being emphasized here, that you were born into a worldla’asos, to do. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר כָּל אָדָם לְעָמָל נִבְרָא – Every person was created in order to labor (Sanhedrin 98b), and there’s no way to skirt your obligation if you want to fulfill your purpose here.Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the system whereby men must labor. בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם – “With the sweat of your brow, you’re going to eat bread” (Bereishis 3:19); which means the Creator laid down a law that you mustworkfor your living.There’s no such thing as loafing through life because the loafers are the ones who leave the world quickly. And even if they hang around, it’s usually trouble – for everyone.Work is a fundamental part of our nature.When people don’t work, then something happens to them.First of all, their minds begin to falter.Without being busy, it’s almost impossible to maintain sanity.It’s an interesting aspect of human nature that man cannot tolerate idleness.Even the wealthy who don’t have to work, so they look for something to do as a substitute for work. They travel; some do more mischievous things.Whatever it is, they try to keep themselves busy in one way or the other.THE REAL WORKBut all this, you have to know, is really only a symbol of something that’s much more profound. Because man was not made merely to stand behind a counter or to drive a truck or to be a dentist.All these things are only amashal.They’re only a symbol of our true function. This instinct of the workdrive in human beings was given to men in order to let them know, in order to stimulate them, to labor forshleimus, perfection.Ha’kol tzrichin asiyah; man was not created as a finished product, is what the Medrash says. The wordla’asostells us that the work is not yet done; we’re not perfected yet.Bara Elokim, Hashem created you,la’asos, so that you should do something; you were created to make something out of yourself.That’s your job in life and there’s so muchla’asos, so much to do, that it means we have a big job ahead of us.THE TRUCKER WHO MISSED THE BOATIt’s not enough to refrain fromaveiros; it’s a very good thing to refrain from doing sins, but it’s not enough. You didn’t come into this world to not do sins. You’re here to do something positive, to labor inla’asos.I always tell you this story: You sent your trucker with a truck full of goods to deliver in Los Angeles. So he made the trip and came back and he tells you, “Boss, it was a successful trip. I didn’t get a single traffic ticket, no accidents. It went very well.” “That’s great,” you say. “And how did the drop off go? Did all the goods fit into the warehouse?” “Oh,” he tells you. “I forgot to deliver the goods!” So you’ll come back to Hashem and you’ll say, “Hakodosh Boruch Hu, I did no sins.” “Fine, very good,” says Hashem, “What aboutla’asos? What did you make out of yourself?” “Oh, that I forgot.”Now, I’m going to emphasize this a little more because when people hear they have to do, immediately they think they understand what to do.You have to domitzvos.Andmitzvos, that’s already a stereotype – nothing to talk about.Why waste any more time talking about it? Who doesn’t know you have to domitzvos?And the answer is,mitzvosis not what you think it is.Because whatevermitzvosare, they’re only the beginning, the bare bones of yourshleimus, of making yourself. They are only means that are given to help out.לֹא נִתְּנוּ הַמִּצְווֹת אֶלָּא לְצָרֵף בָּהֶן הַבְּרִיּוֹת, the purpose ofmitzvosis to refine the person doing themitzvos(Bereishis Rabbah 44:1).Which means that people can domitzvos, but many times they lose sight of the purpose; and it’s a pity, it’s a frustration of the plan of Hashem.CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOULFor instance, themitzvahof Shabbos. If it’s done properly, Shabbos can change a man.Week after week, the Shabbos comes and goes and it changes people.Only that you have to know how to utilize Shabbos. That’s why there’s no other work allowed on Shabbos, because you’re expected to get yourmindworking, thinking. You can’t just eat the chicken soup like agolem. Now, you can’t expect to work the whole bowl of soup, but at least the first spoonful, you can beameilin! You think, “This spoonful is to celebratebriyas ha’olam yeish mei’ayin, the creation of the world from nothing.” Ah! Now you accomplished! You changed yourself!Tefillinshould change you. If you put thetefillinon your head with the proper understanding, you become a different person. Of course, it takes effort. You’d rather not have to think – on, off, on, off, every day, that’s it. But if you’ll beameil, if every morning you put some thought into whattefillinmean, so every day becomes a newla’asos. Not only are you putting tefillinonyour head, but you’re changing what’sinyour head; and that’s the realla’asos, to transform your mind into a Torah mind.When you weartzitzisand you utilize them, that’sla’asos. Not to just let them hang there and never consider them. It’s better than nothing but that’s not it.Adam l’amal yulad, you have to beameilin themitzvos! We have to utilize themitzvosforshleimus. You can’t do it all at once, but little by little, you begin to beameilin themitzvos, and that’s your success. You’re moving, you’re progressing every day.WALKING AMONG THE ANGELSThere was a certain Kohen Gadol, who had a vision once, a prophetic vision, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed him that there weremalachimwho were standing around.Angels were standing around.So Hashem said to the Kohen Gadol, “If you will go in My ways, then וְנָתַתִּי לְךָ מַהְלְכִים בֵּין הָעֹמְדִים הָאֵלֶּה, I’m going to give you the opportunity to walk among those who are standing here” (Zecharia 3:7).It’s a remarkablepossuk.Hashem isdescribing the angels asstanding, and He says, “You are going towalkamong these standing angels.” Not, “You’ll stand among the angels” or “You’ll walk together with the angels.”No, the angels are standing and you’ll be walking among them.So the commentaries explain as follows. Angels are calledomdimbecause they can only stand, they don’t move. Now, we know that they move from one place to another, whatever it is; they carry out whatever Hashem sends them to do. But still they’reomdimbecause they cannot change. An angel cannot become better; there’s nola’asosfor an angel.An angel will never improve himself.He’s a robot.Whatever he is, that’s what he’s going to be forever.You, however, are amehalech.You are walking.You’re not supposed to stand still!You’re not supposed to be anoimed.You cannot stand still.That’s the contrast,mihalchim bein ha’omdim.A human being is not anoimed; he’s amehalech.אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ – He has to be walking; he has to be toiling.STEP BY STEPNow, walking means he has to journey. And journey means step by step.You don’t make a journey by one great leap. Even if you’re taking a plane, you’ll have to step up the stairs to the plane.You have to make steps and therefore, gradually a man is expected to change himself.And so we must understand that the system that is required of us is a system of gradual progress, gradual achievement. Tha…
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