Tomech Torah

R' Chaim Volozhiner, in his peirush on Avos, Ruach Chaim makes a very nice point which opened my eyes to a subject that I had considered a bit difficult.

 "Chaim he lamachazikim bah V'etomcheha M'eushar". R' Chaim explains that there are 2 kinds of people (there are many variations of this throughout kabbala and nigleh) chesed/gevurah or ahava/yirah. Eitz Chaim He lamachazikim buh is discussing one who uses the Torah as a life saving device and clings on to it as someone who is overboard in the ocean clinging to a life raft. This person realizes that the only thing that can save him is Torah and his life depends on it. This is a very high level. However, there is a higher level and that is "Ve'tomchehah M'eushar" One who is a "Tomech" of Torah, that is to say one who lives as if the Torah needs his support and he clings to Torah for ITS sake not his own, that is the darga of Ahava.

This might explain the wonderful things Chazal say about a tomech torah. They are not talking about one who lives his life like a pig and just supports Torah financially. They are talking about one who does whatever is in his power to support something he loves, whether it be learning the Torah, financially supporting it, marrying in to a torah supporting environment, etc. It is all about his attitude and his show of love for it. You cannot claim to love and support a lifestyle that is diametrically opposed to your lifestyle by merely financially supporting it.

Hishtadlus

I always wondered how bitachon and hishtadlus interacted. It is obvious that if one does not do hishtadlus he will not receive his due. On the other hand classical bitachon has us believe that hishtadlus is basically a facade or a mitzva. What you are supposed to get, you will get. If you have bitachon you will surely get what you deserve. Why then do you not get what you deserve if you don't do hishtadlus? is it the punishment for not doing the mitzvah of hishtadlus?

I heard that R' Aharon Kotler explained the Gemara that Bas Pharoeh "Vatishlach es Amasah" she stretched out her hand, as the pasuk states, the Gemara goes on to say "Neshtarbevah Yada" that her hand extended to the point where she was able to pluck Moses from the river. R' Kotler asks, why then did she have to even stretch her hand out if the extention was needed? He explains that the nes was only initiated at the point where her "hishtadlus" ended. So for example, if Moses was 11 feet from her and her hand was one foot long, the miracle that was embedded in the teva was a 10 foot miracle so if she would not have stretched out her hand she would still be 1 foot short even with the miracle being performed.

Hishtadlus can be looked upon the same way. The teva of this world is all taken into consideration when God executes his master plan. Therefore, if you don't do your hishtadlus you will fall short even with bitachon because the bitachon already takes the hishtadlus into account.

Lo Lachacahmim Lechem

The standard typical take on this pasuk is that wise men don't necessarily become people of means. We have all heard different variations on this theme before. I would like to propose a new perspective. God has imbued all of us with talents that help us get by and make a living in this world. God has meant us to use our god given talents for those means. As we see, people of unusual athletic abilities are able to parlay those abilities into monumental amounts of money playing professional sports. Some people have a great innate ability to win other people's confidence or can convince others easily, these people make a living selling. We all have a talent that should be used for practical purposes. However, some of us have as our dominant talent our brain. Yes the sechel is what overshadows all our other talents (if we have any other talents) for those people the assumption is that they must use their brain to make a living. And they do, but they will probably be very low on the food chain of the ability to parlay that into making a living. The sechel is really much greater than that and using it for such a mundane purpose is almost a chillul of the tselem elokim but what can man do he must not starve to death. But have no worry even if he figures out how to make a living using his brain it won't get him to far in that arena as he is using something that is not really created for that purpose but he is utilizing it as an "off label use" that is not a recipe for major success. Let him pray that it at least gets him through the day

Lo Tirdeh Bo Beferech

The Torah exhorts the master not to work the slave "Beferech".  Rashi explains that as many other laws regarding ownership of slaves and how one must treat them this law too specifically does not allow you to make a slave do work for you for no reason. Rashi goes on to explain that this means that you cannot ask him to do something for you just for the sake of having him work for you if you have no benefit from that work. Rashi goes further stating that even if the slave does not know that his work is for no purpose it is still prohibited. On the surface it seems harsh that a master cannot for example ask his slave to make him a cup of tea if he does not need it even though the slave will never know that that tea was not used. Why would the Torah prohibit this kind of action while you may work a slave pretty hard doing things that you need? Why is this called "Biferech" and not other kinds of hard labor?

The answer lies in the previous pasuk. That pasuk says "Ki Avadai Hem" because you are my servants. This is coming to tell us that in an ideal world there should not be slaves at all. However due to circumstances (people owe money for stealing) the Torah allowed one to become a master of another human being in these certain instances. We must realize that the concept of slavery where the Torah does not provide a specific allowance (heter) is antithetical to Torah philosophy.

Therefore when a master needs his slaves services he is allowed to avail himself of his slave. However, if the command of the master for the slave does not serve the masters purpose specifically he is just asserting his ownership upon another man, that is prohibited. The Torah calls it avodas perech which might mean like in Mitzraim work for the sake of work not for a certain accomplishment. That type of ownership of man is against gods rule in the world