Avos chapter two, mishnah two. With this mishnah we have reached, by all opinions, the end of the chronological sequence in Maseches Avos. The tanna before us is Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi - the son of the author of the previous mishnah, who is the one who arranged the Mishnah that we have. This Rabban Gamliel, whom we will call Rabban Gamliel the Third, is the last figure who holds the status of a tanna; all who come after him are already counted among the amoraim. Historically he is the last person in the Mishnah, and for that reason he also comes at the end of the chronological order.
He makes two points. The first: "Yafeh talmud Torah im derech eretz, sheyegias sheneihem mashkachas avon" - toiling in both things together, in Torah and in earning a living, causes a person to forget sin. He reinforces his words in what follows: "Vechol Torah she'ein imah melachah, sofah beteilah vegoreres avon" - in the end it will be nullified, and it even drags a person into sin.
What is "derech eretz":
According to the Bartenura, and likewise according to the Rambam, Rashi and many others, the intent is earning a living - whether through commerce and trade or through craft and labor. The point of the matter is reining in the power of the yetzer hara: when a person exerts himself in Torah study, which consumes a significant portion of his emotional and intellectual energies, and also exerts himself in earning a living, which consumes his physical energies - between these two he no longer has any drive to sin, he has neither the energy for it nor the free time for it, and this keeps him on the straight path. This is the simplest understanding, and it appears that this is how the Bartenura learned it.
Some understand that the particular sin the mishnah is dealing with is monetary offenses - cheating and stealing, cutting corners and taking something that is not his. In order for a person to be saved from the clutches of monetary wrongdoing, two components are needed:
Knowledge of the halachah: Torah study, in order to know what is right and what is not right, what is permitted and what is forbidden.
A basic livelihood: so that he will not be in a state of financial desperation, for one who is not desperate has no need to take what is not his.
When only one of the two is present, the protection collapses: a person who studies and knows very well what is right and what is not, but is in total desperation, will fall victim to his desperation and will cheat or steal or lie; and conversely, a person who is not desperate at all but does not know how to distinguish between permitted and forbidden will keep on taking more and more, with no regard for whether his actions are justified.
A different approach to "derech eretz":
There is an entirely different approach, according to which "derech eretz" here does not mean earning a living, but rather ethics and good character traits - a study that teaches a person what is right and what is not right, as opposed to Torah, which is essentially law and halachah. According to this, Torah study alone, without the addition of mussar, without being pushed in matters of character and without working on refining one's traits, is not enough. A person will still be left with a flawed trait, and he will still lack the moral compass that allows him to rise above sin.
"Vechol Torah she'ein imah melachah":
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch emphasizes that these words are directed at the person who stresses Torah study alone and says: I have no need to exert myself in study and work together, intense study is enough for me to be guarded from sin, and I have no need for the study of mussar, since the Torah itself is my ethics. To this Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch responds: this is a mistake. Torah alone is not enough, and a person must both study and earn a living. "Melachah" here definitely means work for the sake of a livelihood.
For if he does not do so, he will have no way to support himself, and he will have no choice but to be distracted from his learning. First, he cannot concentrate - he wants to sit and learn, but his thoughts return to his children's hunger and to his own empty stomach. Second, out of desperation, sooner or later he will leave the beis midrash and go out to look for a livelihood; and when he does not succeed at that and he is steeped in desperation, he will come to do anything, to cut every corner, to steal from people and to take what is not his. It turns out that the situation keeps getting worse: he has abandoned Torah, he is transgressing, and he is completely distracted - and in the end he is dragged into sin and loses everything.
The dispute of the Tanna'im in Berachos:
It is worth noting that the question of combining work and Torah study is not a new one, and our mishnah is not the last word on the subject. The classic starting point is the Gemara in Maseches Berachos, which records a dispute between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai:
Rabbi Yishmael: He establishes exactly what emerges from our mishnah. The verse in Shema says "ve'asafta deganecha" - part of what it means to be a Jew is that a person is able to work, gather in his grain and support himself.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: If a person is busy all year round - plowing, sowing, reaping, harvesting, winnowing and baking - when will he ever find time to learn? Therefore the verse says "lo yamush sefer haTorah hazeh mipicha": he should learn from morning until night, and "their work will be done by others" - his livelihood will reach him one way or another.
The Gemara there concludes that "many acted like Rabbi Yishmael and it worked out for them" - many took the approach of our mishnah, combining work and study, and it worked out well for them: they had a livelihood, they had Torah study, and their lives were good. "And many acted like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and it did not work out for them." In other words, even if in theory there is room for the second approach, in practice it does not succeed. And this is how the Shulchan Aruch rules.
The Rambam, in one place - in Hilchos Talmud Torah - rules exactly like our mishnah. But elsewhere, in Hilchos Shemittah v'Yovel, he writes that such a possibility does exist: an exceptional person, like Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, who devotes himself to learning day and night, casts off his shoulders all the calculations of how he will support himself, does not worry about it - and the Holy One, Blessed is He, takes care of him in some way, and he learns all the days of his life. Such a person is like the Holy of Holies.
We find here a gap between theory and practice: in theory one can sit and learn alone, but in practice this does not work out well for most people. Our mishnah is therefore offering good advice, as is the way of Maseches Avos: a person should not assume that he is different from everyone else, but should know that he is like every other person, and that the best path for him, practically speaking, for a whole and healthy life of Torah and mitzvos, is to support himself alongside his Torah study. And alongside this there is a footnote: there are exceptional individuals who devote themselves to learning alone, and it works out for them, because the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranges that they be taken care of, and there is no transgression in this at all. But someone who cannot help thinking about how things will work out is not the man entitled to this crown. We are speaking of one who has complete trust and total faith in the Holy One, Blessed is He, to the point that he does not think about parnassah at all and lives on miracles; one way or another he will survive and not die - but there are no guarantees beyond that. This concludes the first part of the mishnah.
The second part - "v'chol ha'amelim im hatzibbur":
Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi continues and says: "v'chol ha'amelim im hatzibbur yihyu amelim imahem l'shem Shamayim" - and all who toil with the community should toil with them for the sake of Heaven. Anyone involved in communal needs - the one who chairs a committee, the shul secretary, the one who organizes the Shabbos morning kiddush and the like - his work must be done for the sake of Heaven. Not because he wants to look like an important, respected person and rub shoulders with the people who matter, but because he wants to care for the people of the Holy One, Blessed is He: he loves the Holy One, Blessed is He, and this is his family, and that is why he is involved in their affairs.
So too, a person should not attribute the success to himself, for "shezechus avosam mesaya'atan" - the success that allows his work on behalf of the community to turn out well comes through the merit of their fathers and their fathers' fathers, through the strength of previous generations. "V'tzidkasam omedes la'ad" - the merit of the righteous of previous generations stands forever, and one can always lean on it, from the Avos and Imahos down to the people of the previous generation. And nevertheless: "V'atem, ma'aleh ani aleichem sachar harbeh k'ilu asisem" - here Rabban Gamliel speaks, as it were, in the name of Hashem: even though the success comes from the merit of previous generations and from the merit of the community, I will credit it to you as though it were the work of your own hands, for someone had to do it, and you did it and put in the effort.
Three approaches in explaining "k'ilu asisem":
The Bartenura and Rabbeinu Yonah: Even though the success is not due to the merit of the one doing the work, it is considered for him as though it were done through his merit, and he is given the reward for having invested the effort.
The Rambam: Involvement in communal needs comes at a price - one who is busy with the affairs of the community is not sitting and learning, and is not performing the mitzvos he would have done during that time. Regarding this it says that the Holy One, Blessed is He, will give him great reward "as though you had done it," meaning as though he had fulfilled the other mitzvos he missed, because he was busy with communal needs.
The Seforno: Sometimes the efforts of one working for the community do not succeed at all. Even so, the Holy One, Blessed is He, says "I credit you with great reward as though you had done it" - the reward is given even when the endeavor did not succeed.
All three approaches can be true at once. What emerges from the Seforno is a great principle: a person must invest his efforts on behalf of the community because of the importance of the matter, while the question of success is left to the complex calculations of the Holy One, Blessed is He, who knows what is fitting for an entire community. The essential thing is the effort itself, and the reward is measured by the effort and not by its results - something unusual, since outside of Torah study this is generally not the case, whereas in communal toil it is. Therefore a person should do everything within his power for the community, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, will take care of him, with Hashem's help.