The Joy of Recognizing Our Unique Mission
If a person were to make the cheshbon and realize that he has a set of twenty mitzvos that he fulfills every day (for example: emunah, kiddush Hashem, vigilance in the area of honesty, guarding his eyes, etc.) and he keeps in mind when those situations arise that he is doing so in order to fulfill a mitzvah, to fulfill the will of his Creator, this person would be filled with joy!
If a person would contemplate in each situation: “Which nisayon am I experiencing? Which one of the mitzvos am I fulfilling?” he would walk around all day filled with joy and satisfaction. Not only satisfaction that he has accomplished something great—but a true inner joy that comes from the light of the Ribbono shel Olam, because he is bateil to Hashem. An entire day, he is preoccupied with the mission from the Ribbono shel Olam. This would transform the person’s entire essence with joy of mitzvos.
Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight. But when a person understands this yesod and decides that for the coming three weeks he will meditate and reflect every day, again and again, on the fact that he is on a mission from the Ribbono shel Olam every minute that he’s at work—it will transform his entire essence. He will have such spiritual pleasure from the place he finds himself; this will bring so many blessings into his life because of the joy and satisfaction that he feels in these moments sitting in his office.
One Must Feel Satisfaction in His Work
The pasuk tells us, יולד לעמל אדם, man was created to toil (Iyov 5:7). This is the reality; if a person doesn’t invest in work, he will feel bad about himself.
Just as an adult cannot tolerate unhealthy foods because he senses that the body isn’t meant to take in such foods, similarly, a person cannot tolerate idleness.
When a person doesn’t do what he’s supposed to, he will immediately feel that something is off.... It will make him depressed and nervous. He will become irate at every narishkeit, because his nefesh craves toil. A person feels good when he works from morning till night, and when he doesn’t do so, he lacks joy and satisfaction.
Fulfilling Hashem’s Will Brings Joy
But Chazal tell us that the “toil” we refer to is the toil of Torah: A Yid who fulfills the ratzon Hashem feels that he has accomplished something on this world.
Of course, the toil of Torah can refer to the toil of learning Torah—and it is a wonderful thing when a person merits to sit and learn. This is certainly a great fulfillment of Hashem’s ratzon.
But Torah also means when a person finds himself in a certain place for his parnassah because Hashem wants him to be there. The Ribbono shel Olam gave him a wife and children to support—and Hashem wants him to go out and earn a parnassah, and there behave in the proper way.
Dancing for Joy After a Day’s Work
If a person simply goes about his work, he may not feel this joy and satisfaction—because he isn’t fulfilling the mission for which he is there.
But if he feels: “I need to fulfill twenty important mitzvos here today,” then he will live with a tremendous inner joy and purpose. He will be filled with joy every day when he comes home from work, because he has faithfully executed the mission he has been given by the Ribbono shel Olam.
How does a Yid feel after the Seder night? He has just carried out so many mitzvos! He experiences so much joy, a true feeling of satisfaction at having merited to fulfill a whole slew of mitzvos.
If a person were to approach his daily work with the same outlook, he would understand that the Ribbono shel Olam has placed him in this circumstance because there’s an entire list of mitzvos that he fulfills there each and every day. He comes there every morning to influence this place with kedushah. And if he leaves work every day with the feeling that he has just accomplished so many mitzvos, he will literally dance for joy, and he will immediately run to his לתורה עתים קביעת with even more joy—because he sees so clearly how much he has accomplished.
You Failed? Start Fresh!
Even if a person has failed from time to time at work, he can immediately begin anew and capitalize on the other mitzvos he has performed during his day. Every day represents new opportunities to fulfill our mission!
Just as when a person daydreamed during the first part of Shemoneh Esrei he can always get back on track wherever he’s holding—so too, a person can always seek opportunities wherever he is, regardless of what has happened until now. He can always begin fulfilling the mitzvos of his workplace in accordance with the way the Ribbono shel Olam has arranged his circumstances.
Everyone with His Bundle of Mitzvos
The rule to know is that the Ribbono shel Olam sends a person to a very specific place that is designed for his tikkun neshamah, the rectification of his soul. He must encounter a very specific set of positive and negative mitzvos unique to this place.
When your boss doesn’t pay you on time, this means that you were now given a special nisayon so that you will strengthen your emunah. When people bother you, it means that you must work on your interpersonal relationships, and so forth.
When a Yid goes in to work every day, knowing that there is a set of mitzvos waiting there for him, it is akin to one who establishes a special organization for the cause of a specific mitzvah, because he has the feeling that he was born for this.
Everyone Has Mitzvos Connected to His Unique Neshamah
It is known that various tzaddikim had a special feeling for their unique mitzvah—because that mitzvah was connected to their shoresh neshamah. We all have a connection to specific mitzvos, and we have the power and ability to influence others through this mitzvah. Some people may say that they don’t have any special feeling toward any given mitzvah... they don’t have any power of influence over others.
But this is a mistake—because when we think about it, we will see that there is a whole set of mitzvos connected with our unique circumstances. They come up in the course of our lives—whether through the work that we were given from Above or otherwise. No two lives are the same, and no two circumstances are the same. You have a special set of circumstances through which you must be משפיע on others.
Hashem Needs You to Be Among Gentiles
The story is told about a Yid who came to the Shpole Zeide and complained that his parnassah as the owner of a tavern requires him to be in the presence of goyim and hear their drunken tirades. He asked the Rebbe for a berachah to be given a different parnassah that would enable him to serve Hashem properly.
Said the Shpole Zeide to the Yid: You want to sit with pristine clothes in a room full of sefarim and serve Hashem with holiness and purity? The Ribbono shel Olam has enough angels in the Heavens. He doesn’t need this type of avodah from you. The Ribbono shel Olam needs you to be surrounded by lowly elements, and there think of Him! He wants you to cleave to Him and call out to Him amid all the impurity!
The Rebbe added: When a Yid finds himself in your situation, surrounded by lowly goyim, and there he yearns to speak to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, this brings about such a nachas ruach in Shamayim—for this avodah cannot be found among all the angels in the Heavens!
Davening for Clarity in Our Mission
When a person arrives in a new environment, he will not necessarily know right away what his mission is. It takes time to acclimate to his surroundings—and meditate and reflect upon the unique nisyonos of this place. Then he will begin to understand: What is my mission here, and...
