A וואָרט from the רבי on this week's פרשה, פרשת שמות. In פרשת שמות we learn ויעבידו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך. The אידן made, the מצרים made the אידן work בפרך. And what does בפרך mean? So רש״י says בעבודה קשה, hard labor. And then the פסוק says וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה and they made their lives bitter with this hard labor. And the רבי says it's possible that nowadays a person should be in a similar situation like the אידן were in מצרים, and in a גלות, and it is not in the same form, but similar to what the פסוק says בנוגע the אידן in מצרים: they worked בפרך. What does בפרך mean, hard labor? What does hard labor mean? So the רמב״ם in הלכות עבדים, when he speaks about the דין where it says in the תורה that if you buy an עבד עברי, a Jewish slave, you cannot, you're not allowed to make him work עבודת פרך. And the רמב״ם explains what's עבודת פרך that you're not allowed to do. So the רמב״ם says it means עבודת פרך is work שאין לה קצבה ואין לה תועלת, work that has no limit or it has no purpose, no gain. That means in simple פשט, you can't tell your עבד, \"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 רמב״ם that עבודת פרך means work that has no limit and work that has no תועלת, has no purpose.

This is possible by a איד nowadays also in a רוחניותדיקע way. When a איד is involved in his making a living completely, immersed in the גשמיות 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 פרנסה, you're supposed to make a living, and you're supposed to work, but with a limit. There's time when you have to דאַוון with a מנין, time when you have to go learn a שיעור, learning, other מצוות, 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 דאַוונען is not a time, and that's עבודת פרך in רוחניות. Also, if you do that, it's an עבודה שאין לה תועלת, it has no purpose, because in order to really make a living and השם should give you the ברכה that you should make a good living, you have to do everything properly על פי הלכה. You have to דאַוון with a מנין, you have to learn תורה, you have to do everything that you have to do ברוחניות, then השם will give you the ברכה. But if חס ושלום 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 לה תועלת, has no תועלת. And this is the ענין of מצרים possible nowadays. So a איד like that could be in גלות מצרים, and his life is bitter, not his physical life, but his spiritual life. So when the פסוק says further וימררו את חייהם בעבודה קשה on this, on this עבודת פרך that they made their lives bitter, in this case you make your spiritual life bitter. And a איד has to know that this is גלות מצרים. And since we always celebrate יציאת מצרים, especially פסח, so we have to know that we have to get out of it, a איד has to get out of it. A איד should not work עבודת פרך like this. He should know that his work that he does in גשמיות has to have a limit. Certain times you don't do it. It has to have a תועלת, you have to do it in a proper way, learning and דאַוונען, then the אויבערשטער will send him the ברכה. And that is a personal יציאת מצרים, a personal גאולה from the שעבוד of מצרים of עבודת פרך.