It is Friday afternoon Erev Parshas Yisro and, as usual, Avi, the owner of M.E. International, is running around like a chicken without a head. His secretary, Nancy, is trailing behind him, dutifully following his commands. “Call Wong in Hong Kong and tell him to cancel the order, and I need you to…” An annoying song erupts from his phone and cuts him short. While flipping through the papers on his desk he answers: “Yes, Dave. The lawsuit? Tell him that we are looking for the documents he asked for… oh, Nancy, email the distributor to send 1,000 boxes to LA. What, Dave? The property on East 5th should be sold as quickly as possible, we are about to close on that mall.”
“Boss,” interrupts Nancy, “the broker is on line two about the shares in…”
“Yes, yes, I haven’t forgotten! Tell him I will give him an answer soon. Hey – it is almost Shabbos! Listen everyone, I have to run!”
“But boss, what about these deals?”
“I’ll give it some thought over the weekend,” throws Avi over his shoulder as he sails out the door.
As he drives home, Avi’s mind is filled with the various deals he is involved in. The thoughts don’t stop during Kabbalas Shabbos or during the seudah. “As soon as Shabbos is over I will close the deal with Joe… I will do this… I will do that…”
Shabbos morning, Avi goes to shul and his thoughts resume. But they are interrupted when suddenly everyone rises. “Oh! It’s the Aseres HaDibros, the Ten Commandments; I better stand up and listen.” When the ba’al koreh reached the fourth commandment, one verse caught his attention: “Sheishes yamim ta’avod ve’asisa kol melachtecha – six days you shall work and do all your labor.” “That’s funny,” he thought, “how is it possible to finish all my work in six days?” After davening he looked at Rashi and noticed that Rashi was also bothered by this question and quoted the words of the Mechilta: “When Shabbos arrives it should be in your eyes as if all your work is completed, so that you won’t be thinking about your work.” Avi was startled and ran over to the rav of the shul. “Could it be that I have been acting improperly all these years?” he asked.
The rav smiled and said, “I am so happy that you came over to ask! The Shulchan Aruch writes (O.C Siman 306:8) that even though you are allowed to think about your work, it is a mitzvah to totally refrain from any such thoughts on Shabbos. And the Mishnah Berurah adds that if they will really disturb you or cause worry, you should certainly be careful to avoid them. You have discovered the key to the gift of menuchas Shabbos –the feeling of relaxation and calmness that Shabbos awards!”
“But how I am supposed to stop having these thoughts? I don’t have a switch on my brain that I can just flip to Shabbos mode!” asked Avi.
“You’re right, it’s not easy,” answered the rav, “but if you work on it a little bit each week, you will eventually reach this precious goal.”
Baruch Hashem, most of us are not enslaved to making money like Avi, but we all have difficulty pushing our jobs or other mundane pursuits out of our minds on Shabbos. How do we make it happen?
The Oldest Tax
The answer is actually found in the aforementioned words of Rashi – once Shabbos arrives we must imagine that all of our work is complete. That will leave us with nothing to think about.
All right, you are probably thinking: “Sure, simple as pie! What is this, a Purim shpiel? How can I imagine that everything is finished, if it really is not?”
Rav Chaim Freidlander zt”l in Sefer Sifsei Chaim (Moadim, vol. 3, page 399) quotes the Mesilas Yeshorim, who writes that according to Hashem’s original design for Shabbos we would have to do nothing but sit back and Hashem would provide us with all our needs. But as a result of the sin of Adam HaRishon we must make some form of hishtadlus – some effort to make a living. He calls this a “tax that all of mankind must pay.” And Rav Chaim quotes Rav Dessler who says that since hishtadlus is a punishment and curse, we should certainly keep our involvement to a minimum! I would add that, this being the case, it is quite possible that we will do our hishtadlus in one area, and our parnasah will come from somewhere else! We must constantly remember that our efforts to put bread on the table are only to fulfill our hishtadlus. The true source of our parnasah is Hashem. As a certain Torah scholar succinctly observed: People say that having bitachon, faith in Hashem, is religion; but hishtadlus –that’s reality. In truth they have it backwards – bitachon is reality and hishtadlus is just religion!
Now we understand how we can view our work as if it is complete. “Six days you shall work.” Which work? The actions that may bring our livelihood, but we leave the actual parnasah to Hashem. When Shabbos arrives, we are commanded to stop doing these actions, because they are really completely finished. But what will happen to the matters we have left hanging? That has nothing to do with us, whatever happens is Hashem’s business.
Not only will this help us enjoy Shabbos, it will grant us menuchas hanefesh, tranquility of soul, all week long. Rav Isaac Sher zt”l, the Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, explains that the primary reason we do not feel calm is that we think the various ways of attaining our income are themselves the actual providers. One who lives with this mistaken outlook is a slave to his own efforts. But one who places his trust in Hashem will always feel calm and secure, like a baby feels in its mother’s arms. He realizes that all the things that seem to be the source of his well-being are really just Hashem’s messengers and thus nothing will disturb his menuchas hanefesh.
We can now explain the verses of the fourth commandment. “Zochor es yom Hashabbos l’kadisho –remember the day of Shabbos to sanctify it.” S’forno explains that all week long we should sanctify Shabbos by working in a way that enables us to forget about it on Shabbos. How? The Torah continues: “Six days you shall work and do all your labor” – remembering that this is nothing more than your hishtadlus. This will allow you to see your work as finished once Shabbos arrives. Workwithout getting emotionally involved! Don’t let your job take over your life!
At the beginning of Shabbos, think, “Hashem, I am all done! I am leaving all my matters in Your Hands!” One who acquires this mindset will truly merit to what we describe in ritzei: a day without any “distress, grief or pain”!
