The verse in Job teaches, “Man is born to labor.”1

The Rebbe understood this verse not only as a dictum for how man is ideally supposed to live, but also as an essential truth about human nature.

In the 1970s, many alternative movements were on the rise in the United States, captivating the minds and hearts of young Americans. Feeling stifled by the careerism, materialism, and raging consumerism of their parents’ generation, these spirited youths gravitated to approaches that promised inner harmony and fulfillment rather than luxury and fame.

The Rebbe viewed these trends as the impassioned outbreak of uncompromising souls who refused to resign to a banal life centered around material success. He worked tirelessly to help these seekers find the divine, and frequently expressed his hope that they would not end their search in frustrated disappointment. However, in a wide-ranging address delivered in 1979, the Rebbe critiqued one misguided sentiment prevalent amongst them.

Some of the doctrines attracting young adherents advocated that to truly achieve inner peace one must free themselves of all work stresses, return to nature, and live in a state of meditative transcendence and undisturbed emotional quiet.

Addressing this phenomenon, the Rebbe began by noting that the Patriarchs chose to be shepherds in order to escape the noise of the city and connect with G‑d,2 indicating the value in an occasional retreat from city-bustle. Additionally, he emphasized that those in need of therapeutic healing can indeed significantly gain from such retreats, provided they are “kosher” and do not include vestiges of oriental idolatrous practices. However, as a way of life for all, he emphatically continued, this is decidedly not the path to lasting mental health:

The verse teaches that “man is born to labor.” For a person to remain mentally and emotionally healthy, they must labor and feel the sense of work and accomplishment. The Talmud tells us about the porters of [the Babylonian city of] Mechoza that when they were unable to do their work of carrying loads, they became ill.3 The same is true of all of us: G‑d created us in such a way that to be emotionally well, we must be engaged in productive activity.4

Productive activity—be it a job, a business, volunteer work, course of study, or raising a family—should not be viewed as mere capitulation to the practical demands of life. It is not an obstacle to inner peace to shrug off as soon as circumstances allow, but rather a significant component of our psychological health.

This need is even more pronounced as one advances in age. Responding to a son who expressed disappointment that his mother needed to work in her golden years, the Rebbe wrote the following note:

Of course not all occupations are the same, but in principle, it is important especially at this age to make an effort to be occupied in some form of work. This helps take the mind off various ailments, and we see clearly how work (compatible with one’s physical strength) is one of the critical necessities for a person’s wellbeing.5

Sometimes the solution to emotional problems might in fact lie in shoring up the occupational areas of life.

“Following the pleasure of our meeting,” reads a letter to a Californian father and businessman,

I wish to add here in writing some thoughts which, for obvious reasons, I did not wish to express in the presence of others, namely, in regard to your son….

I believe that the best help that can be given your son, in general, is to get him to work.

I should only add that in view of the fact that this would entail a change in your son’s way of life for a period of time, it would be well if his job would, in the first stage at any rate… not impose on him too much responsibility, so that he will not be frightened or discouraged by it.

If it is the kind of work which he might consider beneath him, it might be explained to him that it is only a start, and temporary, and, indeed, the first step to advancement. It is well known that here in the U.S.A., people at the top often take pride in the fact that they worked their way up from the bottom of the ladder. After he adjusts himself to a part-time occupation of several hours a day, he could probably be induced to work half a day and in due course a full-time job.

Needless to say, the above is in addition to what we spoke about—the importance of his feeling that his parents and friends have the fullest confidence in him.6