Studies in Religion and Work Part 1: The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Attitude to Work—A Comparative Perspective and The Theological Sources of the Torah and Labor (Torah U’melakha) Yeshivas by Amir Mashiach (MDPI)

 

Abstract

The major aim of the religious person is to obey God’s injunctions and follow His ways. If he or she shall do so, he or she will attain success in this world or in the world-to-come. Thus, the Abrahamic religions have come to center on precepts involving man’s relationship with God and an occupation with spirituality. Accordingly, the central figures and those who head the religious hierarchy are rabbis (in Judaism), priests and monks (in Christianity), and Imams (in Islam), who are practiced and proficient in religious spiritual life. This means that the religions are primarily occupied with spirituality. In addition, monotheism portrays an abstract God, such that those who wish to resemble Him must necessarily strive for spirituality. As a result, the occupation with material matters was completely marginalized. Due to the prime place given to “spirituality”, this article seeks to examine the attitude to corporeal work in the Abrahamic religions. The conclusion – in contrast to the initial-intuitive outlook–the religions are not occupied exclusively with spirituality. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the worship of God includes corporeal work, both as a subsistence need and as a religious value.

1. Introduction

The western world defines religion as a social or cultural framework that encompasses beliefs, rituals, and worldviews associated with spirituality and ethical principles. The Abrahamic religions (Abulafia 2019), i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are monotheistic religions that identify their origins with Abraham, the forefather of monotheism. According to the various Scriptures, the Abrahamic religion derives from God, who revealed Himself to humanity either directly—on Mount Sinai, in the Jewish version, or according to Christianity in His human embodiment in Christ, or through his prophecies to Muhammad according to Islam.

The major aim of the religious person is to obey God’s injunctions and follow His ways. If he or she shall do so, he or she will attain success in this world or in the world-to-come. Thus, the Abrahamic religions have come to center on precepts involving man’s relationship with God and an occupation with spirituality. Accordingly, the central figures and those who head the religious hierarchy are rabbis (in Judaism), priests and monks (in Christianity), and Imams (in Islam), who are practiced and proficient in religious spiritual life. This means that the religions are primarily occupied with spirituality. In addition, monotheism portrays an abstract God, such that those who wish to resemble Him must necessarily strive for spirituality. As a result, the occupation with material matters was completely marginalized.

Among many believers of all faiths, the worship of God centers on spiritual work, where the ultimate aspiration is to be worthy of the World to Come. Lorberbaum described the transition in Judaism, which from a faith occupied with Jewish law and the religious precepts shifted to an engagement in spirituality, mystery, and transcendence, to the extent of refusing to attach meanings and justifications to the precepts, as they transcend our perception. The precepts must be obeyed without understanding their meaning (Lorberbaum 2018). In a paraphrase of the words of Augustine, who said that a comprehensible God is not God (Augustine, Sermons cxvii 3,5), the halakhic religiosity of mystery and loftiness contends that a comprehensible precept is not a religious precept. If religion is lofty spirituality, then the world of matter contradicts it. Corporeality is not considered part of the religious experience, and it is negative in essence.

This led to a rise in the status of the World to Come, while rejecting this World. Rotenberg claimed that “Judaism indeed took advantage of belief in the World to Come in order to promote studying and spirituality in this World” (Rotenberg 2008, p. 16). This is true not only of Judaism, but rather of all faiths. Thus, also “in the Greco-Christian world, the separation between body and soul formed a distinction, whereby lust and abomination are associated with the body, and in order for one to be spiritual it must be repressed” (Guide for the Perplexed, p. 74). Similarly, the attitude to all material endeavors is that they interfere with spiritual uplifting. It is necessary to ignore the material-physical and even to suppress it.

For instance, Maimonides (12th century) wrote that the corporeal interferes with one’s spiritual efforts. “The corporeal element in man is a large screen and partition that prevents him from perfectly perceiving abstract ideals… However great the exertion of our mind may be to comprehend the Divine Being… we find a screen and partition between Him and ourselves” (Guide for the Perplexed, 3:9). Therefore, in his view, it is necessary to reduce our corporeal-physical occupations as much as possible. “Those who desire to be men in truth, and not brutes, having only the appearance and shape of men, must constantly endeavor to reduce the wants of the body… and feel ashamed of them” (Guide for the Perplexed, 8). The corporeal-physical occupation is a source of shame, as in this man is no different from animals, as he sees it.

As stated, the ultimate aspiration of the believer is to reach the World to Come. In contrast to occupying oneself with the matters of this World, all efforts must be aimed at achieving eternal spiritual pleasure. There are several statements to this effect in Judaism, for instance: “This world is like a vestibule before the world to come; prepare yourself in the vestibule, so that you may enter the banqueting-hall” (Pirkei Avot 4:16); Maimonides stated: “The good that is hidden for the righteous is the life of the world to come… This is the reward above which there is no higher reward… This was desired by all the prophets” (Mishneh Torah, Repentance 8); and the Ramchal (18th century) declared: “that man was created solely to delight in God… for this is the true delight and the greatest pleasure that can possibly exist. The place of this pleasure is, in truth, in the World to Come” (Mesilat Yesharim 1).

Christianity focused on hell more than heaven and the dread of the approaching Day of Judgement was a major component in Jesus’ preaching. His calls for purification and repentance were aimed at saving mankind from punishment for their sins, and the Christian prophecy of the Day of Judgement determines that non-Christians will be doomed to hell, as they are tainted by the sin of the First Man. In time, Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (14th century) and its colorful descriptions of hell became a major component of Christian consciousness.

In Islam, the common approach to describing heaven is through physical descriptions of the food, drink, and virgins available to the believers, in addition to the punishments in hell which appear, among other things, in Sura 56, verses 12–44. At the end of his life, man will stand in judgment, with the good angel perched on his right shoulder presenting his good deeds and the bad angel on his left shoulder presenting his bad deeds. Radical Islam has made considerable use of the concept of the virgins in heaven to be awarded to the shahid as a reward for his deeds (Koran, 3:13). The belief in the World to Come and the multiple rewards that await the believer is a major tenet of Islam.

“Indeed, the righteous will be in a secure place, amid Gardens and springs, dressed in fine silk and rich brocade, facing one another. So it will be. And We will pair them to maidens with gorgeous eyes… There they will never taste death, beyond the first death. And He will protect them from the punishment of the Hellfire”.

 

(Sura 44:51–56)

 

It is for good reason that the focus on spirituality in order to receive a reward in heaven or alternately to avoid the bitter punishments of hell caused many to concentrate on spirituality rather than corporeality in their Divine worship.

As mentioned, revelation is a main element of the monotheistic religions, whether to Moses, Jesus, or Muhammad. The capacity to attain prophecy was predicated on reaching a high spiritual level. This led to the development of a disconnection between the spiritual-religious sphere and the corporeal-physical sphere. In the phenomenology of religion, particularly the Kantian or Protestant, the holy is the ‘Wholly Other’ (Otto 1923, chp. 5). Hence, matter and spirit were distinguished. Also the statement “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21) created a disparity between spirituality and corporeality. Priests and monks, the Christian role models, strive for separation from the material world while focusing on spirituality. William James too claimed that neglecting human responsibility is a mark of religion (James 1961, p. 229), a statement that suits parts of the Christian faith and the Jewish ultra-Orthodox sector.

Among the Jewish ultra-Orthodox, the customary conception is that Torah study and observation of the commandments are the only way to rectify the world (Tikun olam. for example, Nefesh Hachayim by R. Chaim of Volozhin). As they see it, scientific occupations and technological improvements are not a true act of creation. Wurzburger claims that this approach stemmed from the period of exile. Jews were relegated to an inferior social class and prevented from participating in the cultural and political life of their countries. Human activism was perceived negatively, or even as heresy, as everything is in God’s hands (Wurzburger 1989).

It is precisely due to the intensive focus on “spirituality” that the current article seeks to examine the attitude to corporeal work in the Abrahamic faiths. Was corporeality indeed removed from the religious agenda in the Abrahamic faiths or is it perhaps an inseparable component? Can work be considered part of Divine worship or is it indeed merely a need and not a religious value and therefore not included in the religious experience? The order will be: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, following their chronological emergence.

Methodological note–This study will address the fundamental texts of the Abrahamic religions, namely, in Judaism the Bible and the rabbinical literature, in Christianity an emphasis on the New Testament, and in Islam the Quran and the Suna. Each of the faiths has indeed developed since then, But that’s for future research.

And another general note–the article refers to the believer in the male form, however it equally relates to females.

2. Ancient Greece

Before addressing the attitude of the religions to corporeal work, we shall elaborate on the attitude to work in the Greco-Roman culture that was central to the Middle Eastern geopolitical sphere at the time rabbinical literature and the Christian faith were developing in the first centuries AD.

In Greece and Rome, manual work was treated with disdain, as it was entrusted to the slaves and lower classes. The higher classes aimed for a military or literary career and subsisted on revenues produced by estates manned by helots. This reality subsequently influenced medieval European nobility.

The Greek philosophers too treated physical work disparagingly (Okyere Asante 2017). Plato divided the population into three classes: the philosophers, the warriors, and the workers (Plato, The Republic, Book II). He scorns the laborer class, disrespectfully called “banausic” (βάναυσοι), whose designation is to support the upper classes, the warriors, and the philosophers. “And why do you suppose that ‘base mechanic’ handicraft is a term of reproach? Shall we not say that it is solely when the best part is naturally weak in a man so that it cannot govern and control the brood of beasts within him but can only serve them and can learn nothing but the ways of flattering them” (Plato, The Republic, 590c). As when performing manual labor the mind, which is the most important human part, is not active, and it gradually weakens.

Aristotle too saw work as inferior (Angier 2016). He claimed that there is an intrinsic good and an instrumental good aimed at achieving the true good, happiness. For instance, money is an instrumental good, as it is used to purchase food and other needs, but it is not an intrinsic good. Thus, work too is an instrumental good aimed at achieving the intrinsic good (Aristotle, Politics, Book 7).

In his book “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle investigates whether a life of study (vita contemplativa) is the ultimate purpose, or perhaps the goal is a creative life (vita activa). He discerns four aims in the life of people who attempt to achieve happiness. The first is to be wealthy. He finds it hard to believe that that is the supreme aim of life, as money is an instrumental rather than an intrinsic good. The second is honor. He finds it hard to see how honor makes one happy, as honor originates from others rather than from oneself. The third is a life of pleasure. Aristotle regards these people as “brutish”. Physical pleasures, like beasts, do not require intellect. The fourth, a life of study (vita contemplativa), is the ultimate goal of human life, the supreme happiness, man’s use of the intellect.

Hence, it was clear to him that work is not the ultimate goal. The laborer merely carries out a plan that he does not understand: “For that reason, foremen of each type of labor are considered more honorable and more understanding and smart than the laborers, because they know the reason that things are done; the laborers themselves are lone individuals who act without knowing what they are doing” (Aristotle, Metaphysics 980a).

In sum, Greco-Roman culture saw work as inferior and derisive, associated with slaves and the lower classes.

3. In Judaism

3.1. To Work It and Take Care of It

Beginning from man’s initial presence in the Garden of Eden, the Scriptures emphasized work. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Work in the Garden of Eden appears to have been easy, but when Adam sinned it became hard. “Cursed be the ground because of you; by hard labor shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field. By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat” (Genesis 3:17–19).

When the people of Israel are given the Torah, right before the commandment to abstain from work on the Sabbath, man is commanded to work. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath” (Exodus 20:8). Just as it is a religious precept to abstain from work on the Sabbath, it is also a religious precept to work on weekdays. The Scriptures describe the nation’s forefathers as people of labor who worked as shepherds and farmers. Moses too is described as a shepherd (Genesis 13:13-15; Genesis 26:12; Genesis 30:31; Exodus 3:1), indicating that work is an important value.

The Bible has many verses in praise of laborers and work, for example: “Man then goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening” (Psalms 104:23), “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors; you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2), “He who tills his land shall have food in plenty” (Proverbs 12:11), and so on. Some verses relate to the satisfaction that results from work, for instance: “A worker’s sleep is sweet” (Ecclesiastes 5:11). Work is also part of the vision for the end of days, when weapons will be transformed into agricultural implements: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4).

3.2. Work as a Religious Value

The sages too praised work as a religious value rather than only as necessary for purposes of subsistence (Arazi 1964; Neuwirth 2015). Work is one of the foundations of the world: “The world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service [avoda, also: work], and the practice of acts of piety” (Mishna, Avot 1:2). Consequently, they ridiculed the Hellenistic outlook that derided work and perceived it as foolishness: “If a man were to say… it is beneath me to perform labor and to humiliate myself, [they] say to him: Fool, your Creator preceded you, as He performed labor even before you appeared in the world, as it is written: from doing any of the work” (Midrash Hane’elam).

Because the sages perceived work as an important value, they obliged the father to teach his son a trade, and ”any who does not teach his son a trade teaches him banditry” (B. Kiddushin 29a). Elsewhere they explained: “’Choose life’ (Deuteronomy 30:19), that is a trade” (J. Kiddushin 1:7). Engaging in work means opting for the good and for life.

3.3. Torah That Is Not Accompanied by Work, Ends in Vain and Leads to Iniquity

The sages encouraged the combination of Torah and work. “Torah which is not combined with a worldly occupation, in the end comes to be neglected and becomes the cause of sin” (Mishna, Avot 2:2). They called for the love of work and considered it a religious precept. “Love work… For just as the Torah was given in a covenant, so work was given in a covenant, as it says: ‘For six days you shall labor and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Eternal your God’” (Avot D’Rabbi Natan, version A, 11).

And they also said in praise of labor: “Labor is important, as even Adam did not eat… until he engaged in labor”. Even God did not inspire Israel with his Divine spirit “until they engaged in labor”. And in general: “Anyone who does not engage in labor is accountable for the loss of his life” (Avot D’Rabbi Natan, version B, 21). It is so crucial.

Some contend that it is work rather than piety that ensures one a part in the world to come:

One who benefits from his hard labor is greater than a God-fearing person. As with regard to a God-fearing person it is written: “Happy is the man who fears the Lord” (Psalms 112:1), while with regard to one who benefits from his hard work, it is written: “By the labor of your hands you will live; you are happy and it is good for you” (Psalms 128:2). “You are happy” in this world, and “it is good” for you in the World-to-Come. And regarding a God-fearing person, “it is good for you” is not written about him.

 

(B. Berakhot 8a)

 

The sages learned the extent of the entitlement earned by labor from Jacob, who said to his father-in-law Laban who pursued him in order to kill him: “Had not the God of my father–the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac–been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed. But it was my plight and the toil of my hands that God took notice of–and gave judgment on last night” (Genesis 31:42). The sages learned from this:

Labor is appreciated more than ancestral merit, as ancestral merit spared money but labor spared lives. Ancestral merit spared money as it is written: “Had not the God of my father… you would have sent me away empty-handed” [without money], but labor spared lives, as it is written: “it was my plight and the toil of my hands that God took notice of–and gave judgment on last night [as He said to Laban: “Watch yourself, speaking to Yaakov good or bad”].

 

(Genesis Rabbah 74:12)

 

The sages were disputed on the issue of combining Torah and work. R. Yishmael argued that Torah should be combined with work and R. Shimon ben Yohai argued that all one’s time should be devoted to the study of Torah (B. Berakhot 35b). The sages ruled that: “Many have acted in accordance with Rabbi Yishmael and were successful. Many have acted in accordance with Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai and were not successful.” Torah and work should be combined.

Not only the sages ruled in this dispute; God too saw work in a positive light. It is related that after R. Shimon and his son spent 12 years in a cave, they emerged from the cave (B. Shabbat 33b). “They… saw people who were plowing and sowing. [They] said: [These people] abandon eternal life and engage in temporal life! Every place that [they] directed their eyes was immediately burned. A Divine Voice emerged and said to them: [Did] you emerge to destroy My world? Return to your cave!”. God himself criticized R. Shimon’s rejection of work and supported R. Yishmael’s method of integration. God’s world is this world, the corporeal, and it must be improved through work.

3.4. Halachic Meaning

Engaging in work has halakhic meaning as well. I shall bring two examples. The first is that gamblers are disqualified from serving as witnesses in court since they do not engage in labor and in “settling the world”, but if they have a trade and engage in “settling the world” then their testimony is accepted (B. Sanhedrin 24b). The second is that the Scriptures say: “…and show deference to the old” (Leviticus 19:32), i.e., the sages should be honored by standing up when in their presence. If one is occupied with work, however, he or she is exempt. “Craftsmen are not permitted to stand before Torah scholars when they are engaged in their work” (B. Kiddushin 33a). Work is a value that receives preference over honoring scholars.

It is for good reason that throughout rabbinical literature we find descriptions of sages who engaged in work, for example Samuel, Abaye, and R. Assi were farmers (B. Hulin 105a); Hillel was a woodchopper, Shamai was a construction worker (B. Shabbat 31a); R. Joshua was a blacksmith (B. Berakhot 28a); R. Meir was a clerk (B. Sotah 20a); R. Jodah was a baker (B. Bava Batra 113a); R. Hanina and R. Oshaiah were shoemakers (B. Pesahim 113b); and so on.

In summary, Judaism considers work a religious value, both for purposes of subsistence and for rectifying and “settling the world”.

4. In Christianity

4.1. Whatever You Do, Work Heartily

The Christian scriptures are significantly occupied with the relations between man and God, however they also contain statements espousing the importance of corporeal work as part of their religious outlook (Palmer 2012; Veith 2012; Shigematsu 2013; Keller 2014; Wellman 2019).

The New Testament portrays Jesus as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), as was his father, Joseph (Matthew 13:55). The very mention of his occupation attests to the importance of work.

A general directive on work as having religious meaning was uttered by Paul: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Epistle to the Colossians 3:23).

Work has moral and religious meaning and involves responsibility regarding one’s relations with friends and family: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). One who does not work–is not a believer; furthermore, it is written: “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys” (Proverbs 18:9). One who is idle not only does not build, but destroys. There is no neutral ground. One is either positive or negative, work is positive and idleness is negative. Paul too said about the obligation to work: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). The idler loses his right of existence.

4.2. Work as a Tool for Social Correction

In Christianity, work is an instrument for social rectification, as earning a livelihood allows one to give. “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). Work allows one to give and thus rectifies the thief and society in general. Giving is one of the “seven virtues” defined by Plato and Aristotle and adopted by the church fathers, Ambrose and Augustine. Of the seven, four are cardinal, the Greek Arete (ἀρετή) (Kerferd 1967)–prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, and three theological–faith, hope, and charity. The seven virtues are utilized in order to overcome the undesirable “seven sins”. That is why work has religious value.

4.3. Work as Giving

Work as giving relates to people and to God. One who gives to human beings, gives to God:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink’… Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?’… And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’.

 

(Matthew 25:34–40)

 

Giving to others entitles one to receive the reward of “true life”.

4.4. Walk in His Ways

One is instructed to follow in God’s ways, “Walk in His ways”. Therefore, if God works, man should work too. When Jesus was chastised for curing a person on the Sabbath he answered that God too works and cures on the Sabbath: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working… whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:17–20).

Overall, Paul instructs his followers: “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). This, further to the human mission “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). This instruction is given not only regarding the Garden of Eden, rather for the entire world. Human beings must work and take care of the world, and in this way transform it into a Garden of Eden, the kingdom of God.

Further to man’s mission in the Garden of Eden and in the world, Paul says: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). God has given man the ability to rectify the world, and he or she does this through work.

4.5. Tikkun Olam

The different types of work have different social ranks, some are more respectable and others less. According to the Christian view, however, all types of work are equal before God. God gives each person qualities that he or she must utilize in his work in order to carry out his mission.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

 

(The Epistle to the Romans 12:6–8)

 

In this way, work and the qualities of the believer become part of building the world, part of building Christ: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (I Corinthians 12:28). And elsewhere, Paul said:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 

(Ephesian 4:11–13)

 

4.6. Max Weber and Human Endeavors

Max Weber, as we know, saw human efforts and work as the Protestant view and the foundations of capitalism (Weber 1930; Anthony 1977). This is already evident, however, in the New Testament, whereby making an effort at one’s job grants one the right to increase his wealth, as he or she makes an effort to utilize God’s gift and the opportunities he or she encounters. He or she who is lazy will lose that which he or she received, as the opportunity will be lost due to his indolence.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master’, he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more’.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master’, he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more’.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master’, he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you’.

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’.

 

(Matthew 25:14–30)

 

Work is part of the rectification and building of the world, part of the worship of the Creator; there is no room for indolence.

In sum, Christianity views work as a value aimed at rectifying the world, giving, and performing benevolence, among the Christian theological virtues. This is how one observes the injunction to “walk in His ways” and this is how one is granted business opportunities, when one fulfills his designation in both the spiritual and the corporeal sphere.

5. In Islam

5.1. Earning a Living Is a Binding Obligation

Work has considerable place in Islam (Bayat 1992; Ali and Al-Owaihan 2008; Dhib 2014; Kheyamy 2018). The different suras include 360 mentions of work (ʿamal). In addition, Prophet Muhammad served as a shepherd. At age 25 he married Khadijah, a wealthy merchant, and joined her caravans on trade journeys. She asked him to marry her because she saw his good virtues, and particularly his industriousness (Armstrong 2002). The Quran notes that the prophets and Allah’s messengers all worked (For instance: Saba, 11).

It is the duty of all Muslims to work: “Earning halal livelihood is binding (wajib) on every Muslim” (Majma’uz Zawaid, vol. 10, p. 291 & Targhib, vol. 2, p. 546). Though work is not one of the five pillars of Islam, it is a type of worship (ibadah). Prophet Muhammad said: “Work and Allah will see your work” (Quran 09:105).

Work allows financial independence, and this is a supreme goal in Islam. Prophet Muhammad said: “Nobody has ever eaten a better meal than that which one has earned by working with one’s own hands. The Prophet of Allah, David used to eat from the earnings of his manual labor” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2072, Book 34, Hadith 25). Work and earning a livelihood keep one from becoming needy. Prophet Muhammad stressed that this has meaning not only in this world but also saves one from hell:

It is better for anyone of you to take a rope (and cut) and bring a bundle of wood (from the forest) over his back and sell it and Allah will save his face (from the Hell-Fire) because of that, rather than to ask the people who may give him or not.

 

(Sahih al-Bukhari 1471, Book 24, Hadith 74)

 

5.2. Work and Charity

Work and financial independence are associated with the obligation to give charity: “Every Muslim must give charity (sadaqah)”. And when Prophet Muhammad was asked what one should do if or she he has nothing to give, he replied: “He said that he should labour with his hands to earn benefit for himself and give sadaqah from that”. Hence, one who works helps rectify society. When asked what to do if one has no such ability he answered: “He should help one who is in need and distressed” (Adab al Mufrad: 225). Charity can be given by means of either psychological or financial support.

Work makes one worthy of resurrection: “It is He who made the earth tame for you–so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision–and to Him is the resurrection” (Al-Mulk, 15). Furthermore, “The prophet said: The believer dies with his sweat on his brow” (Ahmad, 22513; al-Tirmidhi, 980; al-Nasaa’i, 1828). Sweat indicates hard work and persistence, which are taken into account by Allah at one’s death and entitle the working-believer to retribution.

Allah divided the day into day and night, the night for sleep and the day for work. “And made the night as a cover, and made the day for livelihood” (An-Naba, 10, 11). Therefore, one’s first obligation in the morning is prayer, followed immediately by work: “And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah” (Al-Jumu’ah, 10).

Even in man’s last hour he or she should persist in his work (Compare to the Jewish statement: “If you have a sapling in your hand and they tell you ‘The Messiah is coming!’ first plant the sapling and then go to greet him” (Avot d’Rabbi Natan, version 2, 31)). Prophet Muhammad said: “If the Final Hour comes while you have a palm-cutting in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it” (Sahih (Al-Albani), Book 1, Hadith 479).

5.3. Work and Love of God

Muhammad urged one to do everything fully and to merit the love of God. “Verily, Allah loves that when anyone of you does something he or she does it perfectly” (Tabarani, 901–Hathami, 98/4–Al-Siyouti, 5232). And this is particularly true of work. “Allah loves when one of you does a work that he does it with perfection” (Narrated by abu Yala through Ayesha, and al-albani authenticated this hadith). It is related of the daughter of Jethro who asked her father to employ Moses: “O my father, hire him. Indeed, the best one you can hire is the strong and trustworthy” (Surah 28 verse 26). Perfection and industriousness are so important that they are compared to the quality of trustworthiness.

When Prophet Muhammad was asked about the best deeds he answered: “Believe in Allah and Jihad in His cause… help an industrious person in accomplishing his job” (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, by Abu Dharr). Note that faith, war, and work appear together (See also: Tabarani, Mujam ul Kabir:282; Bayhaqi Shuaab ul Iman: 4853). Work is so important that the Quran compares the laborers to those who fight for Allah: “Others will be travelling in the land to look for Allah’s bounty and (still some) others will be fighting in the way of Allah” (Quran 73:20). Umar, the second Caliph, saw the laborer as more important than the warrior: “To die while striving in my work hoping for the bounty of God is even better to me than being killed in the Holy war for the sake of God” (Al-Shaibani).

5.4. Work as an Equalizer of Men

More is told of work:

Al-Maroor ibn Suwaid says, I met Abu Dhar… and observed both himself and his servant wearing the same cloth. I asked him about that. He said, [long ago] I quarreled with a servant and called his mother by names. The prophet said: “O Abu Dharr… Surely you are a person still clinging to some values of dark ages! Your servants are your brothers whom Allah made them at your service and under your mercy. If some of you have such brothers under you, then make sure to feed them as you eat, and dress them as you wear, and never impose labor on them beyond their ability. If you have to impose burden on them, then help them in carrying such labors.

 

(narrated by Bukhari and Muslim)

 

Work equalizes people, slaves, and masters.

The believer could claim that because he or she is occupied with spirituality and asceticism, he or she does not work or engage in material matters. It is related that Prophet Muhammad saw a person who prayed at length and did not work. He asked: Who supports him? And people answered that some of them help him. The prophet said that those people who help him are better than the person himself (Musnad Ahmad). There is no spirituality without corporeality.

5.5. Work as a Way of Settling the World

Work in Islam is aimed at settling the world. This is one of man’s missions as perceived by God. “O my people! Worship Allah… He is the One Who produced you from the earth and settled you on it” (Quran 11:61). Hence, work is part of a Divine task to rectify the world through human beings and their work on the land (Compare to the Jewish outlook: “He did not create it a waste, but formed it for habitation” (Isaiah 45:18)).

In sum, Islam sees work as an important religious value. Work is not only a source of subsistence but rather also of giving charity, rectifying society, settling the world, and conquering the desert.

6. Conclusions and Discussion

I have shown that the Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, related to work as inferior, as the workers were slaves or people from the lower class. In addition, as they saw it, one who does manual work utilizes his hands rather than his mind and thus loses his advantage and definition as a human being, a “thinking animal”. Therefore, work in general was perceived as a humiliation for an educated or high class individual. However unlike the Greek philosophers, who scorned work, the Abrahamic faiths had a positive attitude. Work is part of the worship of God.

In Judaism, the importance of work is emphasized already in the Garden of Eden. Man’s role is “to work it and take care of it”. The Ten Commandments instruct: “Six days you shall labor”. The sages saw work as a religious value, one of the foundations of the world. “The world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service [avoda, also: work], and the practice of acts of piety”. They also said: “Torah which is not combined with a worldly occupation, in the end comes to be neglected and becomes the cause of sin”. No religiosity can be solely spiritual.

In Christianity, work serves as a tool for social rectification, facilitated by giving. When one works he or she observes the injunction “Walk in His ways”. God works, hence man should work. In his work he or she improves the world and transforms it into a Garden of Eden, a kingdom of God.

Islam sees work as a religious obligation that grants man financial independence, the capacity to give, rectify society, and settle the world. Work entitles the worker to receive retribution in the world-to-come and to eventually be resurrected.

It is for good reason that all the Scriptures relate that the founders of the faiths worked: Moses was a shepherd, Jesus was a carpenter, and Muhammad was a shepherd and merchant. These are not mere biographical facts but rather a message; this is how the founding fathers conducted themselves and so should you.

As stated, the motivation for working is financial independence, social rectification of the world, benevolence and charity, love for the world, and its settlement. The Abrahamic religions see work also as physical rectification of the world. The story of the Creation ends with the words: “On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken… that God had done (lit. ‘to do’)” (Genesis 2:2–3). Why “to do” if he had already done it? Rather, the world was originally created in its raw form and man must complete the Creation through work. “Anything created in the first six days, needs further actions” (Genesis Rabbah 11:6). “When God began to create heaven and earth…”. God only began to create, it is up to man to complete the creation.

Loving the world, its improvement and settlement, are reminiscent of the Biophilia, “love of life or of life systems”. According to the Biophilia hypothesis, there is an innate natural human inclination to seek a connection with nature (Wilson 1984). If we expand the hypothesis to form a theology, love of nature stems from the fact that nature is a Divine creation. Hence, Biophilia is Theophilia. Therefore, the Abrahamic religions preach integration with nature and improving the world via work.1

In Judaism, the importance of work diminished over the years in favor of the halakhic-spiritual occupation. The reason was the exile and the sages’ responsibility for the nation’s survival.

I shall explain. Rabbinical literature developed after the failure of the Great Revolt (66–73), the Kitos war (115–117), and the Bar Kochba revolt (132–135) against the Roman Empire. The Temple and the Jewish settlement in the land of Israel were destroyed as a result of the offensive ethos. The sages made a strategic decision to shift the Jewish ethos from offensive to defensive. Changing the biblical-Jewish identity and ethos to a rabbinical-Jewish identity enhanced the study of Torah as a supreme and nearly exclusive value, culminating in the clear-cut statement, “And the study of the torah is equal to them all” (Mishna, Peah 1:1), the study of Torah is the equivalent of all the precepts together. The value of work was marginalized. Statements praising work appear in rabbinical literature, but they are less central than the theoretical-textual study of Torah (Mashiach 2014; Mashiach 2016; Mashiach 2020).

In summary, in contrast to the initial-intuitive outlook–the religions are not occupied exclusively with spirituality. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the worship of God includes corporeal work, both as a subsistence need and as a religious value.

A last note-This article focuses on the fundamental scriptures. Since then and on in the timeline there were many interpretations, but this belongs to other additional future studies. I have now laid the foundation for an inter-religious comparison on the issue of attitude to work. In the future, I hope, I will be able to expand on the various interpretations given to these sources, in the different religions.

 

 

 

 

In this article, I seek to reveal the theological foundations of the high school yeshivas designated “Torah U’melakha” (Torah and labor) in Israel. High school yeshivas are schools for 9th–12th grade boys that offer religious studies in the first half of the day and secular studies, i.e., science and languages, in the second half (Avital 1978; Bar-Lev 1980). These schools serve mainly religious Zionist and modern orthodox society.

Torah U’melakha yeshivas are high school yeshivas that are unique for combining vocational studies in the curriculum, such that graduates acquire a trade and can serve in the army and join the labor force in their field of expertise. This school reality is unique in the entire educational system. The goal is not only for the graduate to receive professional training and become integrated in the economy as an experienced professional, as declared by the founders of Israeli vocational schools. The “Torah U’melakha” schools are unique for being both high school yeshivas, with a school day divided between religious studies and vocational studies, while also being nurtured by the concept of the Zionist religious theology, which espouses the combination of spirit and matter. Hence, realization of this theology should begin at the school stage. This is the double uniqueness of the “Torah U’melakha” schools.

1. Preface

Education occupied a central place in Jewish-national ideology, beginning from the Katowice Conference in 1884. A major focus was shaping the figure of the desirable student in the land of Israel. Four prototypes of the desirable student were proposed: Jewish farmers; Jewish laborers; members of the working settlement; and Jewish intellectuals. This was the opposite of exilic Jews with their stereotype of not engaging in productive work rather only in spirituality or Luftgeschäft (a derogatory designation for unproductive businesses such as brokers, merchants, and moneylenders), with no connection to the land and to nature, subservient and weak. In contrast, in the land of Israel students were expected to engage in productive work, be physically capable, and know how to defend themselves (Reichel 2008).

This outlook was strengthened by the socialist waves of immigration (the Second and Third Aliya), which saw training for work as preparation for the redemption of the people and land. Beginning from the 1920s, this educational outlook was accepted by all streams of Jewish education: the laborers, the general secular, and the Mizrachi (religious Zionism), which all took steps to establish vocational schools.

Vocational education began in the 19th century with the technological breakthroughs that led to the industrial revolution and the agricultural mechanization revolution. Until then, vocational education normally consisted of apprentices who studied under tradesmen. With the industrial revolution, vocational schools developed, training workers for heavy industry to meet the needs of the labor market in agriculture, service industries, and manufacturing (Vurgan and Natan 2008, pp. 40–64). Vocational education was guided by two parameters: first, the needs of the country and of the labor market; and second, the need of individuals to find a job and to make a decent living. Another parameter added in Israel involved teaching values of work and productivity (Ibid., pp. 1–40). As stated, this was based on the Zionist-socialist ideology with its emphasis on values of productivity and “Jewish labor” (Riger 1945, pp. 136–41; Schwartz 1996a, 1997, 2001, 2003).

When the national system of education was in the process of establishment there were several vocational schools. “Bezalel” was founded in Jerusalem in 1906, a music school in Jaffa in 1910. Before the First World War, the “Hovevei Zion” committee established an agricultural school in Petah Tikva. In the early 1920s, there were several schools of crafts and sewing for girls in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tiberias, and Hebron. In the early 1930s, there were two vocational schools and two schools of trades that belonged to the general secular stream; one school of trades that belonged to the Mizrahi; while the laborers stream had no postelementary educational institutions.

A unique school in that period was Basmat, a “vocational-secondary school for certified engineers and technicians”, established by the Technion in Haifa in 1928, which was the first scientific-technological school in the land of Israel. By the late 1930s, there were five schools of trade supervised by the National Committee’s Department of Education: three in the general secular stream, one belonging to Mizrachi, and one in the laborers stream (Reshef and Yuval 1999, pp. 90–97). At that time, there were several agricultural schools: Mikve Israel, which existed from 1870 east of Jaffa, the Agricultural School for Young Women in Nahalal, the Agricultural Training Farm in Jerusalem, and WIZO’s Ayanot school, as well as the Ben Shemen and Meir Shfeya youth villages, the agricultural high school in Pardes Chana, and the Kaduri school (Yonai 1992).

In the second half of the 20th century, vocational education was put under scrutiny due to two main critiques: one was that the vocational education system imparts reasonable vocational training but a poor comprehensive education. Therefore, vocational studies are a barrier to academic studies. The second was that because vocational education is provided to students from specific socioeconomic levels and geographic areas, it preserves social disparities—forming a process of tracking (Haslala; Tzameret 2005).

In the 1950s, the organization and shaping of vocational education in Israel were further developed. Zalman Aran, the Minister of Education, ascribed great significance to vocational education. In the late 1960s, however, Minister of Education Yigal Alon decided to transform the Department for Vocational Education into the Technological Educational System. While vocational education was aimed at imparting technical skills and training students for a working life, technological education was defined as education that trains students to operate in technology- and information-intensive environments (Melamed 1992). Technological education became adapted to the third millennium, to the era of computers and media, and became part of the education offered to students in Israel.

2. The Issue of Work in Jewish Sources

In general culture, work was perceived as belonging to the slave class or the lower classes. Free men and the aristocracy did not work and viewed work disdainfully and negatively. For instance, in Ancient Greece, the set of mind was fundamentally aristocratic, and since it evaluated physical work according to the status of the slaves who performed it, they developed an attitude of disrespect. As Plato said: “Why do labor and manual work not dignify their practitioners? Because they are wont to detract from people’s excellence” (Plato, Republic, book 2; Sambursky 1954, p. 211).

The Torah has an ambivalent attitude to work (Neuwirth 2015, pp. 4–28). On one hand, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Namely, man’s job was also to work. Then again, once man sinned, he was punished. “Cursed is the ground because of you…by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.” (Genesis 3:17–19) Work is a curse that followed from the sin.

In rabbinical literature as well, the attitude to work is ambivalent. On one hand, “Great is labor, as just as Israel were commanded to keep the Sabbath, thus they were commanded to perform labor” (Avot de Rabbi Nathan, Version B, Para. 21). Then again, work is an existential need rather than a religious value, for example the father’s obligation to teach his son a profession so that he will not “be a bandit” (Bavli, Kiddushin 29b).

Over the years, the view of work as a need achieved dominance and Jewish law determines that a person should work because “poverty will remove from him knowledge of his Creator” (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 156:1) and not because it is a religious value.

The ideologues of Hovevei Zion and those who came to the land of Israel in the First Aliyah were preceded by ideologues from the Haskalah movement, who encouraged the Jews to return to agricultural and productive work and took action to realize their ideas, such as Isaac Baer Levinsohn (1788–1860). Their slogan was: “Those who work their land will have abundant food” (Proverbs 12:11). In the 19th century, attempts were made to settle Jews in parts of Russia and Poland so that they would become productive farmers. The attempt failed due to natural disasters, the attitude of the authorities, and bureaucracy but became embedded in the hearts of Hovevei Zion, who strove to realize it in the land of Israel (Levine 1975). I will elaborate.

Studying the notion of work as it unfolds in early religious Zionism and in R. Reines’ thought, it is essential to appreciate the context in which the various ideas were propounded. Building upon what we have indicated thus far, two conceptual approaches need to be kept in mind in connection with Eastern European Jewry. One of these approaches was predominant in the Jewish mindset; the other was prominent in the European. The Jews were swayed by the views of Isaac Baer Levinsohn, who also took up the attempt to entrench Jewish Enlightenment and work values among the Jews, basing his efforts on a notion of work that he infused with ideational significance (Baer Levinsohn 1977; Penslar 2001). Though a Maskil and a harbinger of secularizing change, and thus seen in a negative light by the observant public and the rabbinic leadership, Levinsohn was nevertheless successful in making his ideas resonate among the Jews. R. Reines was faced with the challenge of countering his impact. He never mentions Levinsohn explicitly in his writings; even so, it is apparent that his arguments are addressed to Levinsohn’s followers, whom R. Reines aims to provide with a theological reply, taking on both the issue of general education and the question of productive labor.

It was the religious Zionist movements, “Mizrachi” (a religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines (Salmon 2019), where the word “Mizrachi” is a type of acronym for “merkaz ruhani”, i.e., a spiritual center) and “Hapoel Hamizrachi” (a socialist-religious-Zionist movement, formed in 1922 under the Zionist slogan “Torah va’Avodah” (Torah and Labor), which supported the founding of religious kibbutzim and moshavim), that presented a new concept of work as a religious value. I shall expand on this below.

Torah U’melakha Yeshivas

The religious Zionist movement operated not only based on ideology but rather primarily on theology, i.e., a different Jewish religious outlook, for instance the perception of engaging in corporeality and work as part of Torah study and realization, as well as the call to human activism regarding the redemption of Israel and improving the world. Based on these theological outlooks, the “Bnei Akiva” youth movement espoused the slogan of “Torah and Work”. Now, once the guiding theological orientation had been determined, efforts were made to realize it in the educational pedagogic domain as well. In this way, theology left its imprint and had an influence on pedagogy as well.

Beginning from the late 1930s religious Zionism, which held aloft the banner of “Torah and work”, established beside the high school yeshivas and the religious high schools also several yeshivas called Torah U’melakha (i.e., Torah and labor), where students learned a profession as well.

There were four such vocational yeshivas: in Tel Aviv, Kfar Avraham in Petach Tikva (Hatzofe 1956), Kfar Sitrin, and the agricultural yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh (Gerdi 1959), which in time became the Ben Yakir youth village (Ben Zvi 1958, p. 40). This, in addition to several religious agricultural high schools: the Religious Youth Village at Mikve Israel, the Mosad Aliya agricultural school in Petach Tikva, and the Kfar Batya agricultural school (Reshef and Yuval 1999, p. 90).

The Torah U’melakha yeshivas began as agricultural yeshivas and constituted a symbol for the Zionist movement at large. The purpose of the school was to allow students to study religious subjects as well as agriculture and to join moshavim and kibbutzim as “scholars and farmers”, and maybe even as the rabbi of the town (Furman 2017). The idea of establishing an agricultural yeshiva began to emerge after the founding of Hapoel Hamizrachi in 1922 but was realized in practice only with the founding of Kfar Haroeh, a religious cooperative workers’ moshav named for R. Avraham Hacohen Kook, on whom I shall expand below.

The yeshiva was established in 1939 by R. Moshe Zvi Neria. Indeed, it continued as a high school rather than a vocational–agricultural yeshiva, but its outlook persevered when R. Shlomo Zuckerman established the Torah U’melakha yeshiva, which as stated later became the Ben Yakir youth village. R. Neria wrote about the founding of the yeshiva:

The Bnei Akiva movement (the youth movement associated with Mizrachi, founded in 1929) as a religious youth movement did not see its designation as merely continuing religious life with the addition of Zionist-pioneering content, rather as striving for religious youthfulness, for fresh religious thought, religious feeling, and religious action… and this was the orientation… of the yeshiva.

 

(Ibid., p. 54)

 

Establishing the agricultural yeshiva expressed the idea of “Torah and work” in practice. Members of the movement embraced the slogan “Sanctify your life with Torah and purify it with work”, principles that guided high school yeshivas in general and Torah U’melakha yeshivas in particular. This was how these yeshivas were initiated. Goelman describes the development of the yeshivas and the ideology at their foundation (Goelman 1948): “About ten years ago, the Torah U’melakha yeshiva in Nahalat Yitzhak [Tel Aviv] was founded. The founders of the yeshiva envisioned the value of this idea for religious youth and worked hard to realize it”. He describes for whom these yeshivas are intended:

The Torah U’melakha institutions gradually being established in the land of Israel are intended at present for those finishing their studies in the Talmud Torah and elementary schools (age 14), who have limited knowledge of Jewish studies and are therefore on the level of beginners. In order to determine the curriculum, we must become familiar with the students, their social status, and their Jewish and general knowledge. The choice of a vocational school is usually based on social justifications, particularly among religious parents who choose to have their sons study a vocation so that they will be able to help support them.

 

(Ibid.)

 

Therefore, he calls for establishing two levels of Torah U’melakha institutions:

In light of this state, we must set two levels within Torah U’melakha institutions: a. A Torah U’melakha yeshiva for boys who have reached independent understanding of Gemara and the poskim and are continuing their studies with half a day of religious studies and half a day of learning a trade. Learning a trade must take no more than two years in an intensive practical program. Special attention must be given to practical training. B. An educational institution of Torah U’melakha: youth schools with the aim of teaching Torah and a general education in an atmosphere of Torah and piety and learning a trade following the customary format in vocational schools.

 

(ibid.)

 

He ends the review and advice with a prayer:

These are great days for the people and for the Jewish settlement, days of preparations for establishing a Jewish regime in the homeland. We pray that the existing Torah U’melakha schools will serve as foundation stones upon which will be built an extensive network of vocational Torah education that teaches boys to fear God, love the homeland, and build the land.

 

(ibid.)

 

The Torah U’melakha yeshivas will be pillars of the Jewish settlement and the state of Israel, in both spirit and matter. Bernstein noted the curriculum and the orientation proposed by the Torah U’melakha yeshiva at Kfar Avraham, later Petah Tikva (Bernstein 1953, pp. 624–26):

The aim of the school: (a) In religious studies—to impart to the students sufficient knowledge of Jewish studies to reach a fundamental grasp of independently studies in gemara, Rashi, and Tosafot, and all the religious literature will be open to them. Regarding education, to teach them to be pious in truth and courtesy, to be true sons of God, their people, their Torah, and their country.

 

(b) In vocational studies—to specialize in a vocation wholly, according to the program customary in local vocational schools. The student will acquire the trade in a way that will enable him to support himself respectfully

 

(c) In general and vocational studies—to impart to the students the general and vocational education necessary for technical workers at present, to be an intellectual worker as needed by the national economy.

 

(d) For this purpose to study gemara, halakha, Bible, Jewish thought, Hebrew and Hebrew grammar, and history

 

(e) General studies: languages, English, mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Special: technology, the theory of instruments and machines, technical and engineering drafting, pumps, engines, electrotechnical, calculation, professional hygiene, machine learning.

 

(f) Practical training: mechanical welding, mechanics, soldering, metalwork

Having understood the ideological and theological spirit underlying the establishment of the Torah U’melakha yeshivas, we shall now turn to several religious Zionist ideologues and even before this movement was founded, who laid the theological foundation for the concept of “Torah and work” and its realization in the educational field in the form of the Torah U’melakha yeshivas.

3. The Proto-Zionists

The idea of combining Torah and work and its integration in the educational system began with the proto-Zionists (Mashiach 2021b). R. Zvi Hirsch Kalisher (1795–1874; Myers 2003; Asaf 2015a) was among the first to call for combining Torah and work as part of an active effort to hasten the redemption. “It is necessary to understand… that the beginning of the redemption is through human nature, and then God, may He be blessed, will appear among us and among all creatures of the world” (Kalisher 2002, p. 68). This will be done via the land of Israel and its settlement. “To come to the Holy Land in droves like a swarm of sheep and to transform it into a settled land, because that is the preface to the beginning of the redemption, to build that which was in ruins and to plant that which was desolate” (Ibid., p. 76).

Another proto-Zionist was R. Judah Alkalai (1798–1878), the rabbi of Semlin, Serbia (Katz 1979, pp. 308–56), who called to hasten the redemption through human efforts, manifested in a combination of Torah and work in the land of Israel: “Settling the land is the redemption… agricultural work is the redemption” (Rafael 2004, p. 763). Therefore, he issued a call: “The delay in the coming of the Messiah… is because there are things that need to be corrected… and these are things that involve the physical aspects of the land… the Messiah son of David will only come when the land will be populated” (Ibid., p. 753). It was the inception of an idea.

4. Rabbis of the First Aliya

The ideological generation after the proto-Zionists founded the Hovevei Zion societies that translated the ideology into practice in the form of immigration to the land of Israel, purchasing lands, and tilling the land. The First Aliya occurred from 1882–1903 (Mashiach 2021a).

We shall focus on two rabbis who outlined the ideological and pedagogic course: R. Ze’ev Yavetz (Asaf 2015b) and R. Shmuel Mohilever. R. Ze’ev Yavetz (1847–1924) was an author, educator, and historian. Learning from Jewish history, he understood that work is one of the Jewish people’s designations:

Because not only in wisdom and morals did our forefathers obtain their reputation… In time they acquired all the practical skills of Egypt in those days. And by the end of Joseph’s life the sons of Judah encompassed metal workers and artisans… and the Israelites did not neglect the artisanship on their travels in the desert when leaving Egypt, because after settling the land they implanted it within them.

 

(Yavetz 1905, 1:chp.11)

 

Therefore, he called for a return to the original Jewish nature and he himself served as a role model, working as the principal of the school in Zichron Yaakov, where he combined Jewish culture based on “knowledge of God”, and general culture, “external culture”, which in his view helps implement the commandments. For instance, studying agronomy and the natural sciences helps implement the commandments that are contingent on the land. His pedagogic approach was in time embraced in the high school yeshivas and the Torah U’melakha yeshivas (Haramati 2000, pp. 72–82).

The most meaningful figure in Hovevei Zion and in the First Aliya was R. Shmuel Mohilever (1824–1898), one of the greatest rabbis of his generation, who was the rabbi of Bialystok (Yarden 1982, pp. 161–70; Salmon 1991). R. Mohilever was critical of the traditional Jewish educational system. As he saw it, it is necessary to combine Torah and work, education and productivization. This combination would allow Jews to make a living, which is a religious obligation. “One is obliged to work to supply the needs of his household, even if in this way he will necessarily refrain from the study of Torah” (Mohilever 1872).

He defines the combined path as “good education”. From the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder, “resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven”, he understood that the order in this story consists of the material—“resting on the earth” and then the spiritual—“reaching to heaven”. He who focuses only on the spiritual will not succeed:

“And he had a dream in which he saw a ladder resting on the earth and its top reaching to heaven…” (Genesis 28). Here Jacob envisioned the ladder of happiness resting on the earth, its beginning is here on the ground, to make a trustworthy foundation for his temporary happiness, and then he shall build on it a tall and lofty house, “with its top reaching to heaven”, which is the house of his eternal happiness. One who takes this course, and follows this order, will succeed and be elevated. Indeed, one whose deeds are foreign, and who ascends to the heights to build himself a home of eternal happiness… will decline and will achieve neither.

He asks rhetorically: “…and why have our people rejected all manual work? Our forefathers were farmers and shepherds… and this did not detract from their shining virtues… and only we are embarrassed to teach our sons a craft” (Mohilever 1874). In time, this call was answered in the form of the high school yeshivas and the Torah U’melakha yeshivas.

5. The Rabbis of the Religious Zionist Movement

R. Yitzchak Yaacov Reines (1839–1915), among the great Torah scholars of Lithuania, founded the Mizrahi movement (Bat Yehuda 1985; Shapira 2002). R. Reines, who believed in a combination of Torah and work, founded a unique yeshiva where secular studies and crafts were taught side by side with religious studies. The reason for this was because many young Jews are interested in general studies in order to expand their economic options. Such studies were not available in yeshivas; rather they were only available at gymnasiums and universities (Salmon 1971).

In 1881, he published a book called “Hotam Tochnit”, in which he criticized the yeshiva forms of study. He suggested founding a yeshiva with a new study program, in response to the Enlightenment. For this purpose, he met with prominent rabbis, to enlist them in support of his initiative to include in the yeshiva general studies side by side with religious studies for purpose of subsistence (Hatzfira 29 (1882), p. 229; Salmon 2006, pp. 285–86). The rabbis refused.

Despite the resistance, R. Reines founded the yeshiva in Święciany. Not long later, the yeshiva was closed. In 1905, he established another yeshiva in the same format in the town of Lida in Belarus, called Torah Va’daat (Torah and Knowledge), a name that symbolizes its innovativeness versus traditional yeshivas. In his “Lecture on the new yeshiva”, R. Reines explained its designation:

A new yeshiva must be established! A yeshiva that will chart a way in life for young people… that will train them to be good citizens… that will support them honorably and profitably, and that will make them into whole people.

 

(April 9, 1905; Fishman-Maimon 1946, p. 154)

 

The yeshiva will train its students to a life of work and will make them “whole people”. Therefore, both Torah and crafts should be taught. When presenting the goals of the yeshiva, he wrote:

The yeshiva has taken as its goal to focus on the students’ bread as well, “because where there is no bread there is no Torah” (Mishna, Avot 3:17). And for this reason, it was decided to arrange the curriculum in such a way that anyone who completed his course of studies at the yeshiva would have the proper means to support his position in life, whether in a rabbi’s post… or as a teacher… The yeshiva also paves the way of those who will become merchants, storeowners, contractors, through general studies … Each and every matter in life requires some secular knowledge… and this knowledge is acquired to a known extent by the students at this yeshiva.

 

(Reines 1913, pp. 24–25)

 

The concept of wholeness is present in the teachings of R. Reines. However, unlike the view of ultraorthodox rabbis who contended that only Torah leads to wholeness, in his opinion, engaging in work is also essential. He divided wholeness into four categories that included both spiritual wholeness—that of the intellect and ethics, and material wholeness—that of the body and economics:

Man should be divided with regard to his wholeness… in four: a. Wholeness of the body. Such as bravery, beauty, and so on. b. Wholeness of the intellect… in secular matters as well. c. Ethical wholeness… d. Wholeness of ownership. To be whole also with regard to worldly possessions.

 

(Reines 1902, p. 182)

 

The fact that he enumerated the conditions for wholeness alternately, regarding engaging in spirit and matter, i.e., body, intellect, ethics, and ownership, shows that they are intertwined. Torah and work. Hence, it is no surprise that it was R. Reines who founded the first high school yeshiva, in the format of Torah U’melakha, Torah and labor (Mashiach 2018).

6. R. Avraham Yitzchak Kook

R. Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook (1865–1935, Latvia-Israel) was the first Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi communities in the land of Israel, an adjudicator, kabbalist, commentator, poet, and philosopher. He is considered to have had the greatest impact on religious Zionism (Ben Shlomo 1989; Ish Shalom 1990; Mirsky 2014). R. Kook’s point of departure was pantheism—everything is Godly (Schwartz 1996b, pp. 83–87), which led him to an original outlook called pan-Toraism—everything is Torah (Mashiach 2020). Allow me to explain. Rationalist philosophy, as well as kabbalist philosophy, identified God with His wisdom-knowledge-Torah (The Rambam wrote: “He [God] and his knowledge are one” (Foundations of the Torah, 2:10), and the Kabbalists perceived that “The Holy One Blessed be He and the Torah—are one” (The Zohar, Vayikra, Aharei Mot, 56a; R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, The Tanya, chp. 5)). Therefore, there is a congruence between the world and the Torah and God, and therefore, if everything is Godly—pan-theism—hence everything is Torah—pan-Toraism. “Our Torah of life is a Divine revelation that is revealed… in all existence” (Kook 2006–2008, 2:72). Instead of defining Torah as academic study, the concept was that life with all its activities, both spiritual and corporeal, is Torah.

He also berated those who do not understand this. He conceived this as resulting from insufficient faith:

When having insufficient faith, it seems that anything that people hasten… to acquire, whether science, bravery, beauty, order, intelligence, that these are all things that are external to the Divine contents of the world… but all this is a big mistake and a lack of faith. The pure perspective sees the Divine appearance in all improvement of life, whether individual or collective, spiritual or corporeal.

 

(Kook 2004, 3:190)

 

From the prism of pan-Toraism, it was clear to R. Kook that it is necessary to combine secular and religious studies. In 1908, R. Kook wrote a letter to the members of the Mizrahi board in western countries, saying that it is necessary to establish a new yeshiva that offers both secular and religious studies. In the process, he strongly criticized the ultraorthodox who offer no secular studies, and the secular, who offer no religious studies:

To establish in the center of the new town, a big yeshiva… which shall also include the entire … spiritual and scientific part of the Torah with all its aspects … And general sciences should occupy a formal place in Hebrew… by good teachers and books, until eventually… such a yeshiva can produce advanced people who will truly be a glory to the people of Israel and to the land of Israel… warriors who fight God’s war against those with a lowly imagination who perceive themselves as God-fearing [=the ultraorthodox] and against those with a poor mind and a foolish heart who perceive themselves as free men [=the secular].

 

(Kook 1985, 1:98)

 

In another place, he stressed that this “new magnificent yeshiva” will be “infused in its innermost levels with the light of the flame of a sacred fire”, and beside it, “houses for learning crafts and agriculture” would also be established (Ibid., letter 144:181–193). In other words, yeshivas for “Torah and labor” (Torah U’melakha).

R. Kook saw engaging in labor as a religious value and, therefore, “the sacred light is truly present in all labor” (Kook 2004, vol. 1, para.887). He saw the combination of spirit and matter as the whole ideal religious occupation. “Not only will they not contradict each rather, rather they will on the contrary add strength to each other” (Kook 1988, p. 407).

R. Kook describes his era as the era of redemption; therefore, human intervention must be applied in order to hasten it. This concept exists in kabbalistic thought. The “It’aruta diletata”, arousal from below, will be answered by an “It’aruta dile’eyla”, arousal from above. The concept is also present in rabbinical literature: “Open for Me one opening… like the eye of the needle, and I will open for you openings that wagons and carriages enter through them” (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 5:2). However, we must be the initiators. Hence, it was clear to R. Kook that in order to hasten the redemption, it is necessary to be active in both spirit and matter and that one who focuses on only one of the two is in the wrong:

And every person of Israel should know that so long as he relates only to the secular aspects of the national revival, he is only engaging in his people’s work from one aspect, and his work is not complete work… and so also every person of Israel who builds the nation’s holy values should know that so long as he does not help and support the secular construction of the nation he is detracting from the nature of the mandated national work. And the more this complete recognition shall spread, the quality of our national revival will grow closer to attaining its full nature.

 

(Kook 1988, p. 43)

 

R. Kook’s approach should be understood in the context of the ideological conflict with socialist Zionism, espoused by members of the Second and Third Aliya, people of the “religion of labor” who saw work as the redemption of the people and of the land. The main ideologue of this movement was Aaron David Gordon (Strassberg-Cohen 1995). Work was the main axis of Gordon’s philosophy, and it can be summarized as represented by three foundations (Ibid., pp. 148–53): First, work is a purpose in and of itself and not only a means of subsistence (Bergman and Shohat 1952, vol. 1, p. 308). Second, work-faith relations. As he sees it, when one works “it is religious worship even more than one who observes… all the commandments of the conveyed and customary faith” (Ibid., vol. 2, p. 123). It is not for nothing that his doctrine is designated “the religion of labor”. Third, work–nation relations. Work has a national and universal value; it allows realization of the organic association linking individuals and the collective. He believed that only work could create the Jewish people anew, disconnected as they had become from life in nature while living unproductively in exile (Ibid., p. 194). And from within that manual labor, he believed, will appear the revival and the redemption: “The revival of the people, its renewal as a working and productive people, can only come about through work… primarily through manual work… Even the redemption of the land can only come about through work” (Schweid 1983, p. 265).

In the recognition that the Torah contains everything, and in the context of the struggle with Zionist socialism, R. Kook often spoke about the combination of Torah and work and called for the establishment of yeshivas that in time were designated “Torah U’melakha”.

7. Shmuel Chaim Landau—Shachal

With regard to the Torah U’melakha yeshivas affected by the “Torah and work” concept put forth by the Hapoel Hamizrachi movement (Fishman 1979), one of the movement’s founding fathers, Shmuel Chaim Landau (1892–1929), is noteworthy (Rafael 1965, vol. 3, pp. 226–40).

In his opening speech at the second national convention of Hapoel Hamizrachi, he introduced his “special aspiration” to create a Jewish type that combines Torah and work, while criticizing the secular Zionists who abandoned the Torah and the ultraorthodox who abandoned work:

It is a special battle we must wage for our special aspiration: to create a type of young national-religious Jew, devoted in his heart and mind to his people and Torah and who takes an active part in building the land and in the revival of the nation. This work of ours encounters in its course objectors from right and left. While young people on the left [secular], who are indeed devoted to the work of building the land, decry anything holy… the young on the right, the ultra-orthodox… devote the spirit of their youth to interfering with the revival of the Jewish nation in its land… The aspiration of national religious Judaism: building the land of Israel in the spirit of Judaism and its Torah.

 

(Frumer 2008, p. 61)

 

In time, he instituted the slogan “Torah and work” (Torah va’avoda), borne to this day on the banner of the “Bnei Akiva” youth movement:

The return to productive life is one of the foundations of the nation’s revival and of its departure from a life of exile to the life of a nation on its land… To realize in life the old-new true Hebrew slogan “Torah and work”… and as early as two thousand years ago, the sages revealed to us this wonderful secret and said: Six days shall you labor, this is a positive commandment.

 

(Ibid., pp. 233–34)

 

Studying Torah and engaging in work are part of the revival:

In this way “Torah” and “work” become not two separate things… that perhaps stand on the same territory and on a single level… two revelations of one object: revival… Hence, the Torah cannot be revived without work, and work, work that creates and revives a nation, cannot exist without Torah, the Torah of revival.

 

(Ibid.)

 

Shachal was one of the formulators of the “holy revolt” principles (Wolkenfeld 2010), expressed in a “call of the founders”: against the Jewish-exilic identity; calling for a return to a whole, original, biblical, multidimensional Judaism that engages in Torah and work rather than only in religious spirituality; a call to connect to nature and to the earth. This also contains criticism of ultraorthodox Judaism that engages only in spirituality, as well as of secular Zionism that engages only in corporeality and nationalism:

We desire a life of work and production based on the traditional Judaism. We can’t engage only in spirituality… but we also can’t make do only with external nationalism of language and country, and leave our Torah… we desire a Judaism of Torah and work, through which Judaism will be in contact with nature, life, and the nation… we strive to return to the initial Hebrew life, to the original biblical Judaism.

In this way, after establishing a youth movement with the slogan “Torah and work”, the next step taken was to start establishing Torah U’melakha yeshivas in order to realize this Torah-oriented ideal.

8. R. Moshe Avigdor Amiel

R. Moshe Avigdor Amiel (1882–1945) was a rabbi and ideologue in the Mizrahi movement, the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv (Bat Yehuda 2001; Hellinger 2003). R. Amiel strived for a complete Judaism, which in his view combines Torah and work.

And if someone were to come to me… and say: “Teach me the entire Torah on one foot” (According to Bavli, Shabbat 31a), I would say to him “A matter—and not half a matter”. That is the entire Torah… Why are they called parties, because each of them has chosen only part of the matter of Judaism… and not the whole thing… they cause a partitioning… of our whole Torah.

 

(Amiel 2006, vol. 1, p. 369)

 

His criticism is aimed at the ultraorthodox, who embraced the spiritual part—the Torah, and at the secular, who embraced the material part—work. Both have only “half a matter”, while the Mizrachi has the “complete Torah” that includes the entire “matter”. Torah and work should complete each other. “Torah will be flavored by work and work will become a complete Torah” (Ibid.). This is “because our Torah is a Torah of life. A Torah that is not against life, but rather that transforms all needs of life into Torah” (Amiel 1943, p. 173).

In order to realize his aspiration to return to a whole Judaism, in 1938, R. Amiel founded the first high school yeshiva, Hayishuv Hehadash, in Tel Aviv (Bar-Lev 1987):

I see before me an enormous danger for our generation… New ways of life are gradually invading our life… There is a current obligation and an obligation of the generations to spread the study of Torah—that is my desire—to crown the Torah anew.

 

(Gellman 1963)

 

His desire was to “crown the Torah anew”, namely, to return to a state where the Torah encompassed everything, both Torah studies and an occupation with general disciplines. Following this yeshiva, high school yeshivas and Torah U’melakha yeshivas were opened in Israel and in other countries.

9. R. Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel

R. Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (1880–1953) was the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel (Zohar et al. 2020). To understand R. Uziel’s attitude to teaching one to live a life of Torah and work, it is necessary to understand how he perceives Torah (Hadani 2009; Hellinger 2003). In 1932, R. Uziel wrote a letter in which he described his wide view of Torah as encompassing the sciences and languages:

We would do well, I say, to establish the elementary school program in our country on foundations of Torah and science… and when I say Torah I do not mean this in its limited meaning, as do others in their ignorance and boorishness; rather I mean Torah in its wide meaning, which includes the language of the Torah, redemption of the land, and the doctrine of love and ethics in family and national life and in the life of all people created in [God’s] image. These issues and their details are the very essence of Torah.

 

(Ibid., pp. 69–70)

 

Torah includes secular studies and vocational training. In a lecture given in 1919, entitled “Torah and work” (Uziel 1995–2009, vol. 1, pp. 455–60), R. Uziel stated adamantly that learning a craft is a religious commandment, as the Talmud says that a father must “teach his son a trade”, and if he does not do so, it is as if he “teaches him banditry” (Bavli, Kiddushin 30b). “From this you learn that labor and crafts are an obligatory commandment and an honor for all Jews and for the entire Jewish people, from which neither the individual nor the collective may refrain”. He further says: “Labor is unworthy of its name when it is performed only for the purpose of the present life… labor that is worthy of its name is that performed with affection, a wide heart, and a good eye”. He also determined that work is held in one’s favor not only in the present world rather also “it shall be used to reach eternal life” (Uziel 1995–2009, vol. 1, p. 311).

Therefore, the sacred should not be separated from the secular, nor the Torah from work. In this matter, he criticized both secular state education and ultraorthodox education:

We would commit a grave transgression if we were to make our schools completely secular, if we were to bar our children from Torah-oriented studies… and we would be making a mistake if we were to think that we are fulfilling our obligation by merely placing our children in the hands of religious schools. Rather, our educational duty to our children and to the entire nation is: a practical and dogmatic education and trustworthy instruction.

 

(Ibid., p. 314)

 

As he saw it, engaging in work is not only for the purpose of subsistence, rather it is a religious value aimed at bettering the world, and whoever does not do so is a mere robber, whereas he has no work, so he has no Torah:

Work and crafts are not voluntary; according to the Torah of Israel this is an obligatory commandment, as the Torah says: Six days shall you labor… One is forbidden from partaking of the table of others, living off the work of others, without giving in return his own productive work…

Even one who engages in Torah and teaches it to others does not fulfill his duty, and neither he nor his Torah will persist unless he adds to this creative work by providing his own needs and doing his part in maintaining the world and contributing to the progress of humanity (Ibid., p. 456). Hence, as he sees it, the people of Israel will regain their lost national honor “by showing all nations… that their hands are also well occupied with agricultural work and industry, crafts and commerce” (Ibid., pp. 468–69).

It is not surprising that R. Uziel endeavored to promote the schools of the Mizrachi, which combine religious and secular studies, Torah and work.

10. Summary

Vocational studies in Israel declined over time. Vocational schools, which had focused on teaching manual labor, carpentry, metalwork, and others, were closed, and there is currently a conspicuous lack of such workers in Israel. The government compensated for this deficiency by importing foreign workers.

Technological studies, which have mostly replaced vocational studies, are gradually expanding, and this is particularly evident in the rate of those studying in the high-tech track, which has replaced theoretical studies. This track has led to a drop in students of the humanities and social sciences. In high school, the increasing emphasis on the high-tech track is particularly strong in the Arab sector (Fuchs et al. 2018, pp. 1–28).

In 2006, an extensive report on vocational and technological education in Israel was published, written by Dr. Eli Eisenberg, deputy director of the ORT network, for the European Training Foundation (ETF) (Eisenberg 2006). The report emphasizes that the cuts in the budget for technological education led to the elimination of technological tracks, particularly in peripheral areas, as well as a considerable drop in the number of hours taught and a rise in the age of teachers. The report offered several suggestions for promoting technological education in Israel, including:

1. Improving the image of technological education in the media;

2. Developing and expanding the TOV (acronym for “technical studies and matriculation”) program;

3. Realistic budgeting of technological subjects, equipping laboratories, and compensating faculty;

4. Expanding secondary training, particularly of technicians and technical engineers, in fields for which there is a demand in industry and in the army.

5. Collaboration between industrial plants and schools and between universities and technological high schools (Eisenberg and Selivansky-Eden 2019).

With regard to the Torah U’melakha yeshivas—from the beginning, there were only four. Some were subsequently closed, and others changed their nature from vocational to technological. However, the educational trend toward “Torah and labor” has not disappeared. Vocational education, which became technological as well, was assimilated in nearly all high school yeshivas, which, to a great degree, made the Torah U’melakha yeshivas redundant. Many high school yeshivas have vocational or technological tracks such as electricity studies, computers, electronics, engineering, media, agriculture, theatre, and more.

The ideological and theological value of “Torah and work”, as perceived by rabbis and ideologues in the religious Zionist movement, became engraved in the pedagogic consciousness of this sector and is continuing to infuse the many high school yeshivas in Israel and elsewhere.

 

 

 

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