Devar/5769/Reeh
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< Devar | 5769
עברית
English
And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live (Deut 8:3)
It is very commonly accepted for one to devote oneself excessively to an employer; to work uncounted hours, even without compensation, and to ignore the human side of one's life. One's spouse and the rest of the family, and even friends are all ignored by the dedicated employee. Why? Because of fear of losing a job, or because of the need for more money -- and this can cause serious problems in the personal arena.
Our verse comes to teach us that even though bread is very important, as it states, and bread that stayeth man's heart (Psalms 104:15) -- nevertheless, man only lives by God's utterance, may He be praised. Running after money and possessions distances man from the source of his life, from the Torah. It is indeed true that a worker must work with all his strength (see Laws of Employment 13:11) -- but he is not permitted to enslave himself to his employer. The Torah gives permission for a man to enslave himself only if he has become so poor he doesn't even have clothes (see Laws of Slaves 1:3)! Because the Torah states, For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen (Lev 25:42).
When we enslave ourselves to a flesh and blood employer, it is as though we have thrown off the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven and are stating that only so is it possible to live. But the Torah is giving us strong and explicit advice in our verse: that not by our efforts alone do we achieve a living -- rather, also by the mercy of our Master, the Holy One blessed is He, Who causes death and brings back to life, and causes the hope of salvation to flourish. May it be His will that soon we see the hope of salvation, and throw off the yoke of the nations, and merit also to throw off the yoke of our self-imposed serfdom.
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