GEN279 The exploitation of man by man in the form of slavery deprived the ancient nations of the true nobility and joy of work. Even so highly gifted a people as the Greeks failed to discover the true meaning of labor as the means of human self-realization. Its philosophers and poets no less than its masses rated work beneath the dignity of free men. Not only rough common and hard toil, but all handicrafts and even the works of art, which lend so much luster to the name of Greece, were relegated to slaves. Freemen, supposedly made of finer clay, were destined for leisure, pleasure and revelry. The only occupations worthy of them were hunting and fighting. The Germanic nations, too, were more attracted to the sword and the spear than the plow and the sickle. Leaving their work to the women and slaves, the heroic Teutons engaged in the chase and in battle. Of all the nations of antiquity, Israel alone recognized that labor holds the secret springs of joy, and emphasized the greater dignity of labor than of warfare. Work alone is truly honorable. The monition “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) means: choose a handicraft.  “Love labor and hate lordship” is the text of rabbinic teaching. The most offensive labor is not as degrading as idleness. It is better for a man to flay a carcass in the public square than to become a public charge.  Jer. Peah 1:1; Avot 1:10; Avot de Rabbi Natan, ed. Schechter, A; B, 21; Bava Batra 110a  Work, no matter of what nature, provided it be honest and legitimate, exalts and dignifies a man, and renders him a true child of God, who Himself is pictured as a Master-Worker. The father of the human race, according to the legend of Genesis, was placed in the Garden of Eden not for idle play but for the purpose of tilling and caring for the Garden [this verse]. As a child of God, he was to assist in God’s work. It is only when Adam was lured into sin that labor lost its charm and became a curse. But even this curse the rabbis viewed as a blessing. They said that when Adam heard the words of God announcing the ground would yield thorns and thistles and that he would have to “eat the herb of the field,” he cried: “What! Shall I and my cattle eat from the same manger?” Adam was relieved and blessed the hallowing power of labor, whereby he would be able to rise above the brute world.  Pesachim 113a; Kiddushin 82a.  COHON 177-9