The practical lesson for man’s service of Hashem — recognizing that Jews are workers who must perform labor for their Employer, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Why do we derive the obligation to work with all one’s strength from Yaakov’s service in Lavan’s house? Because the work that a Jew must perform for Hashem (with all his strength) mirrors Yaakov’s service in Charan.
As is well-known, Yaakov’s labor in Lavan’s house did not take place within the protected “four cubits” of the study hall of Shem and Ever, nor was it like his service in Eretz Yisrael in his father Yitzchak’s home, where he operated entirely in the realm of holiness. Rather, his service took place in Charan — a place associated with Hashem’s fierce anger {charon af} (in the world) — for the purpose of transforming the world into a dwelling place for Him.
Every Jew’s service as Hashem’s worker follows this pattern:
When a soul serves Hashem while still in higher spiritual realms — when “I stood before Him” — before descending into this physical world and becoming enclothed in a body, its service is extraordinarily lofty, both in intellectual comprehension of G-dliness and in emotional attachment through love and awe. Yet this remains merely its service.
Only when the soul descends into the physical world, and in particular when a person does not remain confined to the four cubits of Torah and prayer, but engages in avodas habeirurim — transforming the lowest realm, “lower than which there is none,” into a dwelling place for Him — is he truly a worker of the Holy One, blessed be He; this is the Employer’s work.
