By Rabbi
Yisroel Shusterman
This
week’s Parsha Perspective is dedicated in memory of
Mrs Feige
Klein OBM
by her son Dr Yehuda Klein and family, Monsey NY.
Abraham was the
ultimate workaholic. In his youth, he organized and gave mass lectures on
monotheism all across Mesopotamia. He wrote 400 books on the subject. At the
age of 75, he moved to the Promised Land and continued his life’s mission
apace. He set up and managed hospitality inns all over the country, launched a
war to free his nephew, fathered a son when he was 86, and circumcised himself
at 99. Not one to shirk hard work, he defended the people of Sodom before G‑d at
99, and fathered another son at the age of 100. When he was 137, he undertook
an arduous three-day journey through the mountains to bind his son Isaac,
and when he returned, he found that his wife Sarah had passed away.
He immediately purchased a plot for her burial and organized her funeral, as
detailed in this week's Parshah Chaye Sarah (Bereishis 23:1-25:18).
When this was all
said and done, you might imagine that Abraham would have opted to rest, but
that was not to be. Shortly after the mourning period for Sarah, he launched an
involved campaign to find a bride for Isaac. And here is the most amazing part:
after arranging for his son to be married, Abraham remarried and had more
children. Abraham was not ready to give up and retire. He had lots of hard work
left in him, and rest would need to wait.
I doubt that we can
match Abraham’s pace, but we can learn a lesson from it.
Do you work all year
so you can take a vacation in the summer, or do you vacation in the summer to
rejuvenate and go back to work? Do you work all day so you can rest in bed at
night, or do you rest in bed at night so you can wake up and work in the
morning?
Because we sink into
bed at night with a true sigh of relief and wake up in the morning with a long
groan of unhappiness, we erroneously think that we are happier at rest than at
work. But that isn’t true. When we are fully engaged, overcoming challenges,
dealing with crises and making progress, we are vibrant, alive and abuzz. When
we are relaxed and at rest, we grow indolent and sluggish.
We enjoy the moment
of transition from frenetic pace to rest, which is why we sigh with relief when
we crawl into bed, settle into a vacation, or light Shabbat candles on
Friday night. But overall, we are happiest when we are at work.
This is because G‑d
didn’t create man to relax, but to be purposeful. When we are pursuing a goal
and accomplishing a purpose, we feel in sync with our essence. Being at rest is
not natural to us. While we enjoy the break for a little while, we soon yearn
for a return to work. Because at work, we are in “giving mode”: we contribute
to the universe, to society and to life. When we are at rest, we are in
“receiving mode”: we receive from the universe and from life. We feel more
fulfilled when we’re contributing than when we’re receiving because we are, at
heart, purpose-driven. It is how G‑d made us.
Abraham surely
rested from time to time, but he clearly required less rest than most. What we
can learn from Abraham is that rest is overrated. The best condition in life is
the exuberance of hard work. That is when we come alive. That is when we are
most fully human. That is when we most reflect our Creator.
He made us for a
purpose. Our task is to find that purpose and pursue it. If at times we must
rest, it is to gather strength for more work. Our rest invigorates us for the
challenges that lie ahead.
May we find the
strength to complete our tasks, the creativity to overcome our challenges, and
the wisdom to appreciate the vibrancy that such trials bring.
May you have a meaningful and uplifting
Shabbos!
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