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Explain this to me: we drive on parkways and park in driveways. And there's no labor done today because today is Labor Day. Today is the birthday of the Baal Shemtov, who taught us that everything we see or hear is a message. God is giving us instructions through what we see. And I think the celebration of vacation on Labor Day is very relevant to the upcoming day of Rosh Hashanah. We call our new year Rosh Hashanah because it is not only the beginning of the year, but also the head, the source of energy for the whole year, guiding us. This year, because Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, there's a synergistic energy in the entire coming year. The whole year is infused with Shabbat energy. The primary difference between Shabbat and the days of the week is that during the week we work, and on Shabbat we don't. But that doesn't mean we don't go to work all year; there is spiritual work and there is work work. I think we would not like being on a year-long vacation from regular work, as Job said in chapter 5.7, "Man was born to work." On Shabbat, we also work. We do spiritual work, we pray, and we study. This year, in addition to praying and studying, while we do our regular activities, we need to be connected to the spirit, to the "why," to the soul, to the purpose of what we are doing. When we work during the week, we need to enjoy the deeper meaning of what it's about. We need to remember the divine purpose of earning money. It may seem altruistic to an extreme, yet this is God's instruction, and He empowers us not only to go to work but to be conscious of how our work will help us give charity, support our family, and study Torah. Today, Labor Day, the 18th of Elul, think about why you go to work, and the more you think about it, the less the dissonance between your body and soul. The less you'll feel disrupted by your spiritual obligations, and the better you'll use the resources that God gives.

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