Earning a Living - Earning a Life

Earning a Living — Earning a Life
Parshat Mishpatim 5767 — February 11, 2007
Essay #22
Breslov Research Institute © 2007


This week’s Torah reading, Mishpatim, deals with civil law. Actually, some of these laws were given to the Jews in Marah, right after the Splitting of the Red Sea and even before the Revelation at Sinai. Money matters are not outside the realm of Torah—in fact, in certain ways, they precede most mitzvot, and are part and parcel of Jewish religion.

The Tikkuney Zohar (Addendum #10, p. 147a) teaches that right from the dawn of mankind, the legal concepts of trade, ownership and damages were present in the world. The Torah itself hints at these concepts in its first three words, “Bereishit Bara Ælohim—In the beginning God created…” The initial letters of Bereishit Bara Ælohim form the word BaBA (בבא), and the three words themselves allude to the three Talmudic treatises of BaBA Kama (laws of damages), BaBA Metzia (laws of business, trade, finances, employment, etc.) and BaBA Batra (laws of possession, inheritance, etc.). By making the right decisions in monetary matters, we can fill the world with truth and Godliness rather than deceit and desolation.

This week’s Torah reading includes the ideas of workmen’s compensation, unemployment benefits, and many of the financial responsibilities placed upon people when working or when guarding property that belongs to others. There are also laws about preventing one’s own property from doing damage to others.

I’ve heard many people challenge the study of Baba Kama, with its well-known thesis, “If an ox gores a man or an ox…” "Who cares?" they protest. "How many times have you seen an ox walking around the streets of a city?" To those who don't understand the Talmud's underlying logic, this thesis seems antiquated and irrelevant to our daily lives.

Let me ask you: Have you ever seen someone's pet dog or cat wandering the neighborhood, getting into flowerbeds or barking and mewing late at night, disturbing the neighbors? The same laws that apply to unleashed oxen apply to unleashed pets. Similarly, just as digging a pit makes the digger liable if someone falls into the pit and breaks his leg, how much more liable is the person who digs a pit under his friend or business competitor? The Torah forbids any type of damage done to others.

Interestingly, when it comes to choosing a livelihood, Rebbe Nachman was quite negative about the idea of a person becoming a melamed (teacher). In the Rebbe’s time, a person would hire himself out as a teacher for a semester. Sometimes this required him to work in a different city, away from home and family, whom he was able to visit only periodically. Furthermore, the pay was very low and the melamed barely eked out a living.

The Rebbe would say, “If you are engaged in business, the Mishnah teaches (Avot 4:3), 'There is no man without his hour [of success], and there is no item without its hour [of blessing].' In many jobs, a person will see a moment of success when he realizes a windfall. But if that person is a teacher, what will he 'profit'? He will receive another piece of kugel! (the proverbial apple for the teacher)."

Despite his opposition to the teaching profession, Rebbe Nachman also said, “Before becoming such a businessman, it is far more preferable to become a teacher!” In this way he warned his disciples that a businessman who does not engage in hitbodedut will more than likely take [accidentally or otherwise] a penny that belongs to someone else (Oral tradition)

The type of businessman Rebbe Nachman decries is one who doesn't pray to God for help in guarding his own and other people's money. Who would use a stockbroker who doesn’t care what happens to his client’s portfolio? Who wants to buy from a store where the owners are indifferent to their clientele or to the items they sell? And who wants to deal with someone who won’t be honest about his mistakes?

Hitbodedut is a most crucial component of earning a living. Not only must we pray every day for a livelihood, we must pray every day to be careful in monetary matters. We can't make mistakes with other people’s money, and we must guard against damaging other people's property, status and self-respect.

Does that mean we have to be perfect? Rebbe Nachman says that if a person is generally careful but makes a small mistake, most probably the client will forgive him, seeing that he really is an honest fellow and tries to run his business properly. It is much worse to make a mistake at the expense of a client, or because one assumes that the client won't care. Thus, a teacher who is overtired one day, or lax for just a few minutes, might tell himself that the child's parents will understand and forgive him—when in reality the parents, who are paying tuition for the express purpose of educating their child, do not understand and do not forgive. In such a case, the teacher's laxity can be considered damage. One can draw as many parallels as necessary from these ideas of the Rebbe to apply to one's own livelihood.

Therefore Rebbe Nachman advises strongly that we engage in hitbodedut, speaking to God daily about all of our needs, especially about being careful in monetary matters. And the Talmud tells us (Baba Kama 30a), “He who wants to be a chassid should fulfill the laws of damages!”

Have a good week. Chaim