“V’asafta diganecha”, we are told in krias shema. As a reward for keeping Hashem’s will, we will have parnassah and we will gather in grain. This seems to indicate that it’s okay to work – it’s actually a blessing to gather in grain! Yet, we are also told “V’hagisa bo yomam v’laila” – we are to be involved with learning Torah all day and all night. How are we to do both?
Says the gemara, Rav Yishmael says “Hanheg lahen minhag derech eretz” - you have to live normally, meaning that you have a heter to work. However, Rav Shimon Bar Yochai asks, how can a person just go out and work? What will be with Torah? A person should simply do the will of Hashem and then he won’t have to work; it will be done by others on his behalf! But if a person won’t do Hashem’s will, then he has to work. It seems that according to Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, “v’asfta diganecha” is only when you don’t do the will of Hashem.
The Seder L’mishnah brings a different gemara which seems to say differently. Rav Shimon Bar Yochai in Menochos 99: says that even if a person just reads Krias Shema twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, he fulfills his obligation as if he is learning all day. It seems from this gemara that even according to Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, a person isn’t obligated to learn all day! How can we understand this contradiction?
The Maharam Shik (in Taryag Mitzvos – mitzva 421) explains that when Rav Shimon Bar Yochai says that saying shema twice a day is like learning all day, it doesn’t mean merely saying the words. Rather, krias shema means kabolas ol malchus shomayim – accepting the yoke of avodas Hashem. When a person says krias shema, he’s not just reading a pasuk; he’s declaring that whatever he will do throughout the day, he’s going to do it with the understanding that he’s an eved Hashem. By saying krias shema, he’s meyached that whatever he does during the day will be l’shem shomayim. In this way, all the mundane activities that this person will be involved with are all a part of Torah, since all his actions are with the intention of serving Hashem.
The Machlokes in masechta Brachos between R’ Yishmael and R’ Shimon Bar Yochai is regarding one who is not saying krias shema properly. A person who isn’t meyached all his actions l’shem shomayim is stuck with plain work. In such a case, the work is only work, not Torah, and that’s when Rav Shimon asked, “What will be with Torah?” But a person who says krias shema properly, accepting upon himself that all he does throughout the day is for the sake of Heaven, such a person is living Torah. We’re not worried about his Torah, since even while he’s working his intentions are l’shem shomayim.
In Shabbos 33: we learn that Rav Shimon Bar Yochai and his son were in a cave for twelve years learning Torah. Completely separated from the entire world, they were like angels. After emerging from the cave, they saw a person plowing and planting. They couldn’t understand how a person could busy himself with such mundane matters when he could be learning the eternal Torah! The gemara says that they were on such a high level, that each time they got upset at a person for working, a fire came out of their eyes and burned the person! A Bas Kol came out and said, “You are destroying My world, go back into the cave!” They returned to the cave for another year. When they left, it was erev Shabbos and they saw a person running with two hadasim in his hand. They asked him why, and the man said it’s l’kavod Shabbos, one for zachor and the other for shamor. Said Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, “Look how much love people have for mitzvos!”
Why was Rav Shimon Bar Yochai satisfied with the yid running with hadasim when he wasn’t learning? According to the Maharam Shik, a person can elevate his mundane actions with his thoughts and intentions. This yid was carrying two hadasim, with the intention that one was for “zachor” and one was for “shamor”. Rashi says that both “zachor” and “shamor” were said in one dibur, yet they mean different things. Shamor means to be careful on Shabbos not to do melacha. Zachor means that even during the weekday, our thoughts should be on Shabbos. Whenever we find something good to buy during the week, we should save it for Shabbos, and that elevates the mundane action of shopping to a d’var mitzvah! So it is with all of gashmiyus; our thoughts and intentions have the power to elevate the physical and mundane to a priceless mitzvah.
So, when Rav Shimon Bar Yochai saw this yid running with the two hadasim, one for zachor and one for shamor, he realized what this yid was about. He seemed simple; he wasn’t sitting and learning. Yet, he was fulfilling both zachor and shamor, meaning that he wasn’t just keeping Shabbos, but all throughout the week he was thinking and preparing for Shabbos, elevating his mundane actions. This type of yid is focused on avodas Hashem, so even when he works the field and plows, his thoughts are for the sake of Heaven. And according to the Maharam Shik, such a yid is considered as if he learns Torah all day.
A girl who was looking for a shidduch came to Rav Shach for a bracha for a good zivug. Rav Shach blessed her, “Hashem should help you that you should be able to marry a ben Torah”. A few months go by and someone redts her a shidduch, but this boy worked a couple of hours a day. She came back to Rav Shach and asked, “Is this type of shidduch suitable for the bracha that you gave me? Does this boy qualify as being a ben Torah?” Rav Shach answered by asking, “What does Bar Mitzva mean? Does it mean a boy who is a hundred percent involved in mitzvos and never involved in gashmiyus? No, it means that a boy reaches the age when he realizes he is an eved Hashem, he realizes what life is all about. Of course, he is still busy with gashmiyus, but that isn’t his focus anymore. Rather, he uses the physical and mundane to help him grow in avodas Hashem.
The same is with a ben Torah. A true ben Torah is not necessarily learning all day. He could also be involved in parnassah, but that’s not his focus. His focus, one hundred percent, is avodas Hashem. Such a person, said Rav Shach, even if he works, is a true ben Torah. It all depends on our thoughts and intentions.
