The Sabbath, Source of Blessing
“Six days you shall work and do all your tasks.” A student once asked me a question, his eyes burning: “If all blessing comes down from the Sabbath, why should I work at all?” It is a burning question, and not for nothing. It touches the nerve of earning a living for every young married man and every working man. It touches all the inner turmoil of the daily “running.” And the Torah’s own words invite us to look closely. The Torah says: “Hashem blessed the seventh day… because on it He rested from all His work, which Hashem created to do.” Hashem created “to do.” So what did He leave for us in that “to do”? The Owner and the Deed Listen, my dear fellow Jew. Imagine you own a building with ten apartments. The deed is registered in your name, signed and approved. The building is yours. The apartments are yours. The income is yours. That is what the Sabbath is. The Zohar, the classic book of Jewish mysticism, explains the verse “Hashem blessed the seventh day” this way: “All the blessings above and below depend on the seventh day.” The Sabbath is not just “rest.” The Sabbath is where it is settled who you are in the world, and what belongs to you. It is the day you receive the deed. But the building is already yours. So what is left for you to do? Go and collect the rent. The tenants are sitting in their apartments. They will not bring you the money on their own. You have to knock on the doors. Show up. Remind them. Collect. That is the work of the six weekdays. “Six days you shall work and do all your tasks.” This is not a command to create wealth out of nothing. It is a command to go out and collect what is already yours. The Vessel and the Flow Hasidic teaching puts it this way. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains in one of his letters that our effort in the material world does not “create” our livelihood. Instead, it makes a vessel: a vessel to receive the abundance that has already been decided for us from Above. The abundance is there. The blessing is there. A person’s work is to open up, to open a vessel. That is the “to do.” It lets the light from Above come down and clothe itself in ordinary, natural ways in our world of action. Or, in the language of the parable: the money already belongs to you because of the deed. But if you do not go and collect it, it stays with the tenants. It is not that you do not deserve it. It is that you did not open a vessel to receive it. This is the meaning of “which Hashem created to do.” Hashem created the blessing, and He left the “doing” to us. Not to create, but to reveal. Not to produce, but to collect. Lifting the Worry from Your Heart And here is the point that truly touches the heart. Many young married men and working men carry a heavy mistake. They think the running itself creates their livelihood: the rush, the anxiety, the long hours. That is where the pressure comes from. That is where the constant anxiety comes from: “If I don’t push hard enough, we’ll have nothing.” But that is not true. As King Solomon wrote: “It is the blessing of Hashem that makes a person rich.” The blessing creates the wealth, not the running. When you go out to work on Sunday, you are not a hired laborer trying to build the world all over again. You are the owner going out to collect the rent. The money is already yours. You just need to show up. So work does not stop being necessary. You still have to knock on the doors. But now the knocking comes from inner calm, from trust in Hashem. It comes from knowing: I am not “creating,” I am “collecting.” I am not rebuilding the building from scratch every day. I am simply coming to collect.
Putting It into Practice
When you welcome the Sabbath this week, take one quiet moment before lighting the candles. Remind yourself: “On this Sabbath I am receiving the deed. Everything that will come to me this week has already been written and decided, right now.” Then, when you go out to work on Sunday, do not go as a servant who has to prove himself. Go as the owner going out to collect. Your “doing” reveals the blessing. It does not build it.
Questions and answers
Q: If all blessing comes from the Sabbath, why does the Torah say "Six days you shall work"?
Rabbi Landau answers: “Six days you shall work and do all your tasks.” A student once asked me a question, his eyes burning: “If all blessing comes down from the Sabbath, why should I work at all?” It is a burning question, and not for nothing. It touches the nerve of earning a living for every young married man and every working man. It touches all the inner turmoil of the daily “running.” And the Torah’s own words invite us to look closely. The Torah says: “Hashem blessed the seventh day… because on it He rested from all His work, which Hashem created to do.” Hashem created “to do.” So what did He leave for us in that “to do”?
Q: How is the Sabbath like owning the deed to a building, according to the Zohar?
Rabbi Landau answers: Imagine you own a building with ten apartments. The deed is registered in your name, signed and approved. The building is yours. The apartments are yours. The income is yours. That is what the Sabbath is. The Zohar, the classic book of Jewish mysticism, explains the verse “Hashem blessed the seventh day” this way: “All the blessings above and below depend on the seventh day.” The Sabbath is not just “rest.” The Sabbath is where it is settled who you are in the world, and what belongs to you. It is the day you receive the deed. But the building is already yours. So what is left for you to do?
Q: If the abundance is already decided above, what does our work during the week accomplish?
Rabbi Landau answers: Hasidic teaching puts it this way. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains in one of his letters that our effort in the material world does not “create” our livelihood. Instead, it makes a vessel: a vessel to receive the abundance that has already been decided for us from Above. The abundance is there. The blessing is there. A person’s work is to open up, to open a vessel. That is the “to do.” It lets the light from Above come down and clothe itself in ordinary, natural ways in our world of action. Or, in the language of the parable: the money already belongs to you because of the deed.
Q: Does running and worrying create our livelihood?
Rabbi Landau answers: And here is the point that truly touches the heart. Many young married men and working men carry a heavy mistake. They think the running itself creates their livelihood: the rush, the anxiety, the long hours. That is where the pressure comes from. That is where the constant anxiety comes from: “If I don’t push hard enough, we’ll have nothing.” But that is not true. As King Solomon wrote: “It is the blessing of Hashem that makes a person rich.” The blessing creates the wealth, not the running. When you go out to work on Sunday, you are not a hired laborer trying to build the world all over again. You are the owner going out to collect the rent. The money is already yours.
Q: How should I prepare for the Sabbath so that I go to work as an owner and not as a servant?
Rabbi Landau answers: When you welcome the Sabbath this week, take one quiet moment before lighting the candles. Remind yourself: “On this Sabbath I am receiving the deed. Everything that will come to me this week has already been written and decided, right now.” Then, when you go out to work on Sunday, do not go as a servant who has to prove himself. Go as the owner going out to collect. Your “doing” reveals the blessing. It does not build it.