Earning a Living — Earning a Life

Welcome to our new series of essays on the topic of earning a living, based on Rebbe Nachman’s approach to this very important and focal point of our lives. For some reason, each day has its own blessing, and each day has its expenses. And, for some other reason, we usually find that the expenses outrun the blessings! Maybe the reasons are the same. Maybe they’re entirely different. The purpose of these essays is to examine the underlying ideas behind the reasons so we can map out a more fulfilling schedule of our days and actually earn a life.

Because of the huge storehouses of information found in Rebbe Nachman’s teachings on this subject, these next few essays will act as introductory pieces to our discussions. We need to examine where the source of “earning a living” and why it has become so central to our lives. We must examine the value of work and of the work ethic, the need to be honest and keep one’s word whenever a transaction is made or a deal concluded. Where do our obligations belong: to ourselves or our families, or perhaps to the employer, employee, or client? Or perhaps to all of the above? How can I prioritize my responsibilities? And so on. So, let us begin.

* * *

Va’Etchanan, I pleaded to God, at that time?(Deuteronomy 3:23).

A wealthy person in a distant city opened up his house to feed the poor. All were welcome. There were no time restraints for how long one can stay, nor were there any requirements to deserve such meals-such as work. A poor man heard about that benevolence and decided he “needed a break” from his poverty and traveled there. Arriving in the city, he asked where the wealthy man lived and was shown a large, luxurious house. He entered and asked for a meal. The owner said, “If you want to get your meal?” and put him to work chopping wood and other back-breaking labors which the poor man worked at the whole day. When night finally fell, the homeowner directed the poor man to a house across the street and told him that he can eat his meal there.

The poor man entered the home and was seated at the table. While waiting for the meal to be served, he didn’t mince his words and expressed his wrath at having to work so hard just for the meal. When asked what happened, he told how he came to the house across the street and was immediately put to work at hard labor for the day. The host smiled and told him, “If you had come straight here, you would not have had to work at all!”

This parable of Rebbe Nachman sums up his approach to earning a living. He said, “Arbeten, arbet men fahr di avonos. Essen! Est men im zist!” We [must] work. This is for our sins. We eat. This is free! [i.e., a gift from God].

* * *

The above parable pretty much sums up Rebbe Nachman’s attitude as to why we have to work and how we get our livelihood. The Rebbe taught that since God created the entire Universe ex nihilo, it is really nothing at all for Him to provide each part of Creation with its sustenance. And he does, for He is always bestowing His Chesed (Kindness) upon the world. The reason we don’t openly see this Chesed is because we lack the vessels within which to receive it! We must create those vessels and this is accomplished by establishing our fear of God (Likutey Moharan II, 4:3). (This idea will be discussed at length in future essays but it must suffice as an introduction to our current thought.)

To introduce this idea, we take the reader back to the Creation, to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. You are Adam, you were just created and are placed in the Garden of Eden. You’ve got everything you need, you have no roof over your head, you have no need for clothing and no need for meat. Simply put, you are naked, homeless and a vegetarian. But you’re in the Garden of Eden. In truth, you have no physical needs, because you are a human being, hand-crafted by God and open to you are all the spiritual delights you could entertain. You could partake of anything and everything that’s available to you, except for one Tree whose fruits are forbidden.

You are one hour old, you didn’t even have the chance to “get your feet wet,” and you blow it. A “serpentine salesman” appears on the scene and convinces your wife of the advantages of eating of the forbidden fruit. Overcome with temptation by the wily salesman, she eats it and shares her “dinner” with you. Suddenly, you “feel” naked. You need clothes. You are banished from the Garden, you require housing, and you are cursed to earn a livelihood: “Let the earth be cursed for you, with itzavon (anguish or sadness) shall you eat?It will give forth thorns and thistles?by the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the earth? (Genesis 3:17-19). Eve, woman, was also cursed then, “You will have pregnancies and difficulties?with etzev (anguish or sadness) you will give birth?” (ibid. v.16). And it all ends with the death sentence. Not very encouraging. Is this the takhlis (goal) of mankind? Is this what we are now created for? To live a cursed life of pain, toil and suffering? And then we die?

Furthermore, the Talmud states that the curse to man is harsher than the curse to the woman. By a woman it states etzev, a singular tense, but for the curse of man, to earn his livelihood, it states itzavon, which connotes plural (Pesachim 118a). But, whatever, because the First Man and Woman ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, punishment was executed against mankind: to earn a living and the accompanying “benefits” of marriage, childbirth and raising a family. Now, if we want to live, we must overcome the curses and learn not just how to “earn a living,” but how can we “earn a life.”

Man was created to live luxuriously, in a Paradise. He had no physical wants until after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Then he suddenly had need for all of the basic necessities of civilization that we know of: food, shelter and clothing. In other words, man brought upon himself the need to earn a living in order to pay for these expenses. This is the meaning behind Rebbe Nachman’s statement, “We work. This is for our sins.”

As these essays progress, we will explore the meaning of why man has to toil the land and trade in the mineral and vegetable realms as well as in the animal kingdom. What is the value of man’s work? Is earning a living made just so that we stay within the parameters of the curse of Adam or are there means to ascend above that curse-even while working?! Can we return to the Garden of Eden where we no longer require the material necessities or even if we need them can we attain them as a blessing and not as a curse? Or, is there at least some kind of parallel to the Garden that we can attain even while living a corporeal existence?

Additionally, the Rebbe said, “We eat. This is for free!” This stems from God’s constant Kindness which He benevolently bestows upon us at all times. So, are we “earning a living” which means are we working to pay for our sins,” or are we “eating for free” because of God’s benevolence, similar to Adam eating in the Garden? Which is it?

Then why is there such a disparity between people’s income? Why are some blessed with wealth and others cursed with it? Why are some people subject to poverty? What about the middle class, who work, earn and yet “never” seem to quite make it? For that matter, why are some blessed with health, while others suffer illness even from birth (with the accompanying medical expenses)?

All these questions arose out of Adam’s eating from the Tree. When we begin to discuss the results of not properly rectifying one’s sins, which invokes reincarnation and how it can help perfect the person’s livelihood, we will begin to grasp the scope of Adam’s deed and how we, today, are responsible for earning both “a living and a life” and how we actually can do it.

While we’re at it, the weekly Torah reading also points out several answers to these questions. It states (De. 7:9-10), “You should know that God is the Lord; He is faithful and keeps His covenant?He pays back His enemies?” The Torah speaks of God rewarding those faithful to Him and punishing those who are unfaithful. Yet, there are some who receive their reward in this world and the Next, while others only in the Next. And, there are those who receive only rewards in this world-but in the Next world they are obliterated. Others may suffer here in this world, but receive infinite benefits in the Eternal World. There are many discussions on these ideas and they will be examined in future essays.

But this week’s essay ties in with our weekly Torah reading. Moshe pleaded before God (to allow him to enter the Holy Land). Moshe’s plea, Va’Etchanan, was meant to invoke God’s Kindness. “God, You began to show Your servant Your greatness and Your Mighty Hand?” Rashi explains that Moshe asked for a gift from God’s Treasury of Unearned Gifts. This is the way of Tzaddikim (the righteous). Despite all their good deeds, they only ask God for His Kindness.

Rebbe Nachman has taught that we work, toil and suffer because of our sins. He also teaches that we are blessed continuously with God’s benevolence. Moshe, too, knew this. He had many good deeds to his credit. Yet, he wanted to plant deeply within himself the gratitude to God that He sustains us, no matter what we did, good or otherwise. Therefore, he asked for a gift from God’s Treasury. Moshe was teaching us that to earn a life, to live as best as we can, the first lesson is to recognize God’s beneficence and integrate thanks to Him into our daily lives. Then, whether we “eat” or “work,” we are reconnecting to God, for we have made Him central to our lives. Since God is Life, we can then also merit to live.

Have an easy fast on Tisha b’Av. Hopefully by then Mashiach will be here and peace will reign in the Land. Those who have sacrificed to make aliyah and live in Israel certainly deserve to live. They have earned their life. And those who want to ascend to the Land, have earned that peace and contentment too. May Hizballah be obliterated, Hamas destroyed, and our enemies-which include poverty, debt and problems, be vanquished. Amen.

And we hope all Israel will merit to Peace in the Land, the Ingathering of the Exiles and the Rebuilding of the Holy Temple, speedily, in our days, Amen.

Have a good week. Chaim