He saw rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant, and he bent his shoulder to bear the burden. (Bereishis 49:15)
A superficial look at this pasuk reveals a glaring contradiction. First it says that he saw rest is good, and then it says he bent his shoulder to bear the burden of hard work. This doesn’t seem to make sense, because someone who loves rest and seeks the pleasant life doesn’t go looking for hard work to do. Such a person sits in an easy chair, drinks a cup of coffee and reads an interesting book. That’s what rest looks like, more or less. Bearing heavy burdens on one’s shoulder doesn’t fit the picture.
Or does it?
This pasuk is speaking of the tribe of Yissachar, who excelled in their devotion to Torah learning. They were heads of Sanhedrin.
Chazal explain that the “rest” referred to in the pasuk is Torah learning. But this just begs the same question. Why would Torah learning be described as “rest”? Torah understanding comes through effort and hard work. Pirkei Avos lists decreasing one’s sleep and pleasures among the ways to acquire Torah, which seems to run counter to seeking rest. What could Chazal possibly have meant when they said that “rest” is Torah learning?
There are deep explanations why the Torah is called menuchah, “rest,” but I want to bring out the simple meaning. And indeed, it is totally correct to describe Torah as “rest.” In fact, “rest” is only for those who are ready to work hard for it. I will illustrate this with an example from real life.
Reuven, after half a day of hard work, decides to go home early to rest a little. When he gets home, he asks his wife if she could make something for him to eat and put some cold water on the table for him. In the meantime, he sits down in the easy chair to read something interesting. One of the children brings him a plate of food, he makes a berachah, and starts to eat.
He notices that the food is not as tasty as he had hoped. It needs salt. He interrupts his rest to call out to whoever might hear, “Please bring me salt.” No one is close enough to hear. He raises his voice a little more and says, “Please bring salt...” No one seems to notice. With no other alternative, he again interrupts his rest to get up from his chair and enter the kitchen himself, to get salt. Then he comes back, sits down again, and starts chewing his food.
It still doesn’t taste quite right. So he gets up again to fetch some mustard for himself.
Now he gets back to the easy chair, starts eating again, but begins to feel thirsty. And they forgot to bring him water. So he goes back to the kitchen to make himself some lemonade.
Now the food and drink are pretty good, but the book he is reading is sort of boring. He gets up a fourth time and starts rummaging around the house for something to read. He can’t find anything good. But he is not lazy; he puts on his jacket and goes out to buy some interesting reading material.
He goes out to the street only to discover that a family member has taken the car... no problem, he walks briskly by foot down to the nearby shopping center, he is starting to huff and puff a little (what won’t one do for a little “rest”) and he finds some interesting reading material to buy.
He gets back home and sits down again. But the easy chair isn’t comfortable. It’s actually pretty dilapidated. The springs are poking him.
But it’s okay, because he came home from work early today, and the stores are still open. He already decided a couple months ago that it’s about time for a new easy chair...
Now he’s back at the shopping center. He goes from store to store looking for a good easy chair. He finds one he likes, bends his shoulder to pick it up and carry it back home – this brings to his mind the pasuk, “He bent his shoulder to bear the burden” – and finally plunks it down in the living room. Perfect!
He then remembers that he needs to do something, so he goes out for a few moments, and then comes back home.
But in the meantime, the children came back from school, and they discovered the new easy chair in the living room. Some are jumping up and down on it, others are screaming, “It’s my turn!” and the house is a pandemonium. You can already imagine for yourself the next segment of this story about “rest.”
True rest doesn’t just come by itself. You need to work for it. It takes time and effort until you get there.
So that’s the answer to our question. The Torah said, “He saw rest that it is good, and... bent his shoulder to bear the burden.” Only someone who is willing to bear a little effort and hard work, only someone who is willing to dedicate himself to Torah study, will acquire for himself true rest and tranquility.
