A vort from the Rebbe in this week's parshah, Parashat Shemot. In Parashat Shemot we learn: ויעבידו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך. The Yidden made, the Mitzrayim made the Yidden work בפרך. What does בפרך means? Rashi says בעבודה קשה, hard labor. And then the pasuk says: וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה, and they made their lives bitter with this hard labor. And the Rebbe says, it's possible that nowadays a person should be in a similar situation like the Yidden were in Mitzrayim, a Yid in galut, and it is not in the same form, but similar to what the pasuk says בנוגע the Yidden in Mitzrayim. They worked בפרך. What does בפרך mean? Hard labor. What does hard labor mean? So the Rambam in Hilchot Avadim, when he speaks about the din where it says in the Torah that if you buy an עבד עברי, a Jewish slave, you cannot, you're not allowed to make him work עבודת פרך. And the Rambam explains: What's עבודת פרך that you're not allowed to do? So the Rambam says it means עבודת פרך is work שאין לו קצבה ושאין לו תכלית. Work that has no limit or it has no purpose, no gain. That means, in simple peshat, you can't tell your eved: work here and do this and this job till I come back, without telling him for an hour, two hours. So as far as he's concerned, he doesn't know when the end will be. That's called עבודת פרך. Or you tell him to do something that you don't need, there's no purpose in doing it, there's no gain, but you just want him to work and do it, you're not allowed to do that either. So we see from the Rambam that עבודת פרך means work that has no limit and work that has no tachlit, has no purpose.

This is possible by a Yid nowadays also in a ruchniyus'dike way. When a Yid is involved in his making a living completely, immersed in the gashmiyus of it, so much so, it's possible that he's involved so much that there is no limit to it. Really, what's supposed to be, you're supposed to do your parnassah, you're supposed to make a living, and you're supposed to work, but with a limit. There's time when you have to daven with a minyan, time when you have to go learn a shiur in learning, other mitzvot. The work has to have a limit. But sometimes people unfortunately are involved so much day and night, and there's no limit, and time of learning is not a time, and time of daven is not a time, and that's עבודת פרך in ruchniyut. Also, if you do that, it's an עבודה שאין לו תכלית, it has no purpose. Because in order to really make a living, and Hashem should give you the berachah that you should make a good living, you have to do everything properly על פי הלכה. You have to daven with a minyan, you have to learn Torah, you have to do everything that you have to do beruchniyut, then Hashem will give you the berachah. But if chas veshalom you're so involved so much that there is no limit to it, then there is no gain. You will not gain what you want to gain. So that's called אין לו תכלית, there's no tachlit. And this is the inyan of Mitzrayim possible nowadays. So a Yid like that could be in גלות מצרים, and his life is bitter, not his physical life, but his spiritual life. So when the pasuk says further: וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה on this, on this עבודת פרך that they made the lives bitter, in this case you make your spiritual life bitter. And a Yid has to know that this is גלות מצרים. And since we always celebrate Yetziat Mitzrayim, especially Pesach, so we have to know that we have to get out of it. A Yid has to get out of it. A Yid should not work עבודת פרך like this. He should know that his work that he does in gashmiyut has to have a limit, certain times you don't do it, it has to have a tachlit, you have to do it in a proper way, learning and daven, then the Aibershter will send him the berachah. And that is a personal Yetziat Mitzrayim, a personal geulah from the shibud of Mitzrayim of עבודת פרך.