What does it mean that when we do Hashem’s will, our work is done by others?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau explains Rabbi Shimon’s teaching that when the Jewish people do the will of Hashem, their work is done by others. In his words: “When you are aligned with the will of God, your work is done through others. Someone you never met is going to buy your items while you’re sleeping.”
He contrasts it with the verse “b’zeias apecha tochal lechem,” by the sweat of your brow you will eat bread. Working by your own sweat brings bread, a living. But a person whose income depends only on his own hours stops earning the moment he stops working.
His practical conclusion: “Never build an income that depends entirely on your own effort.” Build something that keeps serving while you are not there.
Related concepts: Business · Entrepreneur
In A Soul at Peace: When Others Do Your Work
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
When a person is aligned with Hashem’s will, his work is done through others.
Fear, vulnerability, or tension
A person who only sells his hours is trapped: when he stops, everything stops.
What may be behind it
In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau writes that the condition is doing Hashem’s will, not working more hours, and that this is not an excuse for laziness: the person becomes a vessel who builds a system, rather than the engine.
Deepest human truth
In A Soul at Peace he writes that the “others” who do the work are not there by chance; they are Hashem’s emissaries.
More questions from this teaching
More answers: Wealth, Work, and Divine Sustenance · All questions · Questions about Rabbi Landau and Rivnitz