Engraved on the Luchos (32:16)
From the word חרות, the Medrash learns (Shemos Rabba 32:1) that the Jewish people were freed from the Angel of Death. This is learned from the word חרות, which can also be read as חירות - free.
With this introduction, the Zera Shimshon explains the following Mishna (Avos 2:17). Rav Tarfon says: The day is short. The workload is great. The workers are lazy. The reward is great. The Master is pressing. The Zera Shimshon explains that each statement of Rav Tarfon can only come after the one that preceded it.
When the Jews accepted the Torah, they were freed from the Angel of Death. However, by sinning with the Golden Calf, the Angel of Death, which is also the yetzer hara, returned to them. The Gemara in Nedarim (22b) says that had the Jewish people not sinned with the Golden Calf, they would have only received the five books of the Torah, along with Sefer Yehoshu’a. Had that been the case, their days would have been ‘longer,’ since they would not have had so much Torah to learn, in addition to the fact that they would not have died. Now that they sinned, the days became short, since they eventually will die. As well, the workload became great, since after the sin, the Jewish people were given a much larger amount of Torah. Hence, the day is short, and the workload is great.
The size of the Torah is one of the yetzer hara’s tools to make a person neglect his duties. This Medrash (Shir Hashirim Rabba 5:11) says that when a person sees the size of Shabbos (24 perakim), Nezikin (30 perakim, encompassing Baba Kama, Metzi’a and Basra), and Kelim (30 perakim), he says to himself, “How will I ever learn (all of the) Torah?” Due to this, he allows himself to be lazy. Hence, the workers are lazy.
For this reason, the Mishna continues that the reward is great. Being that the yetzer hara is so strong, the reward has to be great.
Another explanation is that the Gemara (Baba Metzia 83b) says that if one hires workers, if the practice in that area is that the workers do not get up early and stay at work late, the employer cannot force the workers to do different than the normal practice. The Gemara asks, “Isn’t this obvious?” The Gemara answers that it is referring to a case when the workers were given extra money. One may have thought that due to the extra pay, it is understood that the employer is doing so in order to have the workers come earlier and leave later. About this assumption the Gemara says that no, the extra money is so that the workers do a superior job.
Tosfos explains that this whole discussion is only if the workers were hired without any specifications. Even though the employer gave them extra money, it does not enable him to force the workers to work differently than the practice of the area. If, however, they were originally hired on condition that they come early, obviously that condition obligates them to do so.
This is what the Mishna means when it says that the reward is great and the Master is pressing. Hashem is pressing, meaning He wants His workers to get up early and leave late, and that is clear beforehand. That is why He pays well. Once we are told that Hashem is pressing, we understand that the ‘good pay’ is for dedication.
RABBI ELI J. MANSOUR
ZERA SHIMSHON
ZERA SHIMSHON SHIUR BY RABBI SIMCHA BUNIM BURGER
THURSDAY 8:15 P.M. - 9:15 P.M. (20 Upstairs)
