Welcome to your ASBEE Mishpacha
Anshei Sphard - Beth El Emeth Congregation
120 East Yates Rd. North, Memphis, TN 38120
901-682-1611, Fax: 901-682-1641
asbee@aol.com
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Welcome to your ASBEE Mishpacha Anshei Sphard - Beth El Emeth Congregation 120 East Yates Rd. North, Memphis, TN 38120 901-682-1611, Fax: 901-682-1641 asbee@aol.com |
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Man was made for toilBased on the writings of the Pri Tzadik, RebZadok HaCohen of Lublin The purpose of life is to fix and complete the creation. How do we fix it? Through the only matter which is in our hands, the fear of heaven. By fearing heaven, we add that last added component to the world. Before Israel was a nation, it was enough to fix the world by engaging in "derech eretz," fixing the land by plowing the earth. Abraham wished to go to Israel because there they were farmers. Now that Israel is a nation, we need to do work through working hard to study Torah, which is a verbal fixing to fix G-d's creation which was done through the word of G-d. The Gemara in Sanhedrin entertains the notion that the world was created for amal sicha, for the toil of speech, the toil of prayer which means to try to envision G-d standing in front of you. When we say "man was made to work" it can mean through kindness, mitzvot, or prayer, but Torah work is the best. When it comes to work of kindness or prayer, the nations of the world have a part in these as Solomon recognized the prayers of the nations and the exemplar of honoring the parents is not Jewish (my example). But the work of Torah, they have no part in. Therefore when Abraham, the man of kindness bore children he had a gentile who could perform kindness. Isaac bore one who is capable of prayer. Jacob who represents Torah could not have any non Jewish offspring since they have no part in this work. Shabbos is not a time for much mitzvah work or prayer work, as we curtail some rituals on Shabbat and prayers are truncated. Based on the Gemara in Shabbos 119b, we see that even Torah should not be engaged in too much on Shabbos, if you study all week. On Shabbos it is not the work of the mouth, the toil of speech which is the work to be done, but work of the heart only.
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