So the topic is working and learning, or working versus learning, or whichever way you want to call it. We once already spoke about and had a topic called Yissachar and Zevulun. Yissachar is the one represents the people who learn, and Zevulun represents those people who would support those that learn. And we discussed the two parts of Yissachar and Zevulun. Tonight we're not going to speak about the Zevulun as the supporter of Torah, but looking at it from the angle of working in itself. And we're not going to discuss which of the two is greater from the physical, financial part, who makes more money, but we're going to discuss more the spiritual approach or outlook, and significance of what is accomplished when you learn Torah, and what is accomplished when you do work, when you just work, regular work in the world. At first glance, there's nothing to discuss. Everyone knows that the most important thing is for a person to learn Torah. So what's the question here, or what is the discussion here? We know it says, ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם. Learning is more important than anything, even than other mitzvot. So certainly, learning Torah is more important than going to work. So if a person, person's only able to learn Torah, certainly he should learn Torah. The only reason a person would work is because you have no choice. You have to make a living, so you have to go to work, because if you don't go to work, you don't make a living. But really, there's no significance in going to work, that's what it would seem. Says תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם, learning is the most important thing. It says in פרקי אבות, אם למדת תורה הרבה, if you learned a lot of תורה, אל תחזיק טובה לעצמך, don't think of anything special about it, כי לכך נוצרת, for that you were created. A person was created to learn Torah. The whole world was created to do mitzvot and learn Torah. And it would seem that the reason some people work is because there is just no choice. You have to work, because otherwise you won't make a living. But there is no purpose in working in גש— in the גשמיותדיקע field. On the other hand, we do find different places where it seems to stress the importance of working. It says in פרקי אבות, טוב תורה עם דרך ארץ. Learning is good, but it becomes together with derech eretz. Derech eretz here means the way of the world, comes together with work. But here it only says tov, it's good, learning is better, it's good if it comes with work. But then there's another מאמר חז״ל where it says, תורה שאין עמה מלאכה סופה בטלה. If you just have Torah, and there is no work that comes along with it, the end will be it'll become battel, it'll be nullified, nothing will be at the end of it. In other words, not only is it good to have Torah with derech eretz, but also without דרך— without work there won't be anything to it. There are other pshatim, interpretations in this statement. Like for instance there is the pshat that the Berdichever says, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Berdichever says that what does the Mishnah mean, that תורה שאין עמה מלאכה, תורה that has no work will become battelah? The work refers to אהבת ישראל. You have to work on אהבת ישראל. But that's not the simple pshat, that's a deeper pshat. But the simple pshat is very pashut, that if you'll just have learning and you don't work, סופה בטלה, the end will be it will become בטל. So obviously there is an importance in working. Then we have, it says in the Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, there is a Mechilta, it's a Midrash. The regular Mechilta is Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael, but there is a Mechilta d'Rabbi Shimon. So it says in the Mechilta on the פסוק, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, six days you shall do work. So the Mechilta says, זו מצות עשה. It's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to work, which is very strange. The simple pshat in pasuk is, six days you are allowed to work, and the seventh day you must rest, you're not allowed to work. That's the simple pshat. ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, six days you can if you want, you can do work. וביום השביעי תשבות, the seventh day you have to rest. But the Mechilta says no, ששת ימים תעבוד, is a six days you shall work. There's a mitzvah to work. So what is so special about working, which means working in the גשמיותדיקע fields, and that is so important that without it the Torah is missing and without it, you know, all kind of different thing. Why is it so important? What is the significance of working? The significance of learning we understand, learning Torah of Hashem, the wisdom of Hashem, the most important thing. But what's the significance of working?

Now in Chassidus it says concerning the famous פסוק פסוק בכל דרכיך דעהו, which means in all your ways you shall know Him. It's a pasuk that says in all your ways you shall know Him. That refers to a person doing his own things. This doesn't refer to learning Torah or doing mitzvot, because learning Torah and doing mitzvot are not your ways, they are דרכי השם, they're the ways of Hashem. When it says בכל דרכיך, talks to the person and says in all your ways you shall know Him, we're talking about your own ways, which refers to eating and sleeping and going out into the world and doing business. So it says during when you do your own things, דעהו, you shall know Hashem. And then we have the famous statement in Pirkei Avot where it says כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, all your ma'asim, all your actions shall be for the sake of Hashem. And here again, it doesn't refer to mitzvot, because mitzvot are not called מעשיך, they're not your ma'asim, they're not your actions. They're מעשי השם. We do it, but what we do is we do the maasim of Hashem, things of Hashem. So when it says כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, all your things, your actions, it refers to your own, your own things. Which means, these two statements mean that when a person does things that are not to begin with of a holy nature, but they are of a גשמיותדיק, a natural nature, a person should utilize them to serve Hashem. That when you do your maasim, it should be for the sake of Hashem. When you בכל דרכיך, when you do your ways, it should be דעהו, you should know Hashem. Which really means that everything that we do should be lishmah shamayim. When we eat it should be lishmah shamayim, when we go to work just to make a living it should be lishmah shamayim. And that's very simple what it means, that you should go to work with the feeling, with the intention that the reason I'm working is so that I should make a parnasah to be able to support my family and be able to do Hashem's will. To be able to learn more Torah, should do more mitzvot, be able to send my children to yeshivot, be able to buy tefillin and mezuzot and give tzedakah. You do everything for that purpose. That's what Hashem wants us to do. So basically, it says in Chassidus we have two types of avodah, two types of two ways of serving Hashem. You have a way of serving Hashem directly through doing mitzvot, putting on tefillin, doing mitzvot, and through sitting and learning Torah. Every word of Torah that you learn is holy, and it brings kedushah and holiness into the world. Then we have the other derech, which is bringing Hashem into the mundane גשמיותדיקע physical things, which is through going to work and being involved in the world and serving Hashem through that. Which of the two is more important or is greater? Now at first glance, we would assume that doing mitzvot is greater, that's the most important thing, and we have to do all the mitzvot. Learning Torah, that's the greatest thing. Imagine, you sit and learn Torah, you bring down the אור אין סוף, the light of Hashem through Torah into this world, while when you're involved in physical things, materialistic things, so then you're not involved in holy matters. But Chassidus says, as much as we understand that doing mitzvot and learning Torah is great, from one perspective, בכל דרכיך דעהו is greater. And כל מעשיך לשם שמים is greater, which automatically touches upon the two sides here: learning Torah or going to work, who accomplishes more spiritually? So it says from one perspective it's greater. And in which way? Very simple. This is not something that's very deep in Chassidus, but this is one of the fundamental inyanim in Chassidus, that נתאוה הקדוש ברוך הוא להיות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים. Hashem desired to have a dwelling place in this low world. And every time we bring Hashem into this physical low world, we accomplish Hashem's desire, we fulfill His mission. And it's self-understood that the lower something is, and we bring Hashem into that aspect of the world, the more we fulfill Hashem's will. So when we do a mitzvah, we definitely bring Hashem into this low part of the world, because every mitzvah is done through physical matters. We put on tefillin, we take a physical piece of leather. Tzitzit is take some wool, it's גשמיותדיקע ענינים. Tzedakah is done with money. So we are involved in bringing Hashem into the תחתונים, into this low physical world. When we learn Torah, we bring Hashem into this physical world, because after all, we're talking about physical things. We have a physical sefer, we have our brain and we think about the inyanim of Torah, so we bring Hashem into the תחתונים, into the low part, into this low world, עולם התחתון, the low world. But when we do בכל דרכיך דעהו, when we bring Hashem into things which are not even a mitzvah, then we bring Hashem into even a lower part, a lower level of the world than we do when we do a mitzvah. When we do a mitzvah, even though we're dealing with a physical pair of tefillin, but nevertheless, לכתחילה doing doing something that's spiritual. The spiritual part is affecting and connected to a physical object. But when we bring Hashem into our business, when we bring Hashem into doing something physical, we are to begin with not involved in a spiritual thing. And nevertheless we bring Hashem into something that's not spiritual to begin with, so this is a lower level and we bring godliness even into the lower level. And therefore, this accomplishes more the בכל, the the נתאווה הקדוש ברוך הוא להיות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים, when Hashem wanted to have a dwelling place in this world. And that's why it says that who get connected to Hashem more, looking at from this angle, are the business people, the people who work, because they are connected to gashmiyut, and they, obviously, we're talking about people who do it properly, a person doesn't work l'shem shamayim or a person doesn't work honestly, obviously this is not what we're talking about. A person who works honestly, does everything על פי תורה, according to the Torah, so he brings godliness into a lower level of the world. To be more, using more the חסידישע language, terminology, or the Kabbalah terminology, in everything in the world we have ניצוצות הקדושה. We have the holy sparks. And our job in this world is to elevate the ניצוצות הקדושה, take them out, to be מברר, to separate them, to purify the things of the world and take out the ניצוצות הקדושה. And the ניצוצות הקדושה are there in every aspect of the world. And what Hashem wants is that we should lower ourselves into the תחתונים, into the low physical part of the world, and get the ניצוצות הקדושה out. And Hashem wants us to lower ourselves as to everything, because everything in the world has ניצוצות הקדושה. And when we get ניצוצות הקדושה out from a lower part of the world, we accomplish more of what Hashem desires. So when a person does a mitzvah, so he is מברר the ניצוצות, he does purify the sparks that are there in gashmiyut of this world. But nevertheless, what kind of gashmiyut? Gashmiyut that's connected to kedusha: the gashmiyut of a pair of tefillin, the gashmiyut of tzitzit, the gashmiyut of something that a mitzvah is done with. So as gashmiyut as it is, it's nevertheless, it borders with ruchniyut. So the ניצוצות הקדושה that are there are not ניצוצות הקדושה that fell so low, because it's not such a low matter to begin with. But when we get involved in גשמיותדיקע things that are to begin with gashmiyut, which everyone does by eating and drinking and sleeping, things like that, but a person also gets involved in doing business and work, which is gashmiyut, and he does it l'shem shamayim, so then you're מברר, you elevate the ניצוצות הקדושה even from a lower level, and therefore you accomplish more the wishes, the will of Hashem that He wants a דירה בתחתונים, He wants that this physical world should be a place for Him, there should be kedusha in this physical world. And that's connected to one of the things it says in in Chassidus that בעלי עסק, people who work, see hashgacha pratit, see godliness faster than someone that sits and learns. Someone that sits in Yeshiva and learns all day doesn't see hashgacha pratit, doesn't really see Hashem. He learns Torah and every word of Torah is Hashem's חכמה, Hashem's wisdom, so he's involved in Hashem's wisdom all day long, but he doesn't see it. We don't see how every word of Torah is Hashem's wisdom. You learn a piece of Gemara and it has a kushya and it gives a terutz and all kinds of questions, dealing with physical things, we don't see how Hashem is there. So a person could sit and learn all day and forget, so to speak, chas veshalom, that this is all from Hashem. But if a person who goes to work and he's involved in גשמיותדיקע ענינים in the world, there it says you see hashgacha pratit, you see the hand of Hashem much more. And a person like that could connect himself to Hashem even more, which is connected to the idea that it's more ניצוצות הקדושה. There's a story with the Rabbi Maharash that he once told somebody that he was was a businessman, he said, \"You go out always into the street, for you are you are you it's easier to see Hashem faster than those that sit in yeshiva all day.\" And one of the אלטע חסידים explained, and this was in the time of Rabbi Maharash, I think it was R'' Mordechai Yoel, Zalman Duchman's grandfather, explained to him, he said that it says שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד. The word Shema is an abbreviation. שמע ישראל means hear, אידן, השם אלקינו השם אחד. The word Shema is an abbreviation of שאו מרום עיניכם. ש-מ-ע, שאו מרום עיניכם. There's a pasuk that says שאו מרום עיניכם, pick up to the heaven your eyes, וראו, and you will see, מי ברא אלה, who created all this. So he said to him, people who are in the yeshiva all day don't have a chance to see שאו מרום עיניכם. People that are outside, that go out into the world, they are more outside, they are more able to see וראו מי ברא אלה, to see who created the world, and so see more hashgacha pratit. Besides that, people who have greater nisyonot, people who have greater tests, and overcome the tests, reach higher madregot. We know the word nisayon, which means a test, has another meaning. The word nisayon means to be elevated, to be picked up. Nes means a miracle, but nes also means a a banner, a flag. שאו נס על הרים, pick up the flag on top of the mountain. The word nes means something that's picked up. Nisayon is picked up. A person who has a nisayon, a person who has a test, and withstands the test, is elevated to a much higher madregah. People who are out there in the world and have to deal with גשמיותדיקע things, and have to deal with goyim, and have to deal with all kinds of things that come their way, and these are all nisyonot, these are all tests that Hashem puts in front of the person, there are stumbling blocks that come in front of a person, when a person overcomes these tests, and he is not influenced by these things in a negative way, that's an elevation for the person and the person becomes in a higher madregah. It's harder. It's definitely harder to be a real person the way Hashem wants you to be if you're in the outside world, the business world, in the working world, versus the person who is there inside the yeshiva, inside learning, and that's his job always. It's harder. But because it's harder, the results are greater, the benefit is greater, the reward is greater. Lefum tza'ara agra, that according to the tza'ar, according to the effort, that's how much you get your reward. The reward is greater to get to become a higher madregah. They this is sounds like a joke, but when the Rebbe Rashab, after his father the Rebbe Maharash passed away, and they asked him to become a Rebbe and he didn't want, he had an older brother and his older brother didn't want, and he didn't want and it took a while till he agreed. Finally when he agreed, they asked him, \"Why did you agree finally?\" So he said, \"Why'd you become a Rebbe?\" He said, \"If I wouldn't become a Rebbe, I'd have to be a businessman, so I picked the easier job.\" Because to be out in the world and to be the way you're supposed to is harder, he says, than my job, and I decided to take the easier way out. Because he said that way is hard, but he did say that the results are greater, you reach a higher madregah. That's the pshat in the pasuk that's brought down in Chassidus many times: מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה, the mighty waters cannot extinguish the love. And not only it cannot extinguish the love, it says the mighty waters bring a person to a higher madregah of love. And that talks about a Yid and Hashem. And Chassidus explains who are the mighty waters? When a person is out in the world with טרדת הפרנסה, with the hardships of making a living, and getting involved in all these things, those are called מים רבים. Those are called mighty waters. It's like you're in the flood, actually you're in in ma'amarim of of Parashat Noach, and also in Parashat Toldot, you're in the flood, you're out someplace in the ocean, and there is a great storm there, and you're in the ark trying to survive, and you survive. A person doesn't survive, then it's bad, but if a person survives, then this person comes out much stronger than a person who never was in the mighty waters. It says יורדי הים באניות, there is a pasuk that we say Friday night before Mincha, יורדי הים באניות המה ראו מעשי השם, that those that go down in the ים, in the ocean, in the ships, they see the ways of Hashem. Which pshat pshat means when somebody's in the ocean and there's a storm, you are able to see the ways of Hashem when Hashem protects you, and you come out of that storm, you thank Hashem and you really see how Hashem what Hashem did, Hashem's wonders. But the Baal Shem Tov has a pshat on that pasuk. He said it refers to a Yid, neshamah coming down into this world, and this whole world is called you're in the ים, it's like an ocean, you're throwed in thrown into the ocean, but you're in a ship, and this ship is to protect you. Now, as much as every Yid being in this world, and neshamah coming down to this world, is called in the ים, in that itself, who is really, really called being in the ים, in the ocean, with the stormy waters? That's a בעל עסק. That's a person who does business or is a worker out in the world, because that's where you have all these hardships. And it says המה ראו מעשי השם, they're the one that are able to see the מעשי of Hashem, they could reach a higher madregah. So we have many aspects aspects here in the maalah over a person who goes out to work. We're not discussing here the maalah of a person who learns Torah, because that we don't have to discuss, everyone knows the maalah and that's an obvious thing. If you learn Torah all day, you it says in Chassidus, in Tanya, in Chassidus all over, you connect yourself to Hashem with your brain and you're one, all kinds of maalot. But what I'm trying to bring out is that on the other hand, if you look at it this way, there is a maalah to somebody who even goes out to work, because you have the ניצוצות הקדושה which are on a lower madregah, where Hashem wants that also to be נתברר, should also be elevated. And that's not be done through the תלמידי חכמים or the people who sit and learn all day, because they're not involved in that madregah. That's the people who go out into the world. So basically, if you want to look at it, who are the people who fulfill the true will of Hashem, are those people who go out. The people who are in the yeshivah world all day, they, if you want a little bit you could compare them to מלאכים. They don't have the world, and they're up there in שמים, and they're close to Hashem, and they learn Torah all day, they daven all day, it says, and they're in a very high madregah. So why did Hashem have to create a world for? He has מלאכים. He created the world because he wanted a גשמיות'דיגע world. So true, everybody, even those that sit and learn are also in a גשמיות'דיגע world, and also have a yetzer hara, and also have to overcome. Emet. But when you look at them in the פרטים, in detail of the those levels themselves, which one is a higher madregah, this is the higher madregah. That's one nekudah, one idea concerning the maalah of a בעל עסק, it says in Chassidus, of a person who works over a person who learns Torah. But then there is more to it. To get a little bit into another subject for a moment, not another subject, in this subject, but another point here. There is a pasuk that says, this we'll get a little more the way Chassidus, more from the chassidishe point of view from the the the philosophy of Chassidus, understanding what is the accomplishment of a person who works, a person who learns Torah.

There's a pasuk that says אדם לעמל יולד. A person was created to toil. It's a pasuk. The Gemara in Sanhedrin has a discussion over what's the pshat in this pasuk. Toil over what? אדם לעמל יולד, a person was made to toil. Toil over what? So the first, the Gemara says maybe it means to toil of work. A person was created to do what the Gemara calls עמל מלאכה. עמל, עמל is hard labor, toil, of מלאכה, of work. But the Gemara quotes a pasuk, no, it's not עמל מלאכה that the person is supposed to do. Maybe it's עמל שיחה. Working hard in talking. עמל שיחה. And the Gemara says, no, that's not it. So what really does the pasuk mean a person was created to toil? עמל תורה. To toil over learning Torah. Now, we know that when the Gemara has a hava amina, which means when the Gemara has a first sevara of an idea, thinking of something, and then the maskana, the end is it's not that, even that first part also is true. It's not like when we learn other studies and you come up with an idea, well, maybe this is what it means, and then you realize it's not what it means, so the first thing was a mistake. It's wrong. In the Torah it's not like that. Even the hava amina, even the first thought of the Gemara is also part of Torah. If it wouldn't be, the Gemara wouldn't bring it. And the best proof is that when a person learns Torah, you have to make a bracha. What happens if a person learns a piece of Gemara and only managed today to learn that piece which was the hava amina, which was just the first thought of the Gemara? Would he have to make a bracha when he learns that, or could he learn that without a bracha? Certainly he has to make a bracha, because it's also part of Torah. And Torah is emet. So when the Gemara says at first glance that the reason a person was created was to toil in work, must be some truth to it. Not that was just, it's just like first glance, a thought and then the Gemara, ah, it's not true. It is true! And then when the Gemara says that it doesn't mean that, it means a person was created עמל, עמל שיחה, to talk, the toil of talking, that also must be true. And then when the Gemara says that's not so, but it's עמל תורה, it means that they're all three true. All three are true. The only thing is, to work, just in working is not enough. Working with talking is not enough. You also have to have, on top of that, the Torah. But there is something that the Gemara felt is important when a person works. Now, what's so special of a person working that we would think that the whole reason for creation, אדם לעמל יולד, a person was created to work? Go out to the field or go out to the office to work, why would a person, why would we think that? And not only why would we think that, this remains that this is true! It's just not the goal. You have to go with that a little bit further, but that's part of it. Certainly, what does the Gemara mean that a person was created to talk? Talk, what's so good about talking? Especially we know that the Rambam says that out of most of the types of talk that there is, they're no good. And the, and it says in Mishnah in פרקי אבות לא מצאתי לגוף טוב משתיקה, that there is nothing better than being quiet, and the Rambam says there are ten categories of speech. Ten categories of talk. Nine are no good. Only one category is good. And that's why the best thing is not to talk. The Gemara says מילה בסלע, שתיקא בתרי. If you'd get a dollar for a word, you should get two dollars for not saying it, because the best thing is to be quiet. Why? Because talking is never good. You talk, most of the talk is no good, the Rambam says. So why would the Gemara say at first glance that maybe a person was created עמל פיהו, to work hard at talking? And not only a hava amina that that might be peshat, but it's the truth! It is, like we said, everything the Gemara says is true. So Chassidus explains this as follows. Number one, the Frierdiker Rebbe explains that when the Gemara says עמל פיהו, the toil of talk doesn't mean talking, it means davenen. The Gemara says אין שיחה אלא תפילה. It means davenen. And the re'iyah is that by Yitzchak it says ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה, he went out to talk in the field, that means he went to daven. So, we're getting someplace already that there's no question that it doesn't mean talking, it's davenen. So what we have here is three stages in the Gemara: One is עמל מלאכה, that the first thing that the Gemara thought and remains, but not as the goal, that a person was created to toil in work. On top of that, you have the toil in tefillah, and on top of that, you have the toil in Torah. But obviously, toiling in work is the first step. Why is toiling in work the first step? What is there in the maalah of work? The Rebbe explains this very interestingly. The Rebbe says like this: Why is it that a person was created to toil? Forget about what the toil is, why was he created to toil? Why didn't Hashem make it that a person shouldn't have to work at all, shouldn't have to work hard? He should get everything easy! He should get everything for free! Why do we have to work for things? Why can't we get things for free? Well, we all know that it says in the Zohar that if you get something for free, you don't feel you earned it, and it's an embarrassment. In Zohar it's called nahama dechisufa, embarrassed bread. If someone is fed bread and didn't earn it, he feels embarrassed. The Gemara says אדם רוצה בקו שלו יותר מתשעה קבים של חבירו. A person would rather have a little bit of his own, more than ten times as much if it was given to him by somebody else, because if you work for it, you feel good about it. Otherwise, you're embarrassed. And since that's the nature of a person, Hashem made it that we should have to work for everything that we get, because otherwise, since our nature is that we feel embarrassed, then Hashem doesn't want us to have it that way, Hashem wants to give us that we should feel good about it. But that doesn't answer the question: Who created that nature? Hashem! Hashem created the nature of a person to feel embarrassed if he doesn't earn it. So Hashem could could have created us with a different nature, with a nature that we don't care if we don't work for it, and then not have to make us work and everything would be fine! It would be much easier! There must be a reason why Hashem created us with this nature that we should have to work to earn things, not, it shouldn't come free. And the answer the Rebbe gives is that we are, human beings are the highest level of the creation. You know, the creation is divided into four parts: דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר. דומם - rocks and things like that, plant life, animal life, and the human race. The goal of everything is to get out of its category and reach the next category. When the soil makes things grow, this soil becomes part of צומח, part of the growth. When an animal eats the grass or eats the fruit, then the plant life becomes part of the animal life, it's elevated. When an animal is slaughtered and eaten by a human being, then the meat of this animal, which is the third category, becomes part of the human. Where does the human go? Human is top. The human is the top of creation. What's the step after this human being higher than this the human? Is the Creator. So what Hashem wants us is to be able to reach a level of being with the Creator, like the Creator. What's the difference between the creation and the Creator? The difference is the creation is something that not of its own, it's מקבל, it receives everything, it was given it. and get something. When you work and you made it, then you accomplished something. You created something. You become like the creator. So, then you become like the Gemara says א שותף להקדוש ברוך הוא במעשה בראשית. The Gemara says the goal is that a person should become a partner to Hashem in the creation of the world. And the Gemara mentions a few individual things where it says clearly that by doing this and doing that, you become א שותף, a partner to הקדוש ברוך הוא במעשה בראשית. But basically, when we look at the whole goal that a human being is supposed to reach is to become a partner to Hashem. You should be not a create creation, but become a partner to Hashem, be like the creator, א שותף להקדוש ברוך הוא במעשה בראשית. Now, in order to become a partner to Hashem in the creation, you have to do something which is connected to the creation. And does it על פי תורה, always talking only if he does it according to the Torah, then he becomes similar to the creator. That's the מעלה of work. When you work with גשמיותדיקע ענינים, you work with this world and you work in a form that it has the koach of Torah because you're working according to the Torah, honestly, and you do everything that should be and no stealing and no cheating and everything according to שם שמים, but you're involved in matters of מעשה בראשית, matters of the world. So, by doing that, you are expressing the fact that you become א שותף, a partner to Hashem in the מעשה בראשית. So, when the pasuk says אדם לעמל יולד, a person was born, was created to toil, and the reason why Hashem created a person that he has to work hard, things don't come easy, is because Hashem wants a person to have the koach of going out of the framework of being part of the creation, but becoming the creator of the world. Becoming similar to the creator of the world. How can you accomplish that if you utilize the koach that Hashem gave you within מעשה בראשית? When you work with Torah, Torah is higher than the world. Torah is higher than the creation. For instance, the Gemara says that אין כל חדש תחת השמש, there's nothing new under the sun. And the Gemara asks a kashya, we know that it says אין בית המדרש בלא חידוש. There's no thing as a בית המדרש, a yeshivah without a chidush. There's always a chidush in Torah, always something new in Torah. How does that fit when the pasuk says there was nothing new under the sun? And the Gemara answers, the Torah is not under the sun. The Torah is higher than the sun. The Torah is higher than the world, אין כל חדש תחת השמש, the world is the creation is called תחת השמש. Torah is higher than the shemesh. So, when a person gets involved in Torah, he's not involved in מעשה בראשית. He's not involved in inyanim, things of this world. But when you get involved in business or you get involved in work, and you toil in work, that's where you express and you do it according to the Torah. That's where you express your being a partner to Hashem in מעשה בראשית, in the creation. And that's why the Gemara at first said, when the pasuk says אדם לעמל יולד, a person was created to work hard, which means he was created to reach a level of becoming a partner to Hashem in מעשה בראשית, in the creation of the world. The Gemara says, well, obviously, what does that mean? Which kind of work? עמל מלאכה, to work because if you work with this world, that's where you will express your idea of why you were created to work. You were created to work hard so you will become a mashpia, you will become like the creator of the world. So, you have to work with the world. But then the Gemara continues, says that's not enough. Not that the Gemara says this is wrong. This is true, and this has to be, and this is the way things are, that when you work in the gashmiyut of the world, then you become a partner to השם במעשה בראשית. But it's something that all businessmen and all workers have to keep in mind, that when you do that, you become a partner to השם במעשה בראשית. If you work לשם שמים על פי תורה, you become a partner with השם במעשה בראשית. It helps him create the world because you are creating, you are working with the world. But the Gemara says it's not enough. Why? Because besides becoming a partner to Hashem in the creation of the world, what also has to happen is you have to bring Elokus which is beyond the world into the world. So there has to be something that you do in addition to that. In order for that to be the way it's supposed to, you're supposed to do something that will elevate you beyond the world. And then you will have both. You will have been working in the world, and at the same time, you will connect the level of Godliness which is beyond the world, and you will connect it with the world. But if you only stick with work, then you are doing something in the world, you're still lacking that connection to something that's beyond the world. And how do you get connected to something that's beyond the world? That's tefillah. That's davenen. Because we know that davenen is referred to as the sulam. This which parashah? This is hashgachah pratit. That's not the reason why I chose it, but it is hashgacha pratit. יעקב's dream, he dreamt that he had he saw a tree, a סולם, a ladder, מוצב ארצה, standing on the ground, וראשו מגיע השמימה, and its tip touched the שמים. And the Zohar says, what is this ladder? דא צלותא, this is davenen. Davenen is a ladder that connects a person from down here, connects them with the שמים. It's מוצב ארצה when you daven, the ladder stands on the ground. On the ground means this physical world. And actually, it doesn't say it stands on the ground, but it says ארצה, deep in the ארץ, ארצה, in the ארץ, very, very gashmiyut. But it goes It's the way that you could connect, because a ladder connects the bottom with the top, to the שמים, and not just שמים, but השמים, and not just השמים, but השמימה. וראשו מגיע השמימה, that shows deep, deep in שמים, from deep, deep in the ארץ, to deep, deep in שמים, and that's tefila. Because when you daven, what's davenen? Davenen is when you communicate with Hashem. Davenen is a time when your neshama wants to get close to Hashem. So when a person davens, that's the time when he gets close to inyanim which is שמים, and higher than שמים. The world, as I said before, is תחת השמים, that's under the שמים. But through tefila, you connect yourself to higher than שמים, השמים, into the שמים, and deeper, higher than שמים. So if a person has the melacha together with the tefila, then he's already on the right track. You have the melacha, that means you're involved in this world, mimeila you're using your the Torah, obviously al pi, according to the Torah, but you're utilizing the world, מעשה בראשית, to use your koach, so then you are becoming a שותף to Hakadosh Baruch Hu במעשה בראשית. You become a partner to Hashem in מעשה בראשית, but still it's all the way you are within the world. But then what happens when you go further and you have on top of that tefillah, that means you connect yourself to beyond the world, so now you have the connection of shamayim brought down into the aretz, because you are doing melachah, you are doing work, so now you really accomplishing what Hashem wants, and you become a real partner to Hashem in מעשה בראשית. You are involved in מעשה בראשית, and al pi Torah, and when you do it with with amal, that means that you become the mashpia, you're working on it, so when you work, you're giving. It's not for free, so you're the mashpia, so you're bringing Hashem into the world, and at the same time it's connected to shamayim. But then the Gemara says it's still not enough. Because as much as you connect yourself to shamayim by tefillah, it's you are climbing the ladder. You are connecting yourself to Hashem. And as long as it comes from within you, from within the person, it has to be limited. Because as great as a person is and as high as a person will reach, it's all reaching from within himself. So as much as this person is able to go and as high as he's able to reach, that's as far as it'll go. You can never really get out of the framework of yourself. It's like a person The mashal, I always give the Rebbe gave this mashal, when a person wants to pick himself up by picking himself by his ears. So you'll pick you're picked, but it's all from within yourself. So tefillah is a time when you lift yourself, you elevate yourself, true, but it's not the real, real getting out of the framework of this world. What we want here really is, when does a person really become equal, k'vayachol, to Hashem, and becomes a partner in מעשה בראשית? That's when he works in מעשה בראשית, and at the same time, he connects himself to the level which is beyond any limitations of the creation. And when you have the connection between these two, then you really become a partner to Hashem במעשה בראשית. What really makes a person go out completely beyond the limitation of this world completely? That's the Torah. Because the Torah, when you learn Torah, it's not that you elevate yourself to a certain level. Torah is completely beyond this world. We know the Torah that we have down here, that we study, is the same, same Torah that's in Hashem's mind. And that's the Torah that Hashem gave us. Like we say in bentshn: ועל תורתך שלמדתנו. We thank Hashem for your Torah that you gave us. The Torah, the same Torah that's by Him, by You, by Hashem, that's the Torah we have. It just has a different levush, a different garment. It's dressed in a different way, but that makes no difference. Like we learned many times, that the garment is not the thing that changes. When you hug a person, what do you care if the person is wearing one set of clothes, or two sets, or three sets of clothes? It doesn't make a difference. You're not hugging the clothes, you're hugging what? The person that's in the clothes. So the same thing here, when you study Torah, even though it's in a levush of gashmiyut, שור שנגח את הפרה, and all kinds of things that we learn about, but in it is the wisdom of Hashem, and Torah down here did not change. That's why it says Torah could never become tamei. The Gemara says, דברי תורה אינן מקבלין טומאה. Torah can't become tamei. הלא כה דברי כאש, the Gemara says, my words are like fire, it can't become tamei, because Torah down here, the same words of Torah down here, it has the same kedushah as it's up there by Hashem. Everything comes from Hashem, but we know that the world that comes from Hashem was transformed. Its origin, its source is from Hashem. ממך הכל, everything comes from You, but it's transformed, and transformed, goes through one tzimtzum, and another tzimtzum, and another contraction, until finally it turns out into a gashmiyusdike, a physical world. But Torah is not like this. The Torah starts with Hashem and stays that way. It just gets covered with a garment, but it didn't change. So when we study Torah, we really connect ourself to the real Elokus, Godliness, the way it's beyond this world. It's different than by tefillah. Tefillah is like the ladder that connects, but it's still the connection that you bring upon yourself. You try to connect, you communicate with Hashem, you try to walk up the ladder, and you get there, and it goes up to shamayim, but still in a limited form. And on top of that, if you have the Torah, then you really connect yourself to the real, real level of Hashem the way He is. And since you do melachah also, then you connect that to the melachah. And that's what the Gemara means. The Gemara doesn't mean there was a hava amina, a thought, maybe it means that you have to work, then it said, no, that's not what it means. Maybe it means you have to daven, no, that's not what it means. That's not what a person was created for. What does it mean? Torah. Not the פשט. The Gemara says, maybe a person was created to work? It says, no, not only, but that is part of what he was created for. Then the Gemara says, davening also? The Gemara says, no, that's not enough either! Not that it's not, it's not enough! You got to have Torah on top. But when you have all three, that's when we accomplish what Hashem wants. So the bottom line of all this is that you have to have all three things in order to accomplish the will of Hashem, and a person should reach his goal of why a person was created. אדם לעמל יולד, he was created to work, which means Hashem has created a person so he should be able to reach a higher level, a level of becoming, so to speak, k'vayachol, like the Creator. In order to do that, you have to have the work, and you have to have the תפילה, the davening, and you have to have the Torah. Now, Klal Yisrael was divided, besides that every person has to have these three מדרגות, generally Klal Yisrael was divided into two categories, it says in the Zohar. Some people are, we call them מארי תורה, masters of Torah, and some people are called מארי עובדין טבין, masters of good deeds, but basically they're called בעלי עסק, working people, business people. You see, the fact is that the majority of people are the working people, not the people who are involved completely in Torah. Obviously, this is the one most important part, but on top of that, you also have to do Torah. So each person in his own life has to have both, but in Klal Yisrael as a whole, we also have to have both, and the majority of people are in the מלאכה. And what does it accomplish? So now we know, going back to the beginning, that it accomplishes a lot, because you bring אלקות into the very low levels of the world, you're מברר the ניצוצות from a very low level of the world, you stand, you withstand tests, which elevates the person to a higher מדרגה. Besides that, if you're involved in מעשה בראשית, in the facts of the world, then you're able to really become a שותף לקדוש ברוך הוא, a partner to Hashem in מעשה בראשית, and that's the goal, that's what Hashem wants. And when all the people will do that, everyone his share, and do it l'shem shamayim, then we will accomplish the wish of Hashem, which is לעשות לו דירה בתחתונים. And when that happens, then Mashiach will come, and then all the good things that we did, whether it's the learning or the working and everything, will be revealed, and we will all see all the great things that we accomplished, and we hope it's going to be very, very soon, bimheirah b'yameinu.

Yes? ראשי ישיבות or מלמדים, so to speak. Well, but you have to have both. They're not מברר ניצוצות? Not as much, true, they're not מברר as much. But what it says is, it says is So, this is a good question. The question was, so it comes out that these people who are in the Torah business, whether they're ראשי ישיבות, or משפיעים, or melamdim, they're missing out in all these that you're talking about? True, they miss out. But why should they miss out? So it says that if they help another person who is involved in the world, in the materialistic world, help them in learning, help them in what they can, then they get a share in all the great inyanim that are accomplished by those. The other way around, yeah? Huh? Yeah. Usually you hear the opposite, that when a person supports a talmid chacham, he has a share in his Torah. And now we're saying the opposite, yes, that when a talmid chacham helps another Yid who is in the business world, helps him learn, or helps him in what, everything he has to be helped, then you get a share in the בירור הניצוצות or in all the elevation, all the inyanim that is accomplished by them. And to say that in the in in the other, you know, circles, people practically would say, \"Well, the people who learn are the ikar. Other people are called the baalei batim, and what are they? They're nothing.\" And then, but the question is, why did Hashem make it, and it's al pi Torah, it's not that it's against the Torah, that most people are not people who sit and learn all day? Did Hashem want that most people should not really do what they're really supposed to do? You can't make everybody trained to learn, why did Hashem make it? Obviously that Hashem made it that way, and it says in the Torah that that's how it is. It says in Zohar. So obviously they have there is a reason for, not only a reason, that's a goal in itself. And those people who don't have it are missing, but by connecting, so each one takes from the other and we get that too. It's like tzadikim and baalei teshuvah. There's such a thing as, such a maalah in a baal teshuvah, that a baal teshuvah is able to elevate, the same idea, elevate the nitzotzot, the holy sparks from lower things. A tzadik only elevates the sparks that are found in things which are permitted. A baal teshuvah, who did aveirot, then he does teshuvah, so he elevates the sparks that were there even in חזיר. A person who ate treif and then does teshuvah, so the nitzotzot of the חזיר is elevated. So the same question is asked, so that means a tzadik is missing something a baal teshuvah has. Yes, he's missing. So what do we do? So the Rebbe once said that if a tzadik helps somebody become a baal teshuvah, gets a share in the ניצוצות דקדושה that he was mevarer from the חזיר, he gets a share in it too. And the same is with this inyan, that the בעלי תורה get a share in what the בעלי עסק do. Yes. Yeah? I have a dumb question. It's not clear in my head. You said that davenen makes you limited, because you bring It is still limited, nothing makes it limited. But isn't it true that when you learn, you're also limited, you're also you know A person is limited by Everything is limited. We are gashmiyusdike people, we're limited. But what you're learning is an unlimited chochmah. Even though you only grasp a limited part of it, but it is an unlimited chochmah. While when you daven, you're only limited. You reach as much as you can. While here, you have in your mind When you understand a piece of Gemara, a piece of Chumash, you have in your mind the unlimited wisdom of Hashem, even though you only understand a limited part of it. But you do have the עצמות of Hashem. Yeah? Okay, you said something about the fact that you're embarrassed when you're not working, when you don't earn, you know, these things. Did they not learn? Can they not decide? No, it's the nature. It seems like it's a nature. How are some people, why do they go to work? Well, there are always madregot in different natures. But still, the nature is of a person. It's a nature, an inborn nature of a person that he'd rather work and earn. Most people in most situations, there are always exceptions. But generally, that's it. And regarding, you said that old places is more The more the, yeah, the high a higher madrega if you take out the ניצוצות, right? Just supposing that life in America or life in Israel. Now, they say that life in Israel, you're on a higher madrega, bla bla bla. But as you say, as they said, right? But nevertheless, from what you just said, it seemed that working here in America would make it that it's more even more difficult. I'll give you an example. Living in the time of the Beit HaMikdash or living in galut. So living in Beit HaMikdash times, much higher. You had אלוקות and you had the kedushah and all kinds of things. Nevertheless, it says that why did Hashem send us to galut? Because by being in galut, we will be elevated to higher madrega than living in the time of of the Beit HaMikdash. And that's one of the things why Hashem is really hesitating from bringing Mashiach so fast. Because Hashem has pleasure in the fact that we're in galut and we, אף על פי כן, still overcome the hardships, and He has pleasure because that makes us in a higher madrega. That's why it says We say in the Haggadah, we thank השם שחישב את הקץ לעשות, that Hashem counted and took us out of Mitzrayim. So we thank Hashem, we praise Him for it. ברוך המקום, ברוך הוא, thank Hashem for taking us out. Everyone asks the question, what do you mean, what are you to thank Him for? He promised to do it. For keeping a promise, you don't have to thank anybody. What's so special about it? Every human being has to keep a promise. The answer is, for Hashem it was a big mesirut nefesh to take us out of galut, because He saw what we gain by being in galut, He'd rather us stay in galut, but He went on mesirut nefesh and He took us out of galut for our benefit. But otherwise, yes, we gain. The same thing, being in galut versus Eretz Yisrael, it's lower, but because it's lower, you're able to reach a higher madrega. Different type of madrega. You see more like, when do you reach higher madrega? Being in time of the Beit HaMikdash or in galut? We all know that time of the Beit HaMikdash was higher madrega. But this nekudah, this point, this aspect, from this perspective, from this angle, you're higher in galut. And the same thing here in חוץ לארץ, that's true. It doesn't mean a person should live in חוץ לארץ, but I'm saying that they're living in חוץ לארץ, living amongst goyim, living with hardships, and nevertheless being the way a Yid is supposed to be, that's a higher madregah. Yes. So, if working and accomplishing is a great thing, why if working was connected to yetzer hara, we spoke last week that Yaakov and Esav, Yaakov told Esav that you should steal time from Like every nisayon. Every nisayon is something that's hard, and every nisayon comes from the yetzer hara, comes from the klipah side. But the fact that you overcome the yetzer hara, you overcome the nisayon, that's a higher madregah. So when we look at getting involved in gashmiyut in itself, you're not a higher madregah, it's a lower madregah, you are doing something lower. But doing something lower can make you reach a higher madregah. But at that for you during that time, you're being מברר the ניצוצות, you're accomplishing the great thing, so why would you steal away time from that to learn when Because one of the ways to be one of the ways to be מברר the ניצוצות is by sometimes learning. A person who works and get a chance to learn, bring learning into his work, that's the that's the way he's מברר the ניצוצות. One of the ways to מברר the ניצוצות is by having time to learn, and using, connecting that to work. Doesn't say a person should give up his work to go to learn, that's not what we're saying. Steal some time, that means that you're still in the category of working, category category of the world, and you bring kedushah by learning, that's when you accomplish. So do we have any guidance as to how each individual is supposed to find that balance? Well, it's it's very it's very hard. I mean, it's very hard, it's hashgachah pratit, that whoever sees hashgachah pratit put him in a situation, you know that that's your job. Lichorah, after all this, I should say let me quit my job and take a job somewhere in an office. Why not, if it's such such a special thing? But hashgachah pratit, you have to look the way Hashem put you and where Hashem, and that's the way you're supposed to. Hashem made you come to the point where you do what you're supposed to. Now, that doesn't mean that sometimes you do things that you shouldn't, but bederech klal, if that's the normal situation and that's where you're put, min hashamayim. But, but it's hard davka to know for sure. Does the Shulchan Aruch give a guideline of how many hours a day Well, in Shulchan Aruch it says you should only work as much as you need to survive, to make a living, a normal living, and then the rest you're supposed to learn. Now, what's called making a living and how much it is, it's hard to say, the truth is really this is one of those things that a person should go to somebody who's objective and give him guidelines. Rabbi, you mentioned that you say a berachah when you learn. Now, you say a berachah in the morning, you say a berachah, you say a berachah when you get an aliyah, but where is the berachah when you learn Okay, I didn't really go into that. I was thinking, should I stop and explain it? The truth is, you're not allowed to learn without making a berachah, just like you don't do a mitzvah without making a berachah, before you put on tefillin. What we do is, we make one berachah in the morning and that goes for the whole day. Except when you have an aliyah, you're supposed to make a second berachah. But it's not a pshat that when you learn it doesn't need a berachah, you just have said the berachah in the morning. Why wouldn't that hold like for fruit, can you eat fruit No, a berachah for learning, because oh, do you have to make once once a day a berachah for fruit should be all day? Because learning, you're obligated every moment. So this berachah of the morning helps for the whole day. But to be practical, what I said before, if someone wakes up in the morning and didn't manage yet to say the birkat haTorah, the berachah on Torah, can he learn a piece of Gemara? No, he's not allowed to. Can he learn that piece of Gemara that has only that havah amina, only the first first idea, before he makes a berachah? He can't, because he didn't make a berachah. Ay, you'll say, well it's not real stuff, it's only just the beginning, you could change? That shows that this is also part of Torah. Yes. What about ladies? What about them? Well, some ladies don't go to work, and some ladies sit, and some ladies just stay home and they raise their children No, that that's that's their בירור הניצוצות. The great the greatest madregah for the ladies is when they stay home and they raise their family and they're able to do all the things that they're supposed to, that's their, by the women, that's their highest madregah. Yes. Just like here in New York, right? I mean, I'm just wondering, just kind of living, walking down the street, going to Publix, you don't need to be in a job to be able to be, I mean Yeah, to a certain degree. But that's not amal. What we're looking for is amal, which means working, working hard. What makes a person become the level of birur is that you have to work for something. Now there is a lower level of work, you work very little, like walking to Publix you say is also work, you got to take your feet and walk, but that's not really amal. Amal really means a person when you have to struggle and you have to work and do things, and even if a person has a big business, but still you're involved, the involvement that that you have to have, and that causes things to happen, that's the amal that makes you like a borei. Like doing, like doing laundry, doing the dishes, like just clean the house, yeah, is that what you mean, like... No, that's not amal. That's, that's different thing. That's having the גשמיות in front of you is a nisayon. And therefore, every moment that you see the גשמיות, you got to overcome the יצר הרע. That's true, that's one aspect, that's true, but that's not amal. When we say אדם לעמל יולד, it has to be it means working, working hard, not seeing גשמיות. Okay. Yes, one more question. If things be a greater action because of bringing kedushah lower, yeah, why don't we deal with things that are, davka, the lowest you can get? Like what? Pigs. What do you mean, dealing with them? Eating them? Not allowed to eat. What about work that's farming them? Raising them, skinning them? Yeah, but that's not called that you're mevarer them really, because you're not eating. Mevarer is when you get involved in like eating it, or get doing something with it. How about keeping away from it? Right. In this case, anything that you're not allowed, you're mevarer by keeping away, to a certain degree. It should work. Could be. Could be that way. Why not raise dogs and pigs? If naturally this would be the normal way of living, then ein hachi nami. We don't have to go out of our way to davka to do things which are low. Like the, like the saying is, אל תביאנו לידי נסיון. We don't look for things of, but if the situation is that you're in that matzav, then you have a high madregah. But we don't ask Hashem to put us in a nisayon. The same thing here, we don't lower ourselves, but if the matzav is that you're lowered, then you know that you gained something. Didn't you see in history people like a, like a tanner? They didn't have high regard for a tanner. Because the gashmiyut is smelly and this, not because it's a lack of ehrlichkeit. So it's just the person is not such a high intellectual person or something else. But we're talking about the accomplishment that you accomplish, you accomplish more. From the gashmiyusdike perspective, takeh that's not such a great inyan. A shuster, a shnayder they used to say, but l'poal, the way the Baal Shem Tov said, these shusters and these shnayders were mamash more ehrlich than some of the talmidei chachamim. Please come back again.