Parshas Vayakhel

Liyluy Nishmas Elchonon Tzvi ben R' Yisroel Menachem, R' Baruch Moshe Aryeh ben R' Zev Yehuda, Zev Yehuda ben R' Shmuel Mordechai, Avraham ben R' Yitzchak Zev, R' Dovid Meer ben Harav Shmuel...

In perek Lamud Heh posuk beis Moshe tells Klal Yisroel "Sheishes yamim teiase milacha uvayom hashvii yihiye lachem Shabbos Shabboson La'Hashem kal ha"ose bo milacha yumas."  "Six days work may be done, but the seventh day should be holy for you. A day of complete rest for Hashem, whoever does work will be put to death".

Rav Yaakov Aryeh Neiman asks on this posuk, why is the word "teiase"- work can be done, and not "taase"- you can do work, which would seem to make more sense.

Rav Neiman explains that then posuk uses those nekudos to teach us an important lesson regarding resting on Shabbos.  Keeping Shabbos will be easy when a person understands that the work is being done and the money is coming in, but he is not the one truly doing the work.  It is not "kocho v'otzem yado", it is all from Hakadosh Bauch Hu.  However if man believes that he is the reason for all his success, then all he sees Shabbos as is a day where tremendous business opportunities are being lost, and keeping Shabbos will be extremely difficult.  This second person would be making a tremendous mistake however, because no matter what one does he can not make more than what Hashem has already decreed he would make.  As the Ramban says "Hagizeira emes vihacharitzas sheker". "The decree is true and industriousness is false".

The Chafetz Chaim ztl explains this idea with a Mashal.  If someone has a barrel of water and his barrel has a spout which dispenses the water.  It would be foolish to make another spout with the intention that making another spout will allow you to get more water from the barrel.  Obviously whatever is in the barrel is what you will get out of it, no more and no less.  So too if one thinks they can add more money than what is decreed is just like trying to get more water than what is actually in the barrel.

This is obviously something easier said than done.  Yes, we know that everything is from Hashem but it is still tremendously difficult to just have that total bitachon after all it seems like the more you work the more you make.  However, sometimes people lose sight and forget that it is in fact Hashem awarding them the money, they throw themselves into work and have to sacrifice the important things that actually bring us closer to Hashem.

With some work we can hopefully work on getting closer to reaching that level of complete bitachon in Hashem where we will only feel the need to do what is our true hishtadlus to support the people we do.... Good Shabbos.