Earning a Living — Earning a Life

Parshat Shoftim 5766 — August 21, 2006
by Chaim Kramer
Breslov Research Institute © 2006

Reincarnation and Renewal

We’ve discussed the role of the sparks of holiness in our lives, as well as how reincarnation helps us to rectify those sparks—by creating vessels—which are formed when we do good deeds. We have already touched upon Rebbe Nachman’s teaching that God’s beneficence is constantly descending upon us, but the reason we do not constantly see that beneficence is because we lack the vessels within which to receive them (Likutey Moharan II, 4:3; see Essay #2). We can now better understand this idea, since we have learned in the last two essays that we require vessels for everything. Our good deeds form the vessels. The more mitzvot we do, the greater our ability to join our sparks together to build better and stronger vessels, and thus the more we are able to receive and hold God’s blessings to us. In this last essay of these introductions to reincarnation, creating vessels and elevating the sparks, we will attempt to apply these concepts to familiar subjects. Then, next week God willing, we can begin exploring the issue of “earning a living.”

There is God’s blessing. It comes, it always comes, but somehow, more often it seems to go! What are we to do about it? How do we get to keep that blessing? Each day God recreates the world and makes a New Creation (daily liturgy). Therefore, each day has its Garden of Eden, as well as our misdeeds and subsequent banishment to the world of “earning a living.” Still, blessings abound—just look at the grass on the other side of the fence! Then why can’t it be mine?

We first need to recognize the blessing. We must open up our minds and hearts and look for God’s bounty which is present in each day. We have to count our blessings by starting with what we have. When we do this, when I realize that “I have X and X and X…,” then I begin to realize that I already have a vessel! Otherwise, how would these blessings be part of my life?! The very fact that we have a vessel tells us we already have a place where to receive the blessings of that day. And I can face the day with a positive attitude find additional good in my day. Then I can add to that good by doing good. The more good I do, the more I increase my vessel, and thus my ability to receive greater blessing, and so on. Thus the first step in being able to earn a livelihood is a positive attitude, knowing that God provides and that He will be sending me a blessing today.

The question is, “where is that blessing?” Or, “what is that blessing?” This is the idea of being able to hold onto that blessing. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the “eyes are always seeing wondrous things. However, because most things pass by the person’s eyes in great speed, we can’t grasp that item. How sight works is that the eyes focus upon an object and the focus allows the person’s mind to understand what he has seen. But if it passes by fleetingly, he cannot grasp the form or shape of the item (Likutey Moharan I, 254). We thus see that in order for the person to “see” something, he must focus his mind upon the item and internalize it in his head. For us to see God’s blessing we must become aware of God—we must become focused upon that which God sends us. We have to recognize it, and realize it as a blessing, despite lacking the full knowledge of what or how, etc.

This is “holding” onto the blessing. When we begin to count our blessings, we can “hold onto them” and be cognizant of their value. This is wealth, true wealth, as our Sages teach (Avot 4:1), “Who is rich? He who is happy with his portion.” Thus, to “earn a living,” we must be happy, we must take a positive attitude. Then we are ready to face the world and the curse of Adam, and come out with a blessing.

And we need to do this every day. We must renew our commitment to joy, no matter what happens. We must be prepared to be happy, even if the pickings are meager. We must keep focused on the blessing. This joy helps us work and create the vessels we need to receive greater blessing and will open the channels for more bounty and greater wealth. We will join together more sparks of holiness, we will create larger and stronger vessels and bring a greater influx of wealth for us and to all.

You might ask, rightfully so, well we’ve been doing this for quite a while, yet we fail to see that great blessing (a small blessing can always be found). Well, as explained last week, the Other Side is always standing by to take away from us these blessings through the fallen sparks. For example, the mafia may “earn their living” and continuously increase their wealth. But this wealth is not only not kosher, it is earned by destroying others’ lives. The vast majority of politicians earn their income the same way, steamrolling over their constituents and taxing them incessantly and unfairly while breaking promise after promise. Many “successful CEO’s of huge corporations won’t hesitate to make use of their stockholders’ monies to enrich themselves. And so on. All illegal. Nothing associated with God’s blessing. But the Other Side has its say too. And they awake each day thinking of new ways to make our lives miserable and take away our blessings. Just as they are very diligent in their attempts to destroy life, we too must be diligent when trying to build our lives. So the first step is to be aware of our blessings.

But not to fear. We spoke last week how Adam lacked patience. If we develop the attribute of patience, despite all the knocks we absorb, if we look upon everything as God’s blessing, we will eventually get those great blessings. Everything “earned” by the Other Side will be returned to the rightful owners in due time—perhaps right away, perhaps after death, perhaps in a future incarnation. The following story of the Baal Shem Tov will shed some light on this idea (from the Shivchey Baal Shem Tov).

The Baal Shem Tov who once asked a follower to sell him a certain horse. The owner refused, saying it was his best horse which did the work of many horses. The Baal Shem Tov understood and did not press the man. Instead, he asked to see the list of debtors who owed him money and the man complied. Looking through the IOUs, the Baal Shem asked the man if he could have one specific note and the man readily agreed, saying, “Of what use is that note, the man has already died.” The Baal Shem took the note and tore it up and immediately afterwards, the man’s workers reported that his favorite horse just died. The Baal Shem Tov said, “The soul of the person whose note I just tore up was reincarnated in the horse, which is why it worked so hard, in order to pay back its debt to you. He worked hard enough for the debt to be paid in full, so I released him from his agony.”

The same idea applies in all areas of reincarnation.

Note that the horse died upon completion of its debt. This is because the sparks of holiness sustain each item they are reincarnated within. When that spark is elevated, there is no longer any “life support” system in the item and it ceases to exist. In today’s mechanized world, about the only horses we use for work are those “under the hood.” Still, it is easy to conjecture a winning thoroughbred with people in the grandstands shouting, “Go on horse, you still owe me! There are thoroughbreds who bring a large return when being put to stud (which is legal) or a big payback on a bet (which is not supposed to be made). These are several ways a “horse” (i.e. debtor) can pay back its debts to its creditor. The same can be said of a car or washing machine which turns out to last very long and was a good investment. This is the elevation of the sparks found in that material item which attained rectification.

What is important to know is that every spark will be rectified. As the ARI writes, ther are sparks which enter the mineral realm and are sentenced to be there for years, decades, even centuries. But, eventually the time comes for those sparks to begin there ascent. Ever notice how certain items are kept in family heirlooms for centuries, only to suddenly be sold off at auction? This is because the time has come for the next step towards rectification. Things begin to move from place to place, from person to person, and as they trade owners to another soul which shares the same root, the sparks attain a degree of ascent. Eventually, those sparks will be used by someone who will perform some mitzvah which will bring its rectification. This is the essence behind any and all types of business, trading, work and financial agreements made when “earning a living.”

This fits in with the weekly Torah reading, Shoftim. Scripture states, Do not move your neighbor’s boundary markers, set in place by the settlers who were allotted hereditary property…” (Deuteronomy 19:14). This is an additional prohibition against stealing (Sifri). The idea of “hereditary property” refers to those sparks which belong to a person and are bound to him—they either ascend or descend with him. But these sparks are related to that person and not to anyone else. Each has his business, his trade, his belongings and so on in which he must be honest and deal properly with. But we must not covet or take another’s property, because then we rearrange the sparks causing more severe damage, which requires additional rectifications.

Hopefully, these past few essays have introduced the concepts of why we must work (Adam’s curse) yet why there are great benefits to working and “earning a living.” We will next try to begin our series of essays with related topics and learn how we, too, can see wonders and a revelation of Godliness, even while engaged in what might seem a most mundane task.

Have a good week,

Chaim Kramer