My grandfather’s Yahrzeit was this past week. He emigrated to the US from Zhlobin, Russia via France. He worked hard and became a printer to make ends meet. Thank Gd he succeeded!
My grandfather worried about finances. He worried if he would be able to put bread on the table.
This worry was not something unique to him. Many people of that generation worried about similar things. Some worried if they don’t work on Shabbos, will they have a job on Sunday. Others worried that they wouldn’t find a job. Many people today have similar worries.
My grandfather became a printer and worked hard raising an amazing family. You can meet my cousins all around the world :); from Cambodia to Israel, from California to the New York island.
This week’s Torah portion begins with the laws of Shemitah, the agricultural sabbatical year. The Jews had similar worries: “What will we eat in the seventh year? We will not sow, and we will not gather in our produce!"
The Lubavitcher Rebbe once chided my grandfather saying that these worries are similar to the serpent from the Garden of Eden. G-d said to the serpent, "Because you have done this ... you shall walk on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” And the serpent worried, what will happen when the dust runs out?
So what is the answer? Is there enough to go around?
Yes!
The answer is that while we each need to try to get a job and make a vessel for G-d’s blessings, the blessing itself comes from G-d and following G-d’s mitzvot! As the verses continues, “ I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will yield produce for three years. And you will sow in the eighth year, while [still] eating from the old crops until the ninth year; until the arrival of its crop, you will eat the old [crop].”
What do you worry about? Is it something that trusting in G-d can assist with?
This is truth. Trusting in G-d helps us recognize that the worry is foolish. Truth is also that not worrying is not always easy. We need to try and do our best.
Have a good Shabbos,
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman