In today's conversation we're going to talk about a Mishnah
that really got me thinking about this topic of the Eskova
around work. It really led me on this journey
of exploration that culminated and having this podcast of Shark
Tank in a series about Perky Avos and that is the mission on
Peric Dalid Mishna Yud which says Rebbe mayor Omer having a
myth ASIC Vasopa Torah minimize your work and make sure to focus
on learning Torah. And what specifically got me
really thinking hard about this is a specific Mara Muckle that
analyzes this Mishnah, which we're going to get to in a few
minutes. Yeah, this is really interesting
because the last couple of weeks the the Mishnais that we've seen
have been more positive about a person's involvement in in Derek
Eretz and Malaka, Hovasa, Malaka.
And now this week we seem to be coming from a very different
perspective having midnight the ASIC try to try to downplay the
amount of time that you're spending on work.
We're going to have to try to see how can we square these two,
what seem like different perspectives, both within
Picchio's, so I'm excited to jump right in.
This episode is sponsored the ela nishmus Mai Obama henyarilla
bas Eliezer. Anybody who has any thoughts,
any comments, any cargos and ideas, please reach out.
We'd love to hear from you. Yeah, and a quick reminder that
we have our quiet WhatsApp group.
The link is in the show notes there as well, where we have
some bonus content, some special projects coming up.
Those are all available exclusively to our WhatsApp
group members. So I'm Yakko Wolf.
I'm Sri Goldstein. And this is starting.
So we're discussing the Mishnah in Parikh Daal and Mishnah Yudh
Rabbi Mayor Omer, having in mind the ASIC Vasopa Torah.
And the first question that really jumps out of anyone
reading this Mishnah is it seems, so disconnected from
reality. We know that work is such a big
part of people's lives, and really the only options are are
you working full time or full time plus full nights and full
weekends or not? So work is such a big part of
people's lives, it takes up so much time.
So how do we approach this Mishnah which says you're really
not supposed to be working so much?
That's the very simple reading. And the first question I want to
ask you or to see is, do you know any individuals who are in
our age or our stage of life who have family, who actually live
this Mishnah and don't have to just work full time or full time
plus plus or two or three jobs? Taking it objectively, no.
If I If I do and you're one of my friends, reach out.
Yeah. So this is a big, big challenge,
and I just really want to understand how this Mishnah
plays into our current reality. And we're going to get to that
in a few moments. But before we do, I I want to
lay an outline of what we're going to do.
The first thing that we're going to do is we're going to see him
a locus between Durham Khal and the Rambam and how they quote
and use this Mishnah in different context.
The second thing we're going to do is we're going to focus on
Rabbi Mayer and who he was and some of his opinions in other
places and how that might influence our understanding of
this Mishnah. And the third thing that we're
going to do is to see Rubena Yone's approach and see how he
connects this to a Kumar and Brachos, which actually really
gets back to the very first question of why it's so hard to
actually live this Mishnah in reality.
So the first thing is the Ramphal versus the Ramba.
Now the Ramphal in Missilesi Sharp in Parakeet, he talks
about things that prevent a person from reaching zeros, the
beginning chapters, their own causes.
The most important Meda of being Eva Hashem is the heroes being
careful and cautious and self aware of what your
responsibilities are and how you're performing in doing those
responsibilities and living those values that you're
supposed to be living up to. And so he says that that's a
very, very important fundamental Meda.
That's the very basics of being Eva Hashem.
And he also goes into the negative.
What things prevent the person from having this Meda of as the
heroes? And in Parek hey he writes as
follows. Kinehatipo Vahatirda being so
busy and and distracted. Pardibarnome Lamala Kibiyosa
Adam Tarudu Binyanne Olamo Hiney Makshavosa Asuros Bizike Hamasa
Asher Alayhem. When a person is mind is
preoccupied with his inyani Olam haze, his work and other things.
His thoughts are asurus bizike Amaka.
They're Hamasa. They are handcuffed.
He is chained to this pattern of thinking about his business, the
EF Sharlaim Latte Lev El Hamas and that restricts him from
thinking clearly and deeply about his service of Kurdish
Bahu, the Hakamai Malema Shalom Bureau Otamze.
Hazal knew this phenomenon that people who are so busy with
their work and so involved in their business, they knew this
and therefore Hazal say and Otos Parekhdalid have been my basic
vasoke Batora. So this mission according to
Kyle, is a response to the phenomenon where people get so
involved in the work that it distracts them from votus hashem
and therefore a person is supposed to minimize the amount
he's working and focus on Torah. Torah is obviously the most
positive source of zeros, as the Mr. Sharman mentioned in the
previous chapters. And so you're supposed to lean
in the on the positive distance yourself from the negative and
that's how you live a cohesive life of a Hashem of zeros.
And then he continues, Kenya ASIC Muhahula Adam let's A
person needs to work in order to have sustenance, in order to
live, in order to not die of starvation.
You don't need to work so much. You can work enough to live a
simple life and therefore you'll have more headspace and more
availability to focus on. And then he throws in a very
fascinating nugget at the end. All came to Stavinu Likvoi Itim
Latora. So interestingly he points out
that the practical way to have such a framework in your life is
to be Covia. Itim Latora Rehearsh also makes
a similar comment. We're not going to get into that
right now, but that's a very interesting point he throws in
there as well. Now, one thing that really
struck me at this Missiles to Charm is the fact that it seems
to echo a very real phenomenon that we might see that people
get so busy and so involved and it becomes such a force in their
life that sometimes it can crowd out their Torah and the
ruchnias. Sometimes I think about the fact
that we say and tell him Ma Hafti saw saka call iomisi Kasi,
that when a person really loves Torah, he always wants to talk
about Torah. And if you see people schmoozing
on Shabbos or just that social events often times work is their
topic of conversation. So on the one hand, their own
call definitely seems to be very fitting to a reality that we can
see on the ground. On the other hand, what comes
out is that the central part of our life which takes up so much
of our time and energy, is really all counterproductive to
our service of Kurdish borough. It's all a hindrance.
It's all an obstacle to what we're really supposed to be
doing in our life. And that bothered me a lot.
Then I noticed that the Ramam actually phrases things very
differently. The Ramam is actually found not
here in Pirkievos or not on the out of Kazaka.
It's found in the parish and Mish Nios on San Hedren, where
the Mishnah famously says that a Misaki Pokubia, someone who
gambles, is pasolidos. And there are two reasons given
in the mission and the Gomorrah whether this has to do with the
idea of a smachta, illegal obtaining of money, a form of
gezel, or whether it has to do with the fact that a person who
is gambling all day is not Osek bishuvosa ullum.
He's not involved in developing society, not involved in
developing the world. So I want to read the Rambam, He
says as follows. The Sodhu Bitaratenu is a
fundamental principle in our Torah.
She in roila Adamahasikis asas ella beechad mishnay dwarp.
There are only two legitimate things that a person should be
focusing on in their time in El Hazette.
Oh Beech hochma la hash Limbaugh as osmo either hochma which is
probably referenced to Talmotora to make him a better, more
spiritually refined person. The second possible legitimate
project that a person could be focused on is work business in
order to be Miyashe Vesaola. And then he goes on and says the
Roy Limite Bizet Ullah Harbos Baris shown, the latter one
should be minimized and the former should be prioritized
Kimosha Umru, Havimaid ASIC, the Asok Batora.
So here we have something very, very different.
The Ramam says that there are two very, very important things
that we're supposed to be involved in, #1 is working,
which is Yeshua Sholam, and #2 is Torah, which is spiritual
growth and spiritual refinement. And those are both the two
fundamental pillars that we're supposed to be focused on.
Between the two, the Ramam says the folks is supposed to be on
Torah and that should take the most important place.
But the other thing is not a a necessary evil like the Ramham
have you believe. It's just a secondary important
value that we have. And what this seems to come out
is that according to the Rambam, we know we learned last week
Yafa Talmotora in Der Karets. There are these two parts that
are supposed to play a part in our life and the Ramam says,
well you know, from that mission it's not immediately clear which
one is more important. And it's interesting that the
ballet at Tosos both in Yuma and Daf Peh hey and in Brachos and
Daf Lam and hey have this discussion about when you have
the lashon of Yaffa blank in blank.
Is that mean that the 1st is more important or the 2nd is
more important. And there's even opinion which
seems to indicate that work is more important and many a hard
enough struggle to understand what that could even mean.
The Nefesha Haim I believe in others.
OK put that aside. The Ramam says that these two
things are both important, which we talked about last week, Yaffa
Tamatar in there Earth. But the relationship between
these two important values is that Torah is #1 and work and
you use all of our number two and we can take this and broaden
this out a little bit to look at the Ram Khal in general and the
Ram Khal in general. So the Ram Khal in general we
spoke about last week and he makes it very, very clear in the
missiles a charm, that he has what you very, so beautifully
described as an Ulam Haba Haskafa, that Ulum haze is
really just a way to prepare ourselves for Ulum Haba and
therefore all things which are needs to survive and thrive and
ulhas that are really not fundamental or really not
essential to our Boris Hashem. Everything that really is truly
important is things that prepare us for Ulan Haba and everything
that's Ulhas that is just a Khatimse.
It's just a means to the ends and therefore that allows and
explains this approach that working is a necessary evil.
But the Rambam in other places indicates that he has the other
approach, the approach that you attributed to rehearsh and to
Solovacek SO1 Beautiful example where the Rambam formulates this
is a Hilka Shabbos where he talks about the Halaka.
The Pikuagna fish is Dorca Shabbos, and the Halaka is that.
Not only is Pikuagna fish Dorca Shabbos, but if there's a
situation it's like a Trila for Godoli to have that mitzvah of
saving a life on Shabbos. And he explains the Ashkovic
idea which stands behind this halacha as follows.
Halla Mata you learn, says the Rambam in Hoka Shabba's Perik
Bayes halacha, gimmel Shaheen mishpeteha Torah, Nikama BA
Olam. The rules and laws of the Torah
are not some sort of angry vengeance in the world, Ella
rahamim vechassed vishalamba ullam.
Rather, they're a source of mercy and kindness and peace in
the world. So you see from this halacha
that prioritizes life over Shabbos that the whole idea of
Torah is to be a source of bracha and khasset and goodness
and light in this world. In Olmhazak, which would track
with what we said before, that the Rahman views working as a
important part of our religious life.
It takes a backseat to Torah, but it's still an important part
of who we are as Abdul Hashem. Fantastic there's there's so
much so much to say here just about Durham Kao.
As much as the Rum Kao and Sharm presents that the ultimate goal
is to is to get yourself to Orlum Haba and then the Tanu
gate. Orlum Hatwell think it's
important to add, let's say a little bit of perspective or
deepen that a little bit from Durham in their Hashem.
The second Parekh, I think of the first shark in Derek Hashem
the Ram Khal talks about the essential nature of Agashwar,
who as native Hashem as a perfect being wants to give as
much good as possible. And the entire system of
Ullahaba is really just Hashem's opportunity to actualize this
essence of goodness and give us the the best goodness possible.
So the this orientation of trying to get to Lam Haba is not
just almost like a spiritual hedonism, we're just trying to
get gain as much pleasure and enjoyment as possible.
But it's really in an expression of Pakashvarov, whose ultimate
goodness is his positive nature as a as an altruist, as as a
native. That's that's really where it's
sourced. That's really this where it
comes from through Macao. When it comes to the round bound
there there's so many just maybe add add a little bit to the
McCarthy quoted one. I think really beautiful
formulation comes actually from the Rambam's son Rambam has a
has a Paris Alatora via we have pieces of the Paris Alatora.
So Schmotzi attest valve to the puzzle of attempt to leave
Mamlakhas Kohanin to goy Kadosh, the Rambam quotes his father
saying following he says Parish Mamlakhas Kohanin Shakoen, Shell
Koleda Huhamanig Chua neph. Bachela vad Doug Mashela, The
Cohane of every community, of every kind, of every Asian,
meant to be its leader. He's the most honorable
representation, the model for those for that congregation, for
that group, Shanchi hai, the yeku bikvosa.
People of that group should follow that, that leader, that
role model, the M2 said there at Hayasha Al Yado.
So what's this idea of Kai Yisrael being on Lehas Kohanim
yamarti? You attend Vishmiras torasi
manhige haulam hayas shalaham alayhem kiafasa Cohen El adazo
through Claudia Israel. Following the Torah you'll be
the leaders to the other nations of the world, having this
relationship of a Cohen to his group, to his people yell.
The nations of the world will follow in your footsteps,
they'll imitate your actions and they'll do what you do.
Zeh Tom Shakey Balti. The perish zeh mean ABBA
marizal. This is the explanation for this
that I got from my father. So Rahman Ramam, quoting the
Ramam himself says that the really the mission statement of
Claudius Rahm. This is in the this is in the
The introduction to my attend to you says I'm giving you the
story. I'm appointing Claire Israel as
my model nation in order to help the nations of the world learn
what they're supposed to be doing.
I think dovetails beautifully with something that our first
says. There's definitely a special
relationship that may as well have with Karish Barku.
But in terms of our purpose, in terms of our role, we actually
to a certain extent we almost like serve the Musolam in that
we serve as their role models, right.
The same way a leader serves his people.
We as the leaders of humanity to a certain extent serve the
Musolam in this role as the the role models as the exemplars of
the Derek Hashem. So again, it's a very olam haza
focused orientation and understanding of what Tori and
mitzvahs are meant to be accomplishing really what what
we exist four that that's why I guess one additional point of my
welcome within the round bun. Yeah, thanks for sharing those
additional insights. And really there are so many my
Mccullos and there are round bums all over the place and we
are limited in our format here on the podcast.
I invite all listeners who want to dive even deeper to these
issues to reach out, and we can send even more Mccorros for
those who are interested in studying this further.
I I think it is important to say that there is the other side of
the David Hall Hayao Maba just to make sure that we mention I
think the round bombs perspective is a little is a
little bit more nuanced. If you look in let's say you
started Dala at the very end of the chapter the Ramon based on
Dalin talks about his his understanding of how the world
works. So the spheres and everything
that's going on there must become my serratious.
At the very end of that Parek the Ramon talks about the
importance of learning tour within this framework.
What he says there is that even though even though he's all
called Havaya and Gomorrah and understand mitzvahs in a deep
way called a Dover cotton as opposed to which is the Rambam
says it's still important for those things to come.
First, why the old Shane Atova Hagadola?
So far this sounds very much in line with the.
Then he adds on this final phrase, Kadalinho kayeholam
haba. The Rambam says on the one hand,
we're looking to facilitate, you should have Olam, you should
have that. But on the other hand, with this
goal of Kadalinho, kayeholam haba.
So the Rambam seems to almost like play both sides of the
court, at least not Martin Macomb.
So it's important to see as much as you can in terms of Martin
McCombs and try to build a cohesive picture.
The second thing that we're going to focus on here is the
author of this mission, which is Robbie Mayor.
Now if you look at other places, Robbie Mayor is oftentimes
quoted as having a very Torah centric stance on different
issues. The most famous example is the
very end of Kedushin where there's a statement from Rabin
Horai who says that I'm not teaching my son any trade mania
Hani as called uma shivalam, but any mammatus beni ella Torah.
I'm only going to teach my son Torah.
Now many according understand that Rabin Horai rejects the
gamar and kedushin that we discussed at length in the first
episode about which says, which seems to say clearly the brace
out. There's an obligation of a
father to teach his son a trade based on a Puskin Kohala's rehai
and Emisha Sharahata. So a lot of the aquarium is
Sabir Halaha and submission VOB de gross Moshe, the Hassam Sofr.
They all say the Rabinarai disagrees.
You don't have to teach your son a trade.
You can teach your son just Torah.
Now the Gemara in Irvin and other places says the Rabinorai
is Rabbi Mayor. So you see that Rabin mayor has
this approach which says that Torah is the most important
thing and therefore Torah can even come at the expense of
being and you can focus only on Torah and you don't need to
teach your son a Parnassa. Now we just mentioned that there
might be a mahalkas between different tanam.
As to the where the Stam Tanah and says you have teachers on a
trade and the Khan of Ruby? No Roy Ruby Meyer says you don't
have teachers on a trade. Now we mentioned two weeks ago
there's a mission which says Ejoba Samalaka which might very
well be based on the same idea of Reiki and Emisha Ashura
Hafta. So it could be that there are
two different opinions. One opinion says that work is
the central part of life and our father should teach us on an
illness and it's a central part of the brisk of the bar who is
supposed to love what you do and appreciate what you do as part
of who you are, as Nevada Hashem Mary Mayor might disagree.
He says that a person should ideally only be focused on Torah
and not on any otherworldly pursuits.
That's the ideal that Ravi Mayor and Ravi Norai seem to express.
Now, there are two things that we need to keep in mind here.
Number one is that it's very interesting that nowadays we
also see that there are comedians and swaths of Torah
jewelry who have this Torah centric approach.
And there are other swaths of Torah jewelry which have a more
broad and approach to different parts of life and society and
about us, Hashem. Just one quick anecdote that I
heard from my Rebbe in Bayeri here in Karen Biavna, who he
learned in Panovich. And he says that back in the day
he was once walking in the streets of Nabrok and he heard
two kids getting into an argument and one kid cursed at
the other kid. Howdy, curse at the other kid,
he said, you are an Amaretz. And the kid got so insulted he
ran away in tears that he was cursed to this awful fate of
being an Amaretz. Now if you take Ramirez's
approach, that seems to be true. And there's actually another
statement where Ray Mayor, who says that if you marry off your
downtime and Mrs. It's like you're stuffing her in front of
a lion. That's the Gabbar in Psalm test.
Now what exactly that Gabbar means?
OK, not for now, but there is such an approach which says that
Torah is the most important thing for a Jew to focus on and
everything else is really very, very secondary or not nearly as
important. Whereas it could be that already
back in the Mishnah we have two opinions and two approaches
Animaholkas and that could be the underpinnings of what we
have today. The different approaches within
the Torah world to Torah versus work Torah versus other parts of
Oas Hashem could be rooted all the way back in the times of the
Mishnah. The second thing to keep in mind
here is that even within Rabin Meyer there are some Arma komas
that need to be worked out. So for example Ray Meyer himself
says in Kedushin that Lola Milami, Adamus, Beno, umnas
Kalab and Akia. So he doesn't say don't.
Teach your son any trade, he says you teach him a soft and
easy trade. The other thing to keep in mind
is that our mayor himself had a job, the Gomar and Aravin says
he was a sofr, A sofr stump. Going back to that Gomar and
Kedushin. The example of Omnus Kalavin
IKEA is a Mahda de Talmusa, which is someone who does
needlework. So that's the ideal profession
to rugby Mayor and Remair himself was a sofa Stam, not a
needle worker. So all these things need to be
worked out. But in general, you do see
Remair in a bunch of places being Torah centric in his
Ashkova and in his approach. And it could be.
That's what's driving the mission of my basic Masoka
Torah. And it could be that other
sources disagree and those might line up better with the mission
of Jehovah Samacha. Love and appreciate work as a
central part of your I. Don't think Potovich has a
monopoly. I'm considering Amharids to be
fairly derogatory. I would be pretty.
I'm pretty insulted if somebody called me in al arts as well.
And I did not have this quest to learn in Panovich Shiva.
Nor do I have that the Torah centric.
The Torah only Torah centric is not the right way to say it.
To her only perspective within this this point about Ray Mayor,
it's really interesting. I guess one of the questions
they ask is whether Rabin Mayor was giving Hajraha in Khinar or
Hashkafa. Was he saying that when it comes
to teaching, a father should focus on teaching his children
Torah only and and minimize the amount of time or cut out any
sort of education towards a trade or NASA and the kid will
have to figure that out later on on his own.
Or if he was saying I think the only thing that really matters
is Torah only and everything else should really be ignored or
cancelled or or avoided as much as possible.
Something which I think reinforces that that first
perspective, that is a point. And the Gemara talks about her
mayor being a super Stan and says that he would make a
certain amount of three seller a week.
Yeah, 3 seller a week. He would use one seller for a
Chilistia for food and he would clothe himself with the another
seller. And then the third seller he
would use to be Mafarney Sport used to support.
So students asked him, Maggie. Yeah, Albanaha, Shayna,
Tamanaha, Columbia. What's going to be with your
children? You're not putting aside any
money into a savings fund, the trust fund for your kids, but
how are your kids going to support themselves?
Are they going to buy that apartment?
So he answered them. IMI Yuta Dikin Yellaham Parnasa.
Mesa Shamis Bara Conti. The mayor says the mayor's
response is it's not my responsibility to be to take
care of my kids. It's if there's any given things
to serve it, then I got a spark is going to take care of them.
So that perspective would really fit very nicely with the mayor
saying I I'm not going to take on the responsibility of
teaching my children, my children to trade.
They'll learn it when they're older and if if Hashem wants
them to be supported, so then they'll be supported.
That's not my job. That's not my focus.
I'm just going to teach them till we're only it's not
necessarily, not not really giving Hadrafa and Hashkafa more
generally saying that nobody should work, people should,
should avoid working as much as possible.
Yeah. Another interesting ride to that
is a the SAT Merebi in Contra state role called Contra's
Lushina Kodesh. It's printed in the back of Veil
Moshe. He has a isode which he points
out that when abrasive brings multiple items there's
significance to the order which which the Bryce or the mission
brings those items. So introduction on Contessa
Madolf it says Tanner Abanan of Mulo will lift also.
So first yeah Mila, then your opinion on Ben Ulamdo Torah.
Ulasio Isha. So when he's young he goes to
yeshiva, he learns Torah, then he marries him off, gets
married. Ulamdo Umnus is after he's
married and he has the responsibility for his
household. So then you Start learning a
trade, not before that. So that also would go
consistently with with what you were saying that maybe as a kid
the focus completely on Torah and after the boy is married and
has responsibility for his home, only then should he be focusing
on having a paranasa. Now we move on to our final
section and I want to go back to the question that we mentioned
in the beginning which is the Mishnah seems so disconnected
from reality. People work so hard, they work
multiple jobs, they work late hours.
So what does it mean to be mimic basic vasok patara.
So there are a few things that we could say about this, but I
want to focus on rubina yona on the Mishnah and he says as
follows just a few short words but important and a lot of depth
that we have to unpack here. Rubina Yona writes shatase
malaktha arai vitorasa keva. Now where's that phrase from?
So in the first pack of Perky Avos Shamai says asei toras Kava
or keva. But he doesn't say that makka,
right? That's not from there.
This phrase is actually from a gomar and brachos on the flamin.
Hey Ahmed base the sugya of Rashvi and Rabishmal, which
we've discussed and he says as follows.
Umm, Rabbi, Rabbi Light Bo Ray, Shiloh kadoras Hari shownim
doras Hari shownim ASU tarasan keva molacht on a right, the
zoo, the zoo, Niskayan biadam. So the earlier generations were
so much greater than these generations.
Why? Because they made their Torah
keva and their malacha arai and both were niskaya biadam.
Both were successful and sustained within their lives.
Dorsach ronim shazu malakthan keva.
The Tarasan Arai in the later generations says the Kamara flip
the script, they made their malacha keva and their Torah
arai, the zoo, the zoo Lotus Kamabiyadan.
And neither one of them was successful, Not in the Torah and
not in their malacca. And the most obvious question
that jumps out from this Gemara is, well, if they were so
unsuccessful, so why do they do it?
If there's a proven successful model of Torah, Sakiva and
Malaktharay, then why were those acronym going away from that
model? And I don't know if I have a
great answer, but what I see from here is that it's very
difficult practically to live this, the Mishnah, to live this
idea, if you understand that Torres Keva laka, right.
And in my basic but Torah are all along the same lines.
So you see that even in times of the Gemara, they were pining for
the olden days where those started showing they were able
to really do this well. And even at times the Gemara,
they weren't really able to do it as the Mishnah suggested.
So as they like to say, right? So if during times the Gemara
this was a struggle to really have that ideal lifestyle and
then Allah has come of Akama, what we have nowadays seems to
express that challenge and difficulty as well.
I will just say that it doesn't mean that we take this Mishnah
and and throw it out. I think that it's important to
use this Mishnah as a form of aspiration and a form of ideal
that we should never give up on and forget about each person.
You know look wherever he is and wherever he's at, he should
understand that there is this ideal which is very very
difficult and very, very challenging.
But as much as possible to try to remember that it's an ideal
and to try at certain places to live it as much as possible.
What some of the how far should make a Duke on the Mishnah of
having might be ASIC Meaning doesn't mean work a tiny bit.
It means trim down, minimize your work as much as possible,
even if it means only carving out little bits and pieces of
time to be covariate and Matura to learn a little bit more as
much as possible. So I think that we see from here
very interestingly that this idea is a struggle that goes
back hundreds and thousands of years.
But that being said, it should still be something that we have
in mind and try to will to wish to want to aspire to as much as
possible and in little bits and pieces to try and implement it
wherever we can. Yeah, I think I think one way of
kind of presenting that is you could read this mission as an
objective statement or a subjective statement if it's
objective where like the Commission is telling us to only
spend a couple of hours and on our work.
So then it's hard to see how that's going to fit with our
reality and it's hard to see how that fit with reality ever.
Well we have, we have the Rambam telling us in the beginning of
that the the ideal work week of of Newman is 3 hours on work and
nine hours on learning. So it's it's hard to see how
that was ever the reality. Definitely when you when you
hear the Rambam's description of his own work week, it doesn't
sound like that. And I think if you take, if you
take the mission subjectively as however much time that you need,
however much time you're putting in for your needs, try to be
memied that try to cut out a little bit of that time and and
hide that away or put that away for learning.
So and that that entails making choices that that entail
prioritizing. Do we really need the extra?
Do I really need to put in the extra few hours that would make
me the extra however much money? Or can I get by without that?
I think this might be more of a challenge for freelancers, for
entrepreneurs who are setting their own schedules, and for
people who are working for AS as employees.
There's always this tension of do I really need to put in an
extra hour right now, or can I can I take an hour Seder?
Do I really need a rush off to work or can I take some time
first? Can I make a whatever it is to
have the guidance of this mission of how they denied the
the, the basic and I think in the subjective sense it
definitely can be applied and really should be applied to the
current reality. That's a a great point and it
really goes back into a number of you.
So those and I think it leads on to another conversation which we
don't have time for right now, which is that is work just there
in order to feed your family. If so anything that's beyond
those means is extra and should be avoided.
On the other hand, as we were saying, if it's part of your in
life to Miyashi Olam to provide value to society in the world
beyond us, so then there's a different way of thinking about
things. That's the first point that you
that you that comes out of what you're saying.
The other thing is the whole financial planning aspect of it,
which is not really our topic so much on Stark Tank, but I think
it is something very interesting and deserves further
exploration. I will just tease the audience
and say that there are three mission Brewers in three
different places that all imply different things as to what
level of financial stability and backing a person should be
striving for. A discussion for another day and
how those 3 fit together. But it's a very fascinating
topic that we're going to go into at some point down the line
by Rotha Shem Rootsie. Do you have any other final
party thoughts about our conversation today and about
this Mishna? I'm going to throw something
controversial. Maybe I'll get cancelled.
Yeah. Or react and we'll see.
We'll see what you think about this you at some point you just
said that there should always be an aspiration to make Torah the
most important part of your life.
Now you were saying in the context of this Mishnah, if you
want to accept the teaching of the Mishnah as opposed to saying
that this was only true 1000 years ago but it's no longer
relevant. You're saying that if you want
to accept the the teaching of the Mishnah and and prioritize
learning and and downplay the importance of work.
So there's there's an important message here there's important
value which I that I really accept fully agree with, but the
the formulation of making Torah the most important part of your
life. So I actually think that that I
would disagree with that I would and I would say differently and
I think that formulation fits very nicely with let's say the
Torah only perspective which might be might be related to
their own file presumably is more closely related to the
Nefsheim, which I don't think we've spoken about so much.
Maybe a couple weeks ago we spoke about, but I think the
formulation that I would prefer that I would, I would say
myself, is not making Tobra the most important part of our life,
but Avodos Hashem and recognizing the breadth and the
expansiveness of Avodos Hashem, an important part of that, a
huge part of that is Talma Torah.
But like we're saying, an important part of that is also
the issue we show. Well, an important part of that
is our families. An important part of that is our
relationships, not the classic broad life that that would be a
better fit with the, let's say, reverse or salvation.
Solemn has a orientation as opposed to the Toro only
perspective of making Torah, which let's let's take that in a
narrow sense, tomatura being the most important part of of our
life. That's not to downplay the
importance of tomatura at all, but it is to recognize what's
meant to be the top of that totem pole.
Yeah, I certainly accept that formulation, and it's certainly
the way I was raised by my parents and my rebellion and my
community, and I certainly try to live that way as well.
There are people who make statements which seem to imply
not that way. There's a a phrase which is
attributed to a certain Godel, or maybe it was said about a
certain Godel that for him I'll I'll have Torah, I'll have Torah
Torah. So it's a little bit humorous
and it's a Zeo from the mission. So if you want to start changing
marmacomas to Hazel, have fun. That's not what I do.
So yeah, there, there. And the question then becomes,
so is that a legitimate approach?
Is that an illegitimate approach?
It's certainly not the way I try to live my life.
But I think that it understands marmacomas.
We have to just be open to understanding how we might want
to read these things and what they represent and and what
different opinions might be legitimate within the literature
of the vast literature of Hazel and what might be beyond the
pale of what we actually believe in as a legitimate Torah
approach. This has been a lot of fun and I
think there's so much important stuff here.
I partly thought is as follows. There was an economist in the
1930s. His name was John Maynard
Keynes, and he wrote an essay called Economic Possibilities
for Our Grandchildren. And there he predicted that
technological advancements and economic growth would lead to
significant increases in productivity.
Again, this is almost 100 years ago, allowing people to work
much shorter hours, possibly as little as 15 hours a week, while
maintaining a high standard of living.
And I believe he, he said within 100 years that will be at this
point where people work 15 hours a week because technology is so
advanced and economic growth has been so flourishing.
So we're there, right? We're now 94 years since he
wrote that essay and we're obviously, as we said before,
nowhere close to this reality. But on the other hand, we do see
some trends starting to emerge. For example, there are scholars
who believe that a four day work week can produce the same
results for a business as a five day work week because people are
can be so productive because people waste so much time
browsing TikTok during their work day.
For all these various reasons we could go down to four days of
work a week and allow an extra day of our weekend to focus on
other things that are important to us beyond just the office.
So that is a movement which is still on the fringes of the
business world but is gaining some momentum and is gaining
some steam. And now we have generative AI in
chat, CPT and and job market shifting to respond to these
advanced in technology. So I would just say it's very,
very interesting to see how things are going to play out
over the next few years to see how these advances in technology
actually do affect what we our lives look like in terms of work
and things that beyond just our office and our work.
That'll be very interesting to see how much we're able to be in
my BASIC in the coming years. Thank you so much for tuning in
to start today. Please make sure we'll leave a
five star review and help us grow our show.
So next time, keep on staging. Clever.