Precisely before the closure, you will probably want to know how you can be a "vital worker"

At a time when a general closure is being discussed following the spread of the corona virus, you will probably want to know how to be vital workers, and not necessarily those who can move from place to place freely.

Precisely before the closure, you will probably want to know how you can be a "vital worker"

Eruvin Tractate Daf Kat (Photography and Editing: Walla! NEWS)

Every person wants to maintain their workplace.

The way he can do that, is to strive to be a vital worker.

What does this essential work?

One that business cannot run without, that everyone needs his help.

Such a person, can not be easily replaced or fired.

What makes a person vital, is the need of others for him.

When a person is on his own, his importance to the rule may be small, and then there is nothing to keep him.

But the more people need the same person - the more guarded he is, and the more confident he is.

We see this idea in Tractate Eruvin, page 29.

Sages warn against eating raw onions, because onions have a pungent, venomous part, known as the "onion snake", and those who do not know how to take it out and eat it - may be in danger.

And so it is narrated there: and the deed of Rabbi Hanina who ate half an onion and half a snake in it, and fell ill and tended to die, and his friends begged for mercy on him and an animal, because the time was right for him.

Rabbi Chaim David Kowalski, presenter of the digital gemara, explained that we see this as a great thing.

After all, Rabbi Hanina was one of the greatest of the righteous, and yet what saved him was not his personal rights - but the fact that the generation needed him.

Rabbi Hanina was a "vital worker", he had an important role in influencing the people of Israel, so in heaven they decided to keep him alive, so that he could continue to act and influence.

Essential workers in Corona.

Illustration (Photo: Hela Ness, Reut Hospital spokeswoman)

Carrying out a corona examination of MDA staff for inpatients and employees of the Reut Rehabilitation Hospital in Tel Aviv (Photo: Hela Ness, Reut Hospital spokeswoman, official website)

So if we too want to be "vital workers", we should expand our influence to as many circles as possible.

Imagine a person who owns a large enterprise of kindness, and does charity with many people.

When he is judged in heaven, they will take into account not only his personal condition, but the fact that so many depend on him: if such a person is punished or harmed, many other people will suffer because of it - and what are they guilty of?

Therefore they will consider him in heaven thanks to those people who depend on him, and will save him from his distress.

The same is true of an educator or teacher, who influences many students, or a business owner who cares about his employees, or any other person who is linked to different circles of people.

But the accounts in a higher court are more complex, and there also take into account the consequences of the punishment on any person affected by it.

In any case, the more people are linked to more people, and the more people will regret if something happens to them - the greater their chances of being saved.

Rabbi Chaim David Kowalski (screenshot: Walla! NEWS)

Tractate Brachot, page 9 (Photo: Walla! NEWS, screenshot)

Want to learn more topics according to the Gemara?

This is your chance to join the digital gemara venture.

This is a project in which you will watch a daily video clip based on the daily page presented by Rabbi Kowalski, founder and head of the Maorot Daf Yomi organization.

As part of this, each person can be part of hundreds of thousands in Israel and around the world who take care to regularly study one page of Gemara a day, by watching a short daily video.

The section on essential workers is based on the daily page in Tractate Eruvin, page 29, and is also published in full on the Digital Gemara website.

In the section, you will meet daily at significant and fascinating points related to daily life, based on the daily study of the Gemara.

The project is free of charge for its participants.

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