פרק ב', משנה ט"ו: רבי טרפון אומר: היום קצר והמלאכה מרובה, והפועלים עצלים, והשכר הרבה, ובעל הבית דוחק.
Chapter 2, Mishnah 15: Rabbi Tarfon would say, "The day is short, there is much work, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master is pressing."
The Simple Explanation
According to the commentary of the Bartenura, Rabbi Tarfon is teaching us the following. The day is short: our life in this world is temporary; one has a limited amount of time to accomplish his mission in life. There is much work: The Torah's "measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea." And the Master is pressing: As it says, "... you shall meditate therein day and night ...."
Difficulties in Understanding the Mishnah
There is a well-known rule that Hashem only demands of us that which we can do. In other words, He does not command us to do anything which He does not enable us to fulfill. However, from our Mishnah, that is not the case. There is so much to do, and the time allotted is never enough. Granted, if one succeeds in fulfilling his mission, he will be handsomely rewarded; however, with so much to accomplish and so little time to do it, it seems unlikely! Furthermore, "the Master is pressing," our Employer is always rushing us, pushing us to complete our "assignments." Aside from everything else, we appear to have the trait of laziness; by nature, we lack what it takes to get the job done!
The Explanation
We can explain this in the following manner. All of the teachings in Avos focus on the same idea. They all teach us how to be a Chossid, i.e., one who goes beyond the letter of the law. Naturally, we understand that the same is true of our Mishnah.
Some conduct themselves strictly according to the requirements of Halachah, Jewish law. This is fine; they fulfill the Torah's demands. Their behavior is acceptable. However, one who contemplates why Hashem created him will never be satisfied with this conduct. One's Neshomah, the soul, rests in Gan Eden, a spiritual, Divine world, basking in G-dly light. From there, it descends into a physical body in this dark, material world. Why must the soul lower itself to this extent? The reason is that it is only due to this descent that it can reach an even higher level than it held earlier. This realization will not allow one to be satisfied with simply meeting the minimum requirements and no more. He will always seek to do more and more to please his Master. This will bring him to the conclusion that "the day is short, and there is much work."
This is in line with the Alter Rebbe's explanation of the Sage's comments to the verse, "You shall return and see (the difference) between the righteous and the wicked; between one who serves Hashem and him who has not served Him." The Gemorah explains, "'One who serves G-d' refers to he who reviews his lesson 101 times, while 'one who has not served Him' refers to one who reviews his lesson no more than 100 times." Why do the Rabbis find such a vast difference between 101 in contrast to 100 times?
The Alter Rebbe explains that "this is because in those days it was customary (for everyone) to review each lesson one hundred times ... the 101st time, which is beyond the normal practice which the student did since childhood, is considered equivalent to all the previous times put together. It is even greater than them in endurance and effort, entitling him to be called 'one who serves Hashem.' To change his nature, he must awaken the love of G-d-by utilizing meditation in his mind on the greatness of G-d to control his nature."
This is the meaning of our Mishnah. Even if one serves Hashem and conducts himself thoroughly according to Torah, he may still be in the category of "one who has not served Him," in contrast to one who goes beyond his nature. One who feels that "the day is short, there is much work, and the Master is pressing" has undoubtedly reached the level of "one who is serving Hashem." Otherwise, he may just be following his natural tendencies. This is why the Mishnah says that "the workers are lazy." This "laziness" is relative to the energy required to serve Hashem beyond one's nature. Serving Hashem beyond the letter of the law brings a reward beyond his nature.
We said above that Hashem only demands what we can do. The fact that at this time, according to the Torah, we study Pirkei Avos means that Hashem gives us extra abilities, helping us go beyond our nature in His service. Hashem rewards us measure for measure. May we merit being lifted above the boundaries and limitations of exile due to going beyond our limits.
