05 Mar PARASHAT VAYAKHEL: THE WORK AND THE RESULTS

Parashat Vayakhel begins
with Moshe commanding
the people to observe
Shabbat. He says: Sheishet
Yamim Taaseh Melachah,
U’byom Hashevii Yehiyeh
Lachem Kodesh Shabbat
Shabbaton L’Hashem- “For six days, work
shall be done; and on the seventh, there
shall be a sacred day of rest for Hashem”
(35:2). Why does Moshe mention the six
workdays when telling the people that they
must observe Shabbat? Why doesn’t he
simply tell them not to work on Shabbat,
instead of first saying that work should be
done during the other six days? Secondly,
we need to understand why Moshe says,
Sheishet Yamim Taaseh Melachah, “For six
days, work shall be done.” Instead of
saying, “You shall do work for six days,”
Moshe says that work “will be done.”
Why?
The answer touches upon the balance
between Emunah (faith) and hishtadlut –
the need to make an effort. Since Adam’s
sin in Gan Eden, human beings need to
work and struggle to obtain their needs. We
don’t get everything we need right away.

We have to work. However, the need to
work has nothing at all to do with Hashem’s
control over the results. We need to work
because Hashem determined that we need
to work. But the results are entirely up to
Hashem. They do not depend on our work.
This is why Yetziat Mitzrayim features so
prominently in our tefilah, and why we are
constantly reminded of the events
surrounding our ancestor’s freedom from
Egypt. Nobody would ever think that their
efforts got them out of Egypt. Nobody
would ever think that their jumping into the
water made the sea split. It was clear and
obvious that Hashem brought them out of
Egypt and brought them through the sea.
This is how we are to view everything in
life. We work because we have to work –
but the results depend solely on Hashem,
and not on our efforts. People don’t get
frustrated when they have to work hard;
most people are prepared and even glad to
work hard. The frustration comes when
they don’t see their hard work yielding
results. When they try so hard to get their
daughter married, but she’s still single.
When they run from interview to interview
but still don’t have a job. When they invest

so much time and effort into the
business, but it’s still not making
money. This is where emunah
comes in.
Once we believe that the work
and the results are two
completely separate things, life
becomes much less frustrating.
When we live with this emunah,
from the outset we recognize
that our efforts might not
produce the results we want, and
that the results will come from
Hashem in the way He chooses. This
realization saves us so much aggravation
when things don’t work out the way we
want. Sheishet Yamim Taaseh Melachah.
Moshe here teaches us that throughout the
six days of workweek, we must realize that
our work is being done, that the results are
not dependent on us. Once we have this
realization, then B’yom Hashevii Yehiyeh
Lachem Kodesh – we can observe Shabbat
properly, with complete serenity and
peacefulness. The litmus test of Emunah is
how we experience Shabbat, if we remain
perfectly calm and at ease on Shabbat,
leaving everything in Hashem’s hands on

this day when we are forbidden from
working.
Only if during the rest of the week we live
with a sense of Taaseh Melachah, knowing
with certainty that the results are being
produced for us by Hashem, and not by our
work, can we experience a true day of rest
on Shabbat. And this mindset will also
spare us so much anxiety and stress during
the week. If we truly believe that Taaseh
Melachah, then we will not be frustrated
when we don’t see our efforts yielding
results – because we already know that the
results depend on Hashem, and not on the
work that we put in.