When, Not If

Sometimes the Torah comes to teach us a message which is so reassuring that its matter-of-factness only increases the lesson's relevance.  

In the third and fourth parshiyot of Emor, there are two similar mentions of what B'nei Yisrael are to do when they arrive to the Land:

VaYikra 23:10: "When you come to the Land that I give to you and you will reap its harvest, you shall bring an Omer offering from the first of your harvest to the Kohen."

And just twelve verses later:

VaYikra 23:22: "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not complete unto the corner of your field as you reap, and the fallen stalks of your harvest do not gather; for the poor and the stranger/proselyte (ger) shall you leave them; I am H' your G-d."  

In these two verses, I don't see a single mention of the word "if," and that, to me, is quite reassuring.  Instead, we read that the harvest is a "will" and a "when."  

Continuing on with the theme of holy relationship I have discussed in the past few posts, there is obviously a lot to fill in here regarding how we get from arriving to the land to gathering a harvest.  There is extensive human labor which the Torah, at best, glosses over, focusing instead of what actions should be taken once that produce finally does grow (and, to be clear, placing restrictions on how it is to be harvested or whether it may be eaten at all).

But the reassuring part is, of course, the "will" and "when."  G-d will deliver the land (the blank slate upon which the work can be done) and, with the appropriate input of work, will guarantee a successful harvest (the economic benefits of the labor, which are to be sanctified as all else).  All we have to do is fill in the blank - using our entire soul, energy, and being to complete the task.  Easy.

All of this is especially prescient as a new small business owner.  Life is expensive, especially with children, especially with young children, especially with two of them, and it is a seemingly monster-sized risk to put your parnassa (livelihood) in your own hands.  But even that phrase is massively selfish and even heretical - it is not my hands but our hands - the hands of me, to be sure, but also of G-d.  And that partnership, when executed correctly, is guaranteed to produce blessing.  I don't often, if ever, write a blessing, but may I have the courage and clarity to hear this holy call, maintain the strength, courage, fortitude, and energy to act upon it exactly as my Creator wants me to, and receive the commensurate economic, spiritual, and familial benefit.