The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 2b) tells us that when Mashiach will come, the kings of Rome will be brought to trial. “In what were you engaged,” HaKadosh Baruch Hu will ask them. And they will say, “We built many roads, we built many bathhouses, we amassed great wealth—and we did all this for the Jewish People, so they will be able to sit and learn Torah. But Hashem will answer them, “Fools! Everything you did, you did for yourselves!”
The Brisker Rov explains that when Mashiach will come, everything will be revealed to have been for the sake of Klal Yisrael. The bridges, the roads, the bathhouses... all of it. If so, the nations of the world will come and ask for credit for having done these things for the Jewish People. In a way, they will rightly see themselves as the emissaries to build these things.
But the Ribbono shel Olam will say, you’re fools! You could have had in mind to do these things for the right reason, for the benefit of the Jewish People. But you didn’t! Everything is in the mind, and with one twist of your attitude, you could have done these things with the right intentions.
Similarly, when Mashiach comes, it will be revealed to all that all the machines, and all the planes were there for one purpose: to serve the eved Hashem. And this teaches us that when we’re engaged in our mundane business, even when we don’t see how it benefits our fellow Yidden to think about Hashem and His mitzvos, the fact remains that it is all for this purpose.
Even if you’re involved in mortgages, and you have no idea how your work is supporting the eved Hashem, if you’re doing it with the right intention, you must still trust that you are part of this vast plan and mechanism to support and enable the eved Hashem.
