Simply Existing, and Chasing the Wind

“And I saw all the toil and all the skill of work, that it is a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is emptiness and chasing the wind.” Opening As King Solomon wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “And I saw all the toil and all the skill of work, that it is a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is emptiness and chasing the wind.” This is hard to understand. Can it really be that all of a person’s toil and effort is empty, nothing but chasing the wind? Everything he labors at and does in all the days of his life? Isn’t that the very reason he came down into this world: to work and to act, to build and to achieve? But King Solomon’s wisdom reaches a very deep point here. He does not say that the deeds themselves are empty. He says that the toil is chasing the wind. By toil he means the pressure inside, the race to prove yourself, the need to earn your place in the world through what you do. Defining Yourself by Your Role Ask yourself honestly, my brother: when you think about yourself, who are you? Usually the answer comes right away. I’m a young married man who studies Torah. I’m a business owner. I’m a father. I’m the one who provides for the family. And if, heaven forbid, one of these roles is shaken, some people feel that their whole existence is shaken. Maybe making a living is hard. Maybe the learning isn’t going well. Maybe there is tension at home. This is a mistake at its very root. Every one of these roles came after you were already here: husband, father, learner, provider. You existed before you married, before your first child was born, before you opened a business or sat down to study the Talmud. Your existence came before all of these. So they cannot be the reason you exist. Any justification for your existence that rests on a role you took on later is a house built on sand. Existence Is Its Own Justification Here Hasidic teaching touches a deep point. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was the author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought. In the part of it called “The Gate of Unity and Faith,” he writes that Hashem brings everything that exists into being from nothing, at every single moment. Creation was not a one-time event that happened once, in the six days of Creation. It is a constant act of Hashem, bringing the world into being, and it is going on right now. What does this mean? The very fact that you exist in the world right now, this breath and this moment, is not a neutral fact. It is an active act of Hashem. Hashem’s will is bringing you into being from nothing at this very moment. If so, why does Hashem bring you into being? Because He wants you. It is that simple. It is not because of what you have done, or what you will do, or what your role is. It is because your very existence is the expression of His will. Your very being is the purpose. Existence is its own justification. Serving from Joy, Not from Anxiety This gives us a very practical lesson in serving Hashem. There are two ways to serve. The first is serving out of pressure: the pressure to justify yourself, to earn, to prove. A person studies because he is afraid people will think he is lazy. He behaves as he does because he is afraid of what people will say. He does the commandments in order to buy his place. This is the chase that King Solomon called chasing the wind: a frantic race, with no rest and no joy. The second way is serving from the knowledge that your place is already secure. Hashem put you here. He is bringing you into being right now, and your very existence is whole and wanted. When you start from this point, your Torah study, your commandments and your acts of kindness are not trying to buy anything. They are simply living out what you already are. This is the difference between a servant who counts up his wages and a son who acts out of the joy of being close to his father. The son does not earn his place. He is already there.