Avodat Kodesh, Holy Labour A Theology of Work in Pirkei Avot

(10) Shemaiah and Abtalion received [the oral tradition] from them. Shemaiah used to say: love work, hate acting the superior, and do not attempt to draw near to the ruling authority.

Love work. How so? This teaches us that a person should love work, and not hate work. For just as the Torah was given in a covenant, so work was given in a covenant, as it says (Exodus 20:10), “For six days you shall labor and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Eternal your God.” Rabbi Akiva would say: Sometimes a person labors and escapes death, and sometimes a person does not labor and becomes liable for death from Heaven. How so? Say a person sat around all week and did no labor, and then on the eve of the Sabbath he had nothing to eat. But he had money that had been designated [to the Temple] in his house. So he took from this and ate, and thus became liable to death from Heaven. However, if he had labored on the building of the Temple, then even though they paid him in money designated for the Temple and he took that money and used it for food, he would still escape the death penalty.

Rabbi Dostai would say: How do we know that if someone did no work all six days, he will end up doing work on the seventh? For, see, if he sat all the days of the week and did no work, and then on the eve of the Sabbath he had nothing to eat, he would then go out looking, and end up seized by conscription officers, who would grab him by the collar and force him to do on the Sabbath all the work that he did not do for six days.

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar would say: Even Adam did not taste anything until he worked, as it says (Genesis 2:15–16), “And God placed him in the garden, to work it and guard it”; and then [it says (verse 17)], “From every tree of the garden you may certainly eat.”

Rabbi Tarfon would say: Even the Holy Blessed One did not rest His presence upon Israel until they had done work, as it says (Exodus 25:5), “Make Me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.”

(2) "Love work": Even if one has enough to sustain oneself, one is still obligated to work, as idleness leads to dullness (Ketubot 59b)

(1) Shemayah and Avtalyon received from them. Shemayah says, "Love work": Such that a person should not be idle from work... That is to say, when a person habituates their limbs to be idle from work, their hands protest [when they are called on to do something], since the habit has set in. It is further said, "A lazy person does not plow from the winter, and when they look [for grain] in the harvest, there's nothing." (Prov. 20:4) The lazy person thinks that if they sit around while there is work that needs be done, since it is more restful [in that moment]. But, in truth, the opposite is true, as exertion brings one rest [eventually]. If one rests during the winter and does not plow, then when seeking produce in the harvest, there will be none, and one will die from hunger. But if one plows from the winter, "one who works the land will be satisfied with bread," (Prov. 28:19) for a person cannot [truly] attain rest save through exertion beforehand.

The intention, in a holistic sense, is that one should not love the reward one receives from doing work and hate the work itself, loathing it while one labours and toils. Rather, be happy with the work itself, and enjoy and rejoice while one does it, as if it is not really a trouble. On this, the Sages said, the one who benefits from their toil is greater than one who fears heaven. That is to say, not to [merely] benefit from the reward for one's labour and what remuneration one is given, but rather one should benefit and enjoy the labour itself and be happy in one's portion from heaven, to be a crafts-person.

(15) Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.

(1) Rabbi Tarfon said, the day is short and the work is great: The day is short - these are [a person's] days, which are short compared to the Torah, as it is greater. 'Its measure is longer than the earth and it is wider than the sea,' and none can reach down to its end. And this is what they said (Shemot Rabbah 47:7) - those forty days that our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, stood at Mount Sinai, he did not sleep. There is a parable [relevant to this, about] a king that said to his servant, "Measure gold coins from now until tomorrow, and everything that you measure will be yours." How can he sleep, and will he not lose very much at that time? So [too] did Moshe say, "If I sleep, how many pearls of words of Torah will I lose?" All the more so us, that we should not give 'sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eyelids.'

(16) He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it; If you have studied much Torah, you shall be given much reward. Faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor; And know that the grant of reward unto the righteous is in the age to come.

He would say, "It is not on you to finish..." Even if the work is great, as it is said, even so, do not despair if you are not able to complete it all.

But neither are you free to give up on it. That one should not think that since the work is so great, that of course the Holy One has freed me from actualizing it, and if I sin, then G-d will, of course, forgive me. But the Holy One wants that you do great work, as much as you are able to do.

And know... As it is written, "So that your days are lengthened," (Ex. 20:12) in the world in which all days are long, so you may be well... As it is written, "And you will laugh in the final days."