Work (מלאכה)

Laws of the Calendar

Sources

Six days shall work be done - This is consistent with Rabbi Ishmael's statement. One verse says, "Six days shall work be done", and another says (Ex. 20:9), "Six days you shall labor and do all your work". How can both these verses be upheld? When Israel does God's will, their work is done by others, as it says (Isa. 61:5), "Strangers shall stand and pasture your flocks". But when Israel doesn't do God's will, not only do they do their own work, but they also do the work of others, as it says (Deut. 28:48), "You shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you"…

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 35:2

Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Judah Hanasi said: excellent is the study of the Torah when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one’s mind; But [study of the] Torah which is not combined with a worldly occupation, in the end comes to be neglected and becomes the cause of sin. And all who labor with the community, should labor with them for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of their forefathers sustains them (the community), and their (the forefather’s) righteousness endures for ever…

Pirkei Avot 2:2

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.

Pirkei Avot 1:10

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ami said in the name of Ulla: One who benefits from his hard labor is greater than a God-fearing person, i.e., one who is so enthralled by his fear of God that he sits idly by and does not work. As with regard to a God-fearing person, it is written: “Happy is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly desires His mitzvot” (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)…

HALAKHAH: Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rav Jeremiah: He who does work on a public fast-day is like one who does work on the Day of Atonement. What is the reason? Sanctify a fast-day, call an assembly. But was it not stated, the night is permitted but the day forbidden? Rebbi Ze`ira said, Abba bar Jeremiah confirmed it; assemble the people, at the time of the popular assembly. If women use not to work after the end of the Sabbath, it is no {legitimate} usage; until the end of the seder it is {legitimate} usage…

Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 1:6:2-3

MISHNA: And these are tasks that a wife must perform for her husband: She grinds wheat into flour, and bakes, and washes clothes, cooks, and nurses her child, makes her husband’s bed, and makes thread from wool by spinning it. If she brought him one maidservant, i.e., brought the maidservant with her into the marriage, the maidservant will perform some of these tasks. Consequently, the wife does not need to grind, and does not need to bake, and does not need to wash clothes…

Ketubot 59b:6-7

Shemaya and Avatalyon received from them. Shemaya would say: Love work, hate power, and do not become too familiar with the authorities.
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…

Avot DeRabbi Natan 11:1

MISHNA: If these three regular fasts have passed and they have not been answered with rain, the court decrees three other fasts upon the community. These are severe fasts, in which one may eat and drink only while it is still day, before the beginning of the night of the fast, and on the day of the fast itself they are prohibited to engage in the performance of work, in bathing, in smearing with oil, in wearing shoes, and in marital relations…

Taanit 12b:9-12

A husband is entitled to [any ownerless objects] discovered by [his] wife, and the proceeds of her labor. What [type of work] must she perform on his behalf? Everything follows the custom of the country. In a place where it is customary for women to weave, she should weave. [In a place where they] embroider, she should embroider. [In a place where they] spin wool or flax, she should spin.
If it is not customary for women in that place to perform these labors, he may compel her only to spin wool; [wool, but not flax,] because flax damages [a woman's] mouth and lips…

Mishneh Torah, Marriage 21:1

The Sages taught: What is the meaning of that which the verse states: “And you shall gather your grain”? Because it is stated: “This Torah shall not depart from your mouths, and you shall contemplate in it day and night” (Joshua 1:8), I might have thought that these matters are to be understood as they are written; one is to literally spend his days immersed exclusively in Torah study. Therefore, the verse states: “And you shall gather your grain, your wine and your oil,” assume in their regard, the way of the world…

Berakhot 35b:6-10

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: When a person dies in a city, all of the residents of that city are prohibited from performing work until he has been buried.

Moed Katan 27b:12

LET NEITHER MAN NOR WOMAN MAKE ANY MORE ‘MLACHAH’ (WORK). Money [and possessions] are called mlachah. Similarly: whether he have not put his hand ‘bimlecheth’ (the goods of) his neighbor; according to the pace of ‘hamlachah’ (the cattle) that are before me; ‘v’chol hamlachah’ (but everything) that was of no account and feeble, that they destroyed utterly. Thus the meaning of this verse is that they should not bring anything more for the sacred work. Scripture, however, states…

Ramban on Exodus 36:6:1

§ The Gemara proceeds to the next topic: A mourner is prohibited from performing work, as it is written: “And I will turn your Festivals into mourning” (Amos 8:10). The Gemara infers: Just as a Festival is a time when it is prohibited to work, so too, a mourner is prohibited from performing work. The Gemara asks: What is the halakha concerning one who was ostracized with regard to the performance of work? Rav Yosef said: Come and hear that which is taught in the following baraita: When the Sages said that the performance…

Moed Katan 15b:2-3

It is related: When Rav Yosef suffered from the cold he would work by grinding with millstones in order to keep warm. When Rav Sheshet suffered from the cold he would work by lifting beams. He said: Great is labor, as it warms its master.

§ The Gemara relates: When Rabbi Yehuda would go to the study hall he would carry a pitcher [gulefa] on his shoulder to sit on, saying: Labor is great, as it brings honor to the laborer who performs it. It brought him honor by enabling him to avoid sitting on the floor of the study hall. Similarly, Rabbi Shimon would carry a basket on his shoulder, saying: Labor is great, as it brings honor to the laborer who performs it.

Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Hoshaya: Although it says: “Because on it He rested from all His labor,” from the labor of creating His world He rested, but he did not rest from the labor of the wicked nor from the labor of the righteous. Rather, he performs actions with these and with those. He shows to these the essence of what is their fate and to those the essence of their fate. From where is it derived that the punishment of the wicked is called labor? It is as it is stated: “The Lord opened His armory and took out the weapons of His fury…

Bereshit Rabbah 11:10

Eight actions are difficult for the body and the soul to handle in large amounts and are beneficial in small amounts, and they are: Traveling on the road, engaging in the way of the world, i.e., engaging in sexual intercourse, having wealth, work, drinking wine, sleep, hot water, and bloodletting.

ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, "during six days work shall be performed, etc." The reason the Torah emphasises the work to be performed on the weekdays may simply be a hint that if one observes the seventh day as a holy day, the work required for our maintaining ourselves during the subsequent six days will take care of itself. The Torah may also wish to remind us that performance of work on the Sabbath is prohibited regardless of whether it is performed by a Jew or by a Gentile on his behalf…

Or HaChaim on Exodus 35:2:1-3

SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR, AND DO ALL THY WORK. The term “labor” applies to work which is not for the needs of the body, such as cooking and the like, something like it is said: and in all manner of labor in the field; when thou tillest the ground; and ye shall be tilled and sown, and as I will yet explain with the help of G-d. It is for this reason that He said: “Six days you shall work the ground and do all thy work which is for your physical needs and your benefit, something like, bake that which you will bake…

Ramban on Exodus 20:9:1

YE SHALL DO NO MANNER OF ‘M’LECHETH AVODAH’ (SERVILE WORK). “[Not] even such work as is considered by you important and necessary work, because the neglect of it would involve a monetary loss, as for example a matter that will not permit delay. So I understood from the Torath Kohanim which teaches as follows: ‘I might think that on intermediate days of the festival it is also forbidden to do m’lecheth avodah (servile work) etc’” This is Rashi’s language.
But this is not correct at all…

Ramban on Leviticus 23:7:1

Kneading Bread, Eva Sturm-Gross. Courtesy of Gashmius Magazine

Kneading Bread, Eva Sturm-Gross. Courtesy of Gashmius Magazine

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