[Avodah] Testing God

[Michael Kopinsky]

On 8/17/07, Jonathan Baker <jjbaker at panix.com> wrote:
>
> RMKopinsky:
>
> > I remembering seeing a Teshuva once (maybe Shu"t haRashb"a - I saw it on
> the
> > Bar Ilan CD, so I don't remember what it was) asking about a person who
> > said, "I will give tzedaka if my son gets well, and I won't give tzedaka
> if
> > my son doesn't get well."  The question was, can you force him to give
> the
> > tzedaka in any case, enforcing the Mishna in Pirkei Avos, "Al Tihyu
> > ka'avadim."  The answer was that no he doesn't have to give the tzedaka.
>
> So I've heard informally in other places: "tzedaka is the one thing you
> can
> do to test Hashem; anything else, e.g. 'if X doesn't happen, I'll eat a
> ham
> sandwich', is right out."


I've heard this before as well, related to "Aser t'aser - aser bishvil
shetis'asher".

Tangentially - I wonder if we point that mishnah correctly?  Maybe it should
> be "al tihyu k'OVDIM"?  The slave doesn't work to get a reward, he works
> to avoid punishment.  The employee works to get his wage.


Except that b'lashon Chazal, workers are poa'alim, not ovdim.  I don't have
an answer to your question about working for wages vs. working to avoid
punishment.  Perhaps if you translate avadim as servants rather than slaves,
it makes sense.  (Actually, perhaps this is a proof that eved doesn't mean
slave, but rather servant.)

KT,
Michael
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