Test of Faith: 'No More Work - Go Home!'

Another form of idolatry in our days is what we call "bread labor."

Today, a person who is fired from their job is considered by us—and even more so by themselves—as "burned out," with no use, abandoned to death, along with their spouse and children... No day is darker than the one when they hear: "No more work! Go home!"

For a believing Jew, such an event shouldn't shake them at all. Only someone who thinks that their livelihood depended until now on the goodwill of their "boss," and has tied their fortune and life to their employer's benevolence, is truly the one crying and lamenting as if their "god" has died.

The believer, even until now, when their livelihood came through an employer, does not attribute their sustenance and economy to anyone but the Creator of the world. They view their employer merely as a messenger from Hashem to sustain them. They blame no one and are not heartbroken; instead, they turn directly to Hashem to provide them with another messenger, just as He provided the previous one, understanding that the source of their sustenance—Hashem—has not changed at all, and if the messenger has changed, the One who sends them has not.

The believer, even when working for an employer, does not flatter or fawn at them for a slice of bread, and precisely because of this, they are respected by their employer, who sees them as someone proud of their faith.

Conversely, the one lacking faith tries to secure their position with their employer through flattery or slander, gossiping about other employees to gain favor in their employer's eyes, thinking these tactics will cement and advance them to higher positions. How mistaken and faithless they are. And we have often seen that those very people are the ones who are removed and fall from their positions, and none of their gossiping or flattering helped them.

All Blessings Depend on Trust

King David proclaims and says (Psalms 37:25): "I have been young, and now I am old"—many years have passed over me, and I have examined and analyzed—"yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread." "Young lions"—strong lions—"may lack and go hungry, but those who seek Hashem lack no good thing" (Psalms 34:11). "Cursed is the man who trusts in humans and makes flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from Hashem" (Jeremiah 17:5). "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem; Hashem will be his security" (Jeremiah 17:7).

All blessings depend on trust, and the one who trusts in Hashem, kindness will surround them. The blessings and protection and kindness for the person depend on the measure of their trust, and not on their efforts.

Similarly, consider how much faith is needed in life's trials. Let us imagine a person waiting for their paycheck like usual, arranging their needs with the assumption that their salary will be paid on time, and then, on payday, there's a delay... there's no salary today, only in a few days! How much faith is needed in such a situation? Surely, they must borrow money for a few limited days to cover the accounts that were to be covered by their salary, had it arrived on time. How much innocence one needs to believe that there is a time for everything: when they will receive, and how much they will receive, all is decreed by heaven, and that from heaven it was so decreed for their salary to be delayed, requiring them to make the effort mentioned to obtain a temporary loan. Without a doubt, this is for atonement of their sins, and upon them it is, as well, to introspect into their actions, lest they have ever delayed wages owed to others, or the like. In any case, whoever accepts this silently and with love, while indeed investing some suffering and restraint, will be rewarded with much good in the future for being steadfast in their faith to accept what Hashem desires with love.

Once, a wagon driver came to the "Chafetz Chaim" and complained that within a short time, three of his horses, which were his sources of livelihood, had died. Rabbi Yisrael Meir was shocked to hear this, immediately stopped him, and said: "Heaven forbid! Your ears do not hear what your mouth speaks! Are the horses your providers? Surely, Hashem is the one who nourishes and sustains everyone!" and he did not cease to wonder and speak to himself all that day: how foolish people are, not feeling the Creator of the world who gives life to everything and nourishes everything, while instead, the wagon driver sees his sustenance as coming from the horse, the carpenter from the wood, the tailor from the sewing machine, and so on.

This article is taken from the book "Living with Faith." To purchase Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Lugasi's book click here.