There is so much to be done! The world is achingly incomplete, teetering on the edge of an abyss. We don’t – we can’t! – ignore it. A hundred causes call out for attention. Every day, we receive requests in the mail with legitimate appeals for aid and relief. Candidates need us. Charities need us. Schools need us.
This constant pressure to respond to the world’s ills is not new. As early as the first century CE, people felt the stress. Rabbi Tarphon, who lived in that era, wrote in the Talmud, “The day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are lethargic, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.”
Perhaps this ancient text refers to Torah study. Rabbi Tarphon implies God is waiting for us to get busy with Torah. Even though the reward is significant, we tarry. We are lazy, and time is a wastin’.
Rabbi Tarphon’s teaching can be applied to more than Torah study. It can be an actual call to action. He says the work is plentiful, meaning there’s much to be done. There’s no time to delay. So, write those checks! Volunteer! Read the news! Stay up on all current events! God cares about what we do and how we do it.
This can be overwhelming and exhausting. With only 24 hours in a day, how can we possibly make a dent in the wounded world? How do we find the time and the openheartedness to assist the Holy One in gathering the world’s broken pieces?
It is easy to be hopeless in the face of so many worthy causes. We feel guilty suggesting that we are overwhelmed. But how can it not be daunting? Must we work without ceasing?
Ironically, Rabbi Tarphon comes to our rescue, the same person who just told us God is impatient and we have to get down to business. He says, “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”
What a relief! Rabbi Tarphon doesn’t let us off the hook in any way. He empathizes with us. He recognizes that we are constantly struggling to make the world a better place and that there probably isn’t a finish line to cross; we’ll be working on this forever. We don’t have to solve the problem immediately. We can’t pretend the problem doesn’t exist.
This next week will provide us all a chance to chill out. Maybe read a good book. Take a walk. See some movies. Visit relatives. Hang out. Yes, of course, bad things will happen to good people all over the world. And we won’t be able to prevent that. And we will not neglect that sad truth.
So, for now, be good to yourself. Bring kindness and stillness into your life in this quieter time on our calendars. The struggle will be there, waiting in the shadows. But for now, tend to your soul, the one precious soul that is in your care. Hanukkah may be over, but the light is still there.
Before Shabbat 