English translation — תצא ג

A.

Regarding the command¹

"On his day you shall give his hire, and the sun shall not go down upon it, etc." — it is known the question:

Chazal say²

that the Almighty "fulfills" that which "He says to Israel to do and to keep."

And in our matter — we find in several places in Chazal³,

that the service of Jews in fulfilling the Torah and mitzvos is compared to the service of a worker for his employer,

and the reward of mitzvos is the "payment" that the Almighty

(the "employer")

pays the Jews

(the "workers")

for their "work."

must accordingly come out,

that every time a Jew finishes doing a mitzvah,

he should immediately

(“ביומו”)

receive the reward for his “work” — as commanded by Hashem in His Torah “on his day you shall give his hire, and the sun shall not go down upon him etc.”

(and “the wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning”<sup>4</sup>

Why do we find<sup>6</sup>,

that the Most High pays the reward of mitzvos

(not immediately,

but)

only “tomorrow

(the World to Come<sup>7</sup>)

as the Sages said<sup>8</sup>

“Today to do them,

tomorrow to receive

(to take<sup>9</sup>)

their reward”,

then<sup>10</sup>

the Most High “delays” their reward

(even of complete righteous ones)

until “tomorrow”<sup>11</sup>?

B.

Commentators¹²

answer,

that since "all our days we are enslaved to the Holy One, blessed be He, for His service"

(because every moment of a person's life he is obligated "to serve his Master"¹³),

it follows

that the entire life of a person is one period of hired labor — to every Jew has been apportioned one "mission" and task that he must carry out during the course of his life, his vitality in this world,

and every action of his in Torah and mitzvos is a detail of his mission and task:

Therefore there is no obligation to pay a Jew the reward of mitzvos until after his passing from the world

(when the period of hired labor ends),

because,

"Hired labor is not paid except at the end"¹⁴

(as the law¹⁵,

that if someone hired a worker for a specific period,

the employer does not violate [the prohibition of] delaying payment until the entire period passes).

The answer is however appropriate only according to the opinion of the Rambam,

that the World to Come — "the ultimate reward of the commandments"¹⁶

— is the world of souls without a body

(Garden of Eden)¹⁷,

and that "a person has nothing after the life of this world"¹⁸

— and accordingly "tomorrow

(in the World to Come)

to receive their reward" refers to the Garden of Eden¹⁹

But not according to the opinion of the Ramban²⁰

— and so is the ruling of Kabbalah and Chassidus²¹

that the World to Come here means the World of Resurrection

(and that is the ultimate reward)

— it turns out,

that the Almighty is "delaying" the reward of commandments until the Future to Come,

a long time after the time of the "hiring" of a Jew ends

(a Jew must wait to receive the reward of commandments until the time of

(the Days of Moshiach and

the World of Resurrection)²²

And the question returns to its place: How does the time of payment of the reward of commandments fit with the halacha of "on his day you shall give his hire"?

3.

And it can be said — this question is answered according to the explanation of the old Rebbe in the Tanya:

The Alter Rebbe²³

brings the statement of our Sages, may their memory be for blessing,²⁴

that "the purpose of the creation of this world is that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms,"

and this means that in this lower world, "which there is no lower beneath it in terms of concealment of His light, may He be blessed," the "light of G-d" should shine without any interruption.²⁵

And this is accomplished through "our deeds and our service during the entire duration of the exile"²⁶

(and during all times of service in general),

for every action of a Jew in the service of Torah and mitzvot effects a refinement in the physicality of his body and his portion in the world

(and a drawing down of Divine light into the world)

— thus,

that with the combination of the service of all the children of Israel throughout all the generations, the clarification and refinement of the entire this world is completed, and the entire world becomes a "dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed."

that "the entirety of the world" is divided into sixty myriad parts,

corresponding to the "sixty myriad souls"

(for this is the number of the general souls which are "roots" of all souls of Israel — that each particular soul is a spark of one of the "sixty myriad ...

roots")

— namely,

that each particular soul,

each Jew has a part in the world that is "related to him",

that through his service in Torah and mitzvos he refines "his" part in this world;

And through this that all sixty myriad souls of Israel conduct through their service,

the "entirety of the world" becomes refined and it becomes a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He].

And to this state of the ultimate refinement and ascent, the world will come in the future — in the days of Mashiach,

and primarily and in completeness — at the resurrection of the dead,

and then the evil of this world will be completely nullified and it will be "the revelation²⁸

of His glory, and all flesh together shall see, and He will appear upon them in the splendor of the majesty of His might, and the glory of the Lord will fill the entire earth."

It follows accordingly,

that the service of all Jews together throughout all the generations as one is in the category of a single "hiring",

whose essence and purpose is to make a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He, in the lower realms.

And it can be said even more: in this role, Jews are

(not in the category of a "hired worker",

but)

in the category of a "contractor": the Almighty has given over His world into the hands of Israel, that they should make from this world a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He.

And with this it is answered why the main matter of reward is paid only in the future to come

(In the days of Mashiach,

and primarily — in the World of Resurrection)

— because the reward of the World to Come is the general payment to all Jews as one*²⁸

for their work to make from the world a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He: and this reward Jews receive immediately after they finish the work of making for Him, blessed be He, a dwelling place in the lower realms.

4.

According to the explanation in the content of reward of the commandments — one can explain another matter in connection to reward of the commandments:

It is known that the Rambam<sup>29</sup>

explains regarding the promises and good assurances in physicality,

that we find "in the entire Torah"

(at first glance,

how does it fit with that "the reward of the commandments ..

is the life of the World to Come"?)

— that "those good things are not the ultimate reward of the commandments ..

but ..

the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us the Torah ..

and promised us in the Torah that if we do it with joy ..

He will remove from us all the things that prevent us from doing it ..

and will bestow upon us all the good things that strengthen our hands to do the Torah ..

so that ..

(that)

we may sit free to study wisdom and do the commandment in order to merit the life of the World to Come".

From the simple language of the Rambam it is understood,

that the effluences of "all the good things" in physical matters that the Almighty promises,

are not as payment of reward,

but a side matter,

that comes from the side of the kindness of G-d — since Jews fulfill Torah and commandments

(with joy),

the conduct from Above is in a manner that the Almighty removes the things that prevent and bestows upon us "all the good things that strengthen our hands" to be able to even better carry out their service in Torah and commandments.

It is however difficult to say so,

because according to this it will turn out,

that in all those places where Chazal compare the matter of reward of commandments to the payment that a homeowner is obligated to pay his worker,

is meant only the reward of the World to Come — and not the multitude of matters of reward explained in the Written Torah³⁰

Therefore it is plausible to say,

that also the matter of the influences "all the good things" explained in the Rambam

(which sustain our hands to do the Torah),

is in the category of reward³

and consequently not a matter of halacha,

of which one finds its parallel in the obligations of the homeowner to a worker.

H.

Seemingly one could connect this with the well-known,

that Jews are called servants of Hashem,

and the law regarding a Hebrew servant is,

that "the master is obligated to make them equal to him in food and drink, in clothing and in dwelling"<sup>33</sup>.

And therefore,

when we are occupied with the service of Hashem,

there is an obligation, so to speak, upon the Most High,

our Master,

to provide all our needs and in abundance

("to make them equal to him").

But this is not consistent.

Because the obligation of a master to his servant — is not comparable to the reward of commandments

(like an employer pays his worker)

— that is not a wage for labor,

but an obligation upon the master to his servant because of the fact that one who acquires a Hebrew servant is like one who acquires a master for himself<sup>33</sup>.

being acquired to his master³⁴].

But not so the aforementioned good influences,

are a matter of obligation³⁵,

whose examples are the obligations of a homeowner to his worker.

It is not because of that which by a worker the law is — "When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat grapes to your fill, etc.; when you come into your neighbor's standing grain, etc."<sup>36</sup>,

that the homeowner must allow the workers to eat "from that which they are working on"<sup>37</sup>

— that likewise in our case: since Jews find themselves in the vineyard and field of the Holy One, blessed be He,

(this world)

and do there "work" for the "homeowner",

they take their needs

(for all of man's needs are called by the name of eating<sup>38</sup>)

"from that which they are working on" —

Because the commandment imposes an obligation upon the homeowner

(not to feed the worker,

clarify)

only — "that he allow<sup>37</sup>

them to eat"<sup>39</sup>

but even regarding an animal that works — "You shall not muzzle an ox while it threshes"<sup>40</sup>]

Not so the aforementioned good promises regarding the mitzvos are matters that the Almighty is, as it were, obligated<sup>35</sup>

to give Jews all reward for their service.

6.

And one must say the explanation in this:

Based on the above

(section 3)

— that the role of Jews is to make from this world a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He — it can be said,

that the service of Jews in the world has within it

(not only the category of "contractorship",

but)

also the category of partnership:

Since the reward in the future to come consists in that which Jews will see "eye to eye" the honor of God,

the Divine light that was drawn down through their service,

in the manner of "the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah"⁴¹

— that is,

that the "reward" is not a separate thing from their service,

but — the content of the service itself⁴²

It turns out,

that this is, for example, as it were, of the judgment⁴³

"the one who gives eggs to the owner of the roosters to have the roosters sit on them until the chicks come out and the owner of the roosters raises them and the profit is between them":

The Supreme One has given over His world to the children of Israel,

that they should accomplish through their service,

that the Divinity which exists in the world potentially⁴⁴

and in concealment

(as an example, as it were, like the chicks which exist "potentially" in the eggs)

should be revealed, and until the ultimate revelation

(—"and he raised them")

— and the "profit" from this service is

(from the aspect and akin to "partnership")

"between them":

The Almighty takes pleasure, as it were, from that which was fulfilled the desire of the Holy One, blessed be He, to have for Him a dwelling place in the lower realms.

(as the statement⁴⁵

"Satisfaction before Me that I said and My will was done")

: and Jews have pleasure from "beholding the pleasantness of the Lord"⁴⁶,

from the revelation of Divinity which they have brought about through their service.

(in the manner of the aforementioned law,

that one is a partner in the chicks which come out from the eggs themselves),

as the statement of our Sages, of blessed memory,⁴⁷

"Whoever prays etc. and Vayechulu etc., it is as if he became a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of creation."

And the content of the matter of saying "Vayechulu" is to "testify" and reveal⁴⁸

the recognition of the Creator of the world,

which is the intention of the entirety of the service of the children of Israel in the world that was created in the six days of creation - and through the service of revealing Divinity in the world,

which makes the world itself a "dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed",

one becomes a "partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of creation".]

And based on this, it can be said,

that the "obligation" to pay Jews reward for mitzvos in this world

(to remove the hindering things and to bestow the good things that strengthen our hands to do the Torah)

is founded on this halachah of "one who gives eggs to the owner of chickens etc. and the profit will be between them",

and the law is⁴³,

that in addition to the part of the profit,

if the "giver" shares with the "owner of the chickens" after he "raises them",

he is obligated "

(must)

to raise the wage of his labor and his sustenance ..

every day".

And so it is in our matter,

that besides the obligation of the division of the profit in the future to come

(after the way that Jews finish their service to make from the world a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He),

there is also in this time — during the time of the service — the obligation to give Jews the reward of "their labor and their sustenance",

so that they should be able to carry out their service properly

("we will sit free to study wisdom and to do the mitzvah").

7.

The above-mentioned matter has a special connection to the time in which we find ourselves now — the month of Elul,

the month of preparation for the Day of Judgment,

that the judgment of Rosh Hashanah is on physical matters⁴⁹

According to all the above, it is understandable,

that besides this, when being His servants of the Holy One, blessed be He,

the Almighty must give us all our needs in food, clothing, and shelter

(even in a manner of "to make them equal to Him",

so to speak)

And besides this, also from the aspect of the relationship of "ba'al habayis" and "worker",

is when a Jew does his service in the field and vineyard of the Holy One, blessed be He,

he must be given the possibility of "and you shall eat etc. to your satisfaction etc." from the vineyard of the Above,

this world

"animal" that is in man,

since the verse states explicitly "You shall not muzzle an ox while it threshes"]

Behold, in addition to all this,

there is an obligation, so to speak, upon the Above to provide the Jews and supply them already beforehand with the reward of "their labor and their sustenance" in order to give them the ability to carry out their service,

And simply — that already at the beginning of the year every Jew is vindicated in judgment and is written and sealed immediately<sup>50</sup>

in the book of completely righteous ones for a good and sweet year in the revealed and manifest good — in children, life, and ample sustenance,

and in all of them ample air in physicality simply,

And when the Almighty gives Jews physicality,

they make from it spirituality<sup>51</sup>,

and fulfill their role — to make for Him, blessed be He, a dwelling place in the lower realms.

(From sichos of Shabbos Parshas Va'eira and Shabbos Parshas Bo 5746; Shabbos Parshas Ki Seitzei 5745)