העבודה לשם שמים
The avodah for the sake of Heaven
וַיִּשְׁקֹל אַ בְׁרָהָם לְׁעֶפְׁרֹן אֶת הַכֶסֶף אֲשֶר דִּבֶר בְׁאָזְׁנֵי בְׁנֵי חֵת אַרְׁבַע מֵאוֹת שֶקֶל כֶסֶף עֹבֵר לַסֹחֵר: (כג, טז)
Avraham weighed out the money to Ephron, the money that he had mentioned in the hearing of the children of Chais, four hundred silver shekalim in negotiable currency. (23:16)
Rashi explains: Avraham weighed out to Ephron – Ephron is spelled without a ‘vav’, because Ephron said much and did not even do little. For he took from Avraham large shekalim which are kanterin as it says ‘negotiable currency’ which are accepted as a shekel everywhere. And there are places whose shekalim are large, for they are kanterin, centenars in Old French.
We see from the words of Rashi that Ephron knew how to say the right things but did not know how to keep his word. It is fitting to know what Ehron was thinking, what caused him to present himself as one who says the right things and present himself as one who would do a favor for free, but at the end of the day, he reveals himself as one who craves money. It was not for nothing that he demanded this enormous sum. In general, a person like him who feeds his soul with money does not think about giving it away for free. Even if it should happen that he once wants to help someone, he will still not pass up a sale of 400 silver shekel. The most he would do is lower the sale to 390 silver shekels, but it would never enter his mind to give it away for nothing. So then, what was Ephron’s intent when he told Avraham he would give him the cave as a gift?
Perhaps more than Ephron loved money, he loved honor, and in exchange for honor he would even forego money, for it would have been a great honor for him if Avraham accepted the cave as a gift. He would then announce the matter publicly ‘to anyone who came to his city gates’, but once Avraham refused this gift, and he saw that he would not garner any honor from this deal, he figured at least he will benefit from the money, and so he set the price so high as befitting him...
From Ephron’s disgrace, you learn what is the obligation of the person in his world. Sometimes we see young men who take jobs which saps their strength, and in time they are exhausted from work. Then they make their obligation to Heaven at the bare minimum, and whoever sees them wonders about this: ‘Just a short time ago he was counted among those who daven with patience and a burning, and now his Tefilah is done rushed and cold, just like the empty Jews?! What caused him to leave the avodah, and do only what is incumbent on him to save him from Gehinnom?
The answer to this is that at first, the only intent of the worker was to be glorified, therefore he took a position fit for noble people, for if he remained ‘average’, there are many average people around, there is no glory in that... However, after a while he saw that there was not that much glory, if any, so he began to realize that there was nothing here to attain, so he did not want to be involved at all...
Therefore, it is incumbent on the person to first think about what he wants. First consider what is the purpose of whatever you are doing, and one must understand that the purpose of everything is the fulfillment of the will of the Creator Baruch Hu. By doing this, one arouses satisfaction before Him, and merits getting closer. Then he will merit to choose the action that is fitting to his nature and temperament. He will already see great merit for himself even if he serves his Creator as an average person, and even if he does not earn glory because of this, and he should know that honor removes a person from his world, meaning the Eternal World, and one who acts for the glory makes his days desolate, for avodah like this is not called avodah, and he will not receive any reward for it.
To illustrate what is an avodah that is not for the right purpose, I will tell you what I saw in an ‘Ephron’ of our generation. I once reserved some Arab workers to my house to do some work. As they were working, the Arab contractor spoke with me about the renovation, and I was amazed to see how Heaven was fluent on his lips, and for everything that he was going to do, he said he would do it b’ezras Hashem, and as he worked at the job he spoke many times that all the work was being done dependent only on ezras shamyim [with the help of Heaven].
At first, the matter pained me for I thought to myself that is rare to find even among Bnei Yisrael, and here an Arab goy was standing before me and mentioning Hashem in everything he did... and this was difficult for me to digest the matter, could it be that this goy had such strong emunah in Hashem Yisbarach, and he demonstrated it in his speech more than holy Bnei Yisrael? This is how the first few days passed with wonder mixed with pain until one day I overheard an argument between him and one of his workers, over a small amount of money. The matter caused the ‘believer’ to get angry to the point that I could not believe that this was the same goy who was accustomed to emunah...
Then my mind was put to rest, for then I understood the worth of ‘emunah of goyim’. He could say that he believes a thousand times, but this is only to give the appearance of being a ‘believer’ and arouse favor in those who hire him. But the reality is that he has no emunah at all. This is different from the words of Bnei Yisrael, true, by them you do not see them mention Hashem with every step, but it is specific to them that they say little and do much. With them, the emunah is embedded in their lives, they devote themselves entirely and they negate their being because of their Emunah because they know that their will is not in their control, and it is not possible for them to do what they want to do. On the other hand, they do what they do not want to do.
One who serves Hashem for the honor is like that Arab. All his actions are just to give the impression that he ‘serves’, and so in general they completely forget that the avodah is for Heaven. It is self-understood how much this avodah is really worth.
Additionally, it is fitting for us to know that the person who does avodah for the honor, will not attain his purpose. I once heard a sharp expression that was often said by one of the chassidim of the holy environs of Slonim. Once, the Neshama of an oveid Hashem went up to Heaven and when he came before the Bais Din shel maalah - the Heavenly Court – they brought all the Torah he learned and all the Tefilos he prayed, and when the Heavenly Court assessed the essence of his avodah, they admitted that there was some avodah, but it was not for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but rather it was to make an impression on some individuals. They decided that the persons who he learned for and davened for should give him his reward. The man turned to the individuals and asked for his reward. They were shocked and said that it never entered their minds that he would cause all this anxiety because of them...
