Beyond Ben Torah

Over Chol-Hamoed I was looking for some Torah that would give me strength as a head back to work. Hashem brought me to this great shiur as posted and translated on Dafyomireview given by Rabbi Gershon Adelstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh.

It discusses the special status of "Rabanan" who are exempt from city tax due to their merit of Torah study guarding the tzibbur. What's interesting is R' Adelsteins definition of "Rabanan"

"It doesn't matter how much he needs to work for his livelihood, whether two, three, or eight hours. If he does this because he is forced to provide his minimum amount (kdei chayav), and his free time is sanctified entirely for torah -he is called 'Rabanan', and is exempt from the guard tax because his torah shields on the tzibur."

It's a truly inspiring so please be sure to read it. May we all be zocha to use every free moment we have to toil in Torah and so we can reach this special status of "Rabanan".

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Separating Work From the Results of Working - Shevet Sofer & Rebbe Nosson

At Shalosh Sheudos on parshas Vayakhel, Rav Moshe Weinberger spoke on a fundamental point that especially working people have to internalize. I will (freely) translate the piece he quoted from the sefer Shevet Sofer by rav Simcha Bunim Sofer, the grandson of the Chasam Sofer, on Vayakhel, and then I will (freely) translate a piece from Likutei Halachos that my friend Dov Perkal pointed out to me which makes the same point.

"Six days work shall be done and the seventh shall be holy to you, Shabbos Shabboson..." (Shmos 35:2) (emphasis added)

The pasuk earlier said "remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it... and you shall call Shabbos a delight." (Shmos 20:8). However, there are those who does not believe with perfect faith in Hashem that everything comes from Him, and that a person's livelihood is fixed and that it is Hashem who gives a person strength and success. Such a person will be somewhat sad on Shabbos, and he will not rejoice in Shabbos, because his heart will be filled with worry, thinking that he is losing out by desisting from his efforts. Therefore, one must believe that everything comes from Hashem, and that "bread is not for the wise and neither is wealth for the discerning" (Koheles 9:11). Rather, [a person must work, as it is written,] "in order that Hashem your G-d will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do" (Devarim 14:29).

Hashem wants a person to do what he is able to do and not to rely on miracles. But nevertheless, one must know in his heart that everything comes from Hashem, and that without the blessings of Hashem, nothing he does would have any effect and all would be for naught. If a person has belief in this fact, then he will certainly rejoice in Hashem and Hashem will give him everything he needs during the six days of the week, just as it was with the manna, which Hashem gave as a double portion before Shabbos.

Similarly, with regard to the Menorah, we also find that Hashem said to Moshe, "As one piece it shall be made..." (Shmos 25:31) (emphasis added) The Medrash explains why the verse says "it shall be made," rather than "you shall make." It says that that it is because Moshe had difficulty making the Menorah, and toiled greately until finally, he could not make the Menorah. Once Moshe had difficulty, Hashem said, 'Take a meausure of gold and throw it into the fire, and then it will be made by itself.' This is the meaning of the phrase 'it shall be made.'"

A person's work life must be the same way. A person must work and toil, but nevertheless, he should not say that "my might and the power of my hand has made all of this success for me." Rather, he should view it as if everything happens without any effort of his own through the blessings of Hashem, and as if he did not do anything."

Reb Nosson in Likutei Halachos Orach Chaim Hilchos Shabbos 3:4, 7 (quoted above), commenting on Shmos 25:31 (quoted in the Likutei Halachos Chumash):

A person who does business and work, must subjugate all of his thoughts, actions, and words to Hashem ... and to believe with perfect faith that man alone accomplishes nothing whatsoever. Rather, we are obligated to do some business and work because it is Hashem's will that we do so, since there are deep secrets and great intentions in every aspect of business and work. This is because through work, one can accomplish great clarifications and draw holy sparks through his work and toil, as is known. For this reason alone, we must at least do some amount of work or business because it is Hashem's will. It is for this reason that the sages said, "Torah is good if it is with the ways of the world."

In truth, though, a person does nothing at all. His livelihood does not comes from his physical activities at all. On the contrary, his main livelihood comes from abstaining from the 39 forms of labor on Shabbos. This means that the illumination of Hashem's will, which is the aspect of the holiness of Shabbos, is the source of the blessings of the six days of the week...

When we merit to do business and work in this way [of remembering that all the results and income that we receive come from Hashem and not as a result of our efforts], even though we do work, it is not considered "doing" anything at all. Instead, it is an aspect of our work being done automatically, on its own, as the pasuk says with regard to the Mishkan, "the Mishkan was erected," and the Menorah shall "be made."

It is amazing to see the confluence of the same teaching from the non-Chassidish world of the Shevet Sofer and the Chassidus of Rebbe Nachman/Rebbe Nosson when they both come to teach us the same lesson. If we are zoche to mentally separate our efforts from the income we receive, then we will truly have oneg, happiness, and really be able to keep Shabbos without worrying about the work that we still need to do.

IY"H, may we all be zoche to repeat this truth to ourselves, internalize it, and live with it throughout the six days of the week and Shabbos kodesh!

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Lightening the Work Load

Kitzur Likutei Moharan 56:9: When a person thinks only about Torah, and when he breaks his desire for money, his livelihoodwill thereby come to him easily.

Courtesy of A Simple Jew.

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Reflections from recent travels

I have been traveling a lot recently (for work) and it has kept me completely out of my schedule. Davening, eating, sleeping, and learning. You name it and it was all just off. I was flying back on Ta'anis Esther and starting thinking of what did I learn from all this? Here are some ramblings:

Just remember yidden are everywhere - In downtown San Fran and a homeless man in front of Starbucks yells out "Shalom Brotha". I look over my shoulder. Ask where is best to get a cab. He helps me and I give me a $1 ask if he is Jewish and walk away with a lesson for the day. Holy neshama's are everywhere. We don't know their purpose but they are yidden and our family.

Just be respectful - I had to daven on the plane one morning. My friend sent me an email that morning that the same airline called the FBI when frum men davened on the plane. So I walked up to the flight attendants and told them "I need to pray...". I do my thing and before we are suppose to land they all came over to me saying thank you for being so respectful to us. Lets just not forgot a first impression always counts.

While I would have rather been at home with my family, learning in my chabura, and eating my wife's delicious lunches, my travels provided me with a many learnings I could not have grasped from sitting in my daled amos.

We (well I'll speak for myself) often get rapped up in complexity. Keep life simple as the simplest things are more often the most important.

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Just remember we are in a Matrix

A long time ago I saw the original movie the Matrix. I then re-watched it while I was becoming frum years ago. I think about that movie now and again for the imagery of walking around in a Matrix. A world concealed by the ultimate truth. We so easily forget we are in this concealed world and have such hard time breaking free.

As the below contribution from Shmuel at Love is the Motive so greatly describes we need to find time to break away and remember the Truth. We are in a concealed world. While hisbodedus are not so practical at work I often try to duck out for a coffee and get fresh air, sit on a bench and reflect for five minutes when my days are hectic. It helps because from my point of view we are "remembering".

As Shmuel said in his post:

" The fact that a person even ducks out of the whirlwind that is society and says a few rushed words - it's not ideal, but it is an acknowledgement of God in the midst of chaos."

Just acknowledgement in our hectic hours of work IS allot...Do not think otherwise.

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Controlling our Secular ADD

Thank you to Dixie Yid for pointing me to a post by Mevakesh Lev today. It deals with a very important topic of distractions in our secular world. Before I got married I asked a Rav of mine if I should go back to work full time or go and learn for 1-2 years in Israel. His response was "Moshe when you can look me in the face and tell me you have used every free second you have while not working to learn Torah, then you are permitted to learn in Kollel!"

I was blown away...I walked away upset because all I wanted was validation of my hearts yearning, however this was the response from Da'as Torah! After a few days looking at my iPhone in my hand, I knew exactly what he was talking about. For me it's a daily struggle and I fight hard every day to use every precious moment I have to learn or think of Hashem.

This quote from Mevakesh Lev sums it all up for me:

"According to Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, a masmid is not just someone who sits down and learns from morning until evening. A masmid is someone who puts sixty minutes into every hour, whether it's learning, or studying! Being a masmid is someone who is able to solely focus upon what they are involved in, and is able to overcome distractions. "

May we all be zoche to recognize the value of every precious moment we have both in and out of work to learn Torah.

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Start and Stop at Honesty

The below Rabbeinu Bechaye made me think allot about the stress I put on myself at work. While honesty and truth is very hard to live by in todays business world it is simple and elegant. By staying focused on this one yesod perhaps I can become a better eved Hashem.

Thank you to ModernUberdox for the following reference.

"Rabbeinu Bechaye says this importance of honesty brought in the first words of the Torah. Every nekuda is in the first pasuk of the Torah, except the shuruk. He explains that this is because the letters which spell the word shuruk (shin-reish-kuf)can also be rearranged to spell the word sheker (shin-kuf-reish), lying, and because sheker cannot be even hinted to in foundation of the Torah. Hashem created this world to be a place based on truth, there was no room for sheker!"

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You Know You're in a Scary Profession When...

...It's 10:30 at night and a mid-level associate asks you if you're planning to stay late.

(Caveat: I'm not complaining. I found this exchange sadly amusing, but I like the work, the firm, and the people I work with, and I thank G-d that I am blessed to have a job.)

Big Problem Starbucks Kashrus - Better Not to Drink in the Stores (Updated)

Please see this one page summary of kashrus issues at Starbucks put out by the CRC, the Chicago Rabbinical Counsel, an excellent and not unnecessarily strict kashrus agency, the Av Beis Din of which I have had contact with in the past. HT to Chana at The Curious Jew for bringing this to my attention in her post "Starbucks Isn't Really So Kosher."

As someone in the business world, this is a very relevant sha'ala. This notice could not have come too soon. I have not had any Starbucks coffee since the holy Mrs. Yid elevated our family by encouraging us to start keeping cholov Yisroel, but I was just thinking this morning that I was going to invite a friend at work to coffee at Starbucks soon and just use a Gefen non-dairy creamer packet. Yikes!

It looks like even the plain brewed coffee in the regular Starbucks stores is only kosher b'dieved because the "[b]rew basket may have been washed with non-kosher items. Although the brew basket is only used as a kli sheni, the cRc recommends purchasing items which are free of all shailos." This problem does not exist with the kiosks, so it's okay to order plain coffee there. Check out the one page summary from the CRC for a short table (click on the image on the below to enlarge that part of the one page sheet) showing which products can be bought at which types of Starbucks stores. The chart is only good till 7/31/2011 according to the CRC.

(UPDATE 3/8/11: Apparantly the OU holds differently. See Chaviva's post here for their much more lenient approach.)

Incidently, a cute dialog in our house yesterday between me, Mrs. Yid, and our 6th grade Dixie Daughter related to recently starting to keep cholov Yisroel:

Dixie Daughter: I'm not sure what to tell people when they ask why we started keeping cholov Yisroel. What can I tell them?

Tell them it's because we are trying to become closer to Hashem.

Dixie Daughter: I know, but...(not looking convinced)

I think she wants to know something that's just easy to say, that won't start a whole discussion.

Okay, how about saying that we're trying to become more "chassidish..."

Dixie Daughter: WHAT??!! (unexpected news apparantly)

What if you just tell them we're trying to take on the minhagim of our Rav, Rabbi Weinberger, and that's the reason.

Dixie Daughter: Okay.

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Who is a Ben Olam Habah?

I was thinking about the gemara quoted in this post, where Eliyahu Hanavi says that no one in the (presumably Jewish) market that day was a "ben olam habah" except for a warden and a jester who did their work for the sake of Hashem. Although it was not the immediate point of the gemara, there is a glaring kasha on what Eliyahu Hanavi said: How can it be than almost no one in the whole shuk was a "ben olam habah"? Doesn't the mishna in Avos say that "kol Yisroel yesh lahem chelek l'olam habah," that every single Jew has a share in the world to come?

(And I don't think you can answer that the Gemara in Sanhedrin lists a number of exceptions to the general rule because: (a) it's shver to be mokim the gemara that everyone in the shuk were the worst of the worst, baalei lashon hara, apikursim, and mevazei talmidei chachamim and (b) there's a shita in the gemara there that the dorshei reshumos learn that ona deeper level, even the Yidden she'ein lahem chelek l'olam habah really do have a chelek.)

I think the answer lies in the phrase "ben olam habah." It could have referred to "people with a chelek in olam habah." Instead, Eliyahu referred to "bnei" olam habah," implying people who are "in the category of olam habah." Meaning: a ben olam habah is someone who lives in olam habah even in this world. What does this mean? In olam habah, "kol ha'aretz deiah es Hashem," the whole world and all aspects of physicality ("artzius") will know Hashem. Someone who lives in olam habah now knows that connecting to Hashem and doing the ratzon Hashem is the purpose of life in the world, and they don't get confused by the upside down priorities of the physical world ("olam hafuch ra'isi"), although he is indeed living in this world.

That's why a talmid chochom is called "Shabbos." Shabbos is "me'ein olam habah," an aspect of the world to come, and the Tzadik is called Shabbos because he lives with the knowlwdge of Hashem that will exist in the world to come, even in this world. Such people are indeed in the category of a "ben olam habah."

That's why so few people in the marketplace were bnei olam habah. Most of us get lost in the details of olam hazeh. We may have a share in olam hazeh and may, IY"H, be fulfilling basic halacha, but we are not mentally living with olam habah while we go about our business. We're living in the world of bechira and not yediah.

IY"H we should be zocheh to be bnei olam habah, living with olam habah even as we live, for the moment, in olam hazeh.

(Full disclosure: It could be I heard or learned this idea somewhere before, but I don't remember.)

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Avodas Ha'Avodah - Introduction and a Brief Background

I have to thank Dixie Yid for introducing me and the blog's new focus, as well as for inviting me to be a co-author on the blog.

Many of you might have noticed the blog's new focus: Avodas Ha'Avoda. This refers to how a person is oved Hashem, serves Hashem, through his avodah, working for his livelihood.

The idea came out of a "chance" meeting between myself and Dixie Yid on the way into work recently. For certain reasons, I have been recently struggling with the whole experience of working. I just couldn't mentally deal with the fact that I was working very hard to provide for my family, but at the end of the day, I was still just yearning to be able to sit and learn. I sat in the office crying out to Hashem, asking him to let me sit in the Beis Medrash. Why couldn't it be me? I love Torah, I love learning, and I love being an eved Hashem. Simply speaking, work was bringing me down.

I ebbed and flowed. I would find sources of inspiration in my learning, but nothing stuck with me.

About a month ago, I started to read The Dimension Beyond by Rabbi Yisrael Lorberbaum. It started to fundamentally change me in ways no other sefer has. I hope some day I have the opportunity to meet R' Lorberbaum. In the middle of learning this sefer, I spoke with an old friend from up north about my work challenges. The next day he forwarded me an article, which I shared with Dixie Yid which is posted here. This article truly changed me... It just connected to it in away nothing else I have read has. One line which particularly struck me were these simple words "In truth, if there exists a profession in the world, since it was created with God's will, it must be used as a tool to accomplish God's will." Those words made the connection in my neshama. I felt as if Hashem sent me a gift...

Fast forward to this past Erev Shabbos... I was sitting in my home office and thinking about the fact that there is so much Torah relating to work. There is so much available which can provide chizuk. There is a lot of Torah which can truly inspire and change so many of us who are struggling to find meaning and inspiration in our "9-5".

I emailed my friend, Dixie Yid, asking his thoughts on working towards the following lofty goal with me: I want to set out to collect as many non-halachic Torah sources which provide inspiration and mussar for Avodas Ha'Avodah. I told him that I wanted to collate all of this and publish a sefer, donating all the proceeds to tzedakah. Even just in my small world, there are so many men grappling with Avodas Ha'Avodah. Think of the change we could make in this work, in Klal Yisrael, in Families....

Dixie Yid thought it was a great idea and graciously decided to change the focus of his blog. But why? Simple, we NEED YOUR HELP! With my help, we will find and post relevant articles based on mussar, early meforshim, machshavah, and chassidus, but we need all of you to send us sources! Please leave them as comments or send them by e-mail to either myself or Dixie Yid. Our e-mail addresses are on the right sidebar. As we receive them, we post and catalogue them for the blog With Hashem's help, we will publish them in a sefer and im yirtzeh Hashem, it will help bring Moshiach one step closer!

With sincere feelings of hakoras hatov to Dixie Yid and the current readers, I hope you are inspired as much as I am to what I deem as a truly worthy endevour to help be michazik Klal Yisrael to be mikadish their Avodas Ha'Avodah.

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The Dixie Yid Blog's New Focus

This blog is going through an inner change. The new template and layout are meant to be an outer expression of that change. If you have visited the blog off of an RSS reader recently, you will have also noticed the new byline, "Avodas Ha'avodah." I use that phrase to refer to the particular form of avodas Hashem through one's hishtadlus for his livelihood.

As readers know, I have been posting much much less in the last year or so. My final semester of law school, the Bar Exam, a sefer I have been working on translating, and the job that I started in September, as well as my obligations to my family, have made me very busy.

Many of the very few substantive posts that I have put up recently related to my struggle to grow spiritually in an intense work environment. This is a big challenge, but the attempt to balance the requirements of olam hazeh with those of olam haboh is nothing new. It tracks the general war and balancing act we all face while living in this world (which struggle is the very purpose of the world). Because this is such a universal subject, there is a lot of Torah out there on, or relating to, this topic. (Check out this story, if you started reading Dixie Yid after 2007; a very yesodosdik story.)

My friend Marc Rossen, who shared this article with me, is also wrestling with this inyan, and in talking with him, we decided that it would benefit us and the rest of the Jewish people to focus this blog's attention on Torah and stories which would help us and others learn how to navigate this difficult balance.

I therefore asked Marc to join me as an author on this blog, so welcome Marc! Hopefully he and y'all can get the chance to know each other over the coming months. :-)

The truth is that this topic is needed for many people, even those in klei kodesh. Unless one can truthfully say about himself that "Toraso umanuso," he needs to work on this area as well.

Therefore, please stay tuned to the new focus. We will still have other interesting, funning, or share-worthy things to put up, but the main focus will be "Avodas Ha'Avodah."

IY"H, may we be zoche to connect to Hashem through whatever our chelek in life is! Stay tuned for an introductory post by Marc. Kol tuv!

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