#73 - Perek Hei B - Mesilas Yesharim Explained

The verse, the Pasuk says in Yeshua, the first perek, "Lo yamush Torasei m'picha," you shall not leave, the sh- Torah shall not leave you.

"Ve-higaseh bah yom va-layla," and you should think about it day and night, and although that was a command to Yeshua, Chazal understand that to be a command to every Jewish person, every Jewish man at least, all the time.

But on the other hand, the Pasuk also says, "Va'asafta diganeka," and you will gather your grain.

And simply understood, that verse, that Pasuk is talking about w- in the context of doing the right things.

Where is that Pasuk in? You're familiar.

You said it this morning or last night, or last night, this morning.

You've said it hundreds of times.

"Ve'hayah im shmoa tishmu," the second pare- pare- paragraph of Shema.

If you will surely listen to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, "Ve'hayah im shmoa tishmu, ama tzaya asher nuku et mitzvot Hashem," "Ve'ahavta et Hashem Elokeha be'chol levavcha u'bechol nafsh'cha," and you're on a high level, you listen to God, and you love Him communally with all of your heart and all of your soul, what happens next? The va-- And HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us rain, "Va'asafta diganeka," and you gather the grain.

So it certainly seems like gathering grain is a good thing.

And Rabbi Shmuel says, rather, yeah, you have to find a balance.

"Chaneig behen minig de-eirech ertz." Together with your Torah, there should be "minig de-eirech ertz." Together, "chaneig behen," customize or, um, not adjust, but be involved with.

It's hard to get the exact words, but "chaneig behen minig de-eirech ertz." Okay, this is known, but what I wanna share is what I know Rabbi Shmuel-- Rav Shimon bar Yochai is much more severe than this.

We're not gonna go into Shimon bar Yochai's opinion right now.

I just wanna share one Rashi.

What's the idea according to Rav Shmuel in the end? Meaning we have this conflict between always learning, and then we have working.

So now did work become the main thing? Is that what happened? And just I find a little bit of time to learn.

So listen to a Rashi, and I'm not saying, you know, there's, there, there are other sources, uh, besides Rashi, but Rashi is Rashi, right? Just like all the time, [chuckles] deserves a little attention, and he has attention around the Jewish world.

So Rashi is important.

So listen to the Rashi.

"She'im de-eirech ertz.

She'im tavalidei tzar cha'briyus." If you will need to be supported by people, that's what tzar cha'briyus means, "Sof chali batal midivrei Torah," in the end, you won't learn.

What's the idea of working according to Rashi? It's a strategy that if you don't work, you're not gonna be able to learn at all.

It's not that work, again, at least according to this Rashi, has an independent value on its own.

There are other sources, but in this Rashi, it's not that work has an independent value on its own.