“Do the Work!,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
February 13, 2026 | 26 Sh’vat 5786
Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can also listen to it as a podcast.
Do the Work! Avad’ta et ha’avodah !עָבַדְתָּ֛ אֶת־הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה
The Israelites heard this command for the time when they would finally leave Egypt and end up in the land of great promise flowing with milk and honey. In Exodus 13:5, it had to do with how they would eventually look back and recognize they once were slaves and became slaves no more. They would observe the ritual that would reflect their circumstances of degradation transformed into dignity we know as the holiday of Passover.
They did leave. These former slaves shuddered in fright at the sea only for it to open as their path to freedom. They arrived safely on the other side, sang, danced, rejoiced, and then worried, complained, and even regretted their departure. Yet, they moved forward to stand beneath Mt. Sinai where they trembled again. The mountain shook beneath their feet. Some say it was because of how much fear the people expressed with their whole bodies.
They received the Torah, first as ten clear instructions, articulated by the Divine.
This all happened last week and the week before. As we open Parashat Mishpatim, the idea of “Do the Work!” has new meaning. More laws are placed upon them that will take an effort and a desire to accomplish them. Of all that could follow the Ten Commandments from last week, laws and rules focused on how people treat one another becomes the emphasis. Judaism teaches that it is possible to legislate kindness, yet it still demands from each person the aspiration to do the necessary work to enact compassion. It cannot just happen.
The Torah presents situations from which to derive how one must behave. Here’s an example from this week’s Torah portion.
When you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering, you must take it back.
When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden
and would refrain from raising it,
you must nevertheless help raise it. (Exodus 23:4-5)
Action taken to help another is not mundane work but rather connected to the sacred. Our tradition uses the word for work, avodah הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה as the holy actions taken in rituals of sacred offerings to the Divine. The ancients knew that rituals demanded effort accompanied by a willingness to do it. This might be the reason the Israelites affirmed that they would seek to do and to understand what would be asked of them with the phrase, Na’aseh v’nishma נעשה ונשמע.
The rabbis seemed to understand the significance of our actions beyond the rituals of sacrifice. They said :
In the time to come, when there will no longer be an altar; building a just society will be the equivalent of bringing sacrifices. (Yalkut Shemoni 1:27)
We have much (sacred) work to do. In our time. That has come.
Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום
I welcome your thoughts and experiences here.
Rabbi Elaine Zecher