A Soulful Journey

“One must be a student as well as have a profession. The two of them will dispel sin. All learning that it’s not accompanied by work, sooner or later, will prove on vain and it eventually will lead to sin.”  -Pirkay Avot 2:3 In our tradition it important to always study and learn yet at the same time never be removed from day today and its concerns.  We are to live in this world, not beyond or above it.

There are few satisfactions that are as complete is the pleasure of a task that has been well done. On the passage in Deuteronomy 30: 17, uvacharta bahayim , “choose life.”   Rabbi Ishmael taught, zu umanut , “that refers to a profession" (J.T. Kiddishin 1:7).   Not only is a man without skill unsupportable the material sense, he is unsupportable in a psychological sense. The Psalmist sang, “When you eat the labor of your hands, you are praiseworthy and it shall be well with thee.” (Ps 128:2).   Work is not a curse, nor a bitter necessity, nor even the means of making a living. It is a calling, a high human function, the basis of a dignified life, something which adds status and pride to a person because it offers an outlet to his creative energy.