The Rabbis of Rambam's dreams

(10) Anyone who believes in his heart that occupying oneself with Torah and not working, but supporting oneself with charity, behold, this one desecrates the Divine name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil to oneself and forfeits life in the world to come because it is forbidden to benefit from the words of Torah in this world. Our sages say, "All who benefit from the words of Torah forfeit life in the world." And they also commanded, "Do not make a crown to make oneself great and do not make an ax to chop with it." And they also commanded, "Love work and hate authority and all Torah that is not accompanied by work in the end will be negated and will lead to sin. The end of such a person will be that he steals from others.

They said about Hillel the Elder that each and every day he would work and earn a half-dinar, half of which he would give to the guard of the study hall and half of which he spent on sustenance for himself and the members of his family. One time he did not find employment to earn a wage, and the guard of the study hall did not allow him to enter. He ascended to the roof, suspended himself, and sat at the edge of the skylight in order to hear the words of the Torah of the living God from the mouths of Shemaya and Avtalyon, the spiritual leaders of that generation.

(11) One who provides for himself from the work of his hands has a great virtue, and it is a quality of the early righteous ones. And in this, he merits all the honor and goodness in this world and the world to come, as it is written: "When you eat the toil of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall go well for you" (Psalms 128:2). "You shall be happy" in this world "and it shall go well for you" in the world to come, in which all is good.

The Gemara challenges this statement: Is that so? Didn’t Rav Yehuda say that Shmuel said in the name of Rabbi Meir: When I studied with Rabbi Akiva as his disciple, I used to put copper sulfate into the ink, and he did not say anything to me. But when I came to study with Rabbi Yishmael, he said to me: My son, what is your vocation? I replied: I am a scribe [lavlar] who writes Torah scrolls. He said to me: My son, be careful in your vocation, as your vocation is heavenly service, and care must be taken lest you omit a single letter or add a single letter out of place, and you will end up destroying the whole world in its entirety. Addition or omission of a single letter can change the meaning from truth [emet] to death [met].

(13) ... The Sages said: any who neglects the Torah in wealth, his end is to neglect it in poverty, and any who sustains the Torah in poverty, his end is to sustain it in wealth. And this matter is explained in the Torah - behold it says: "because you did not serve the Lord your God in happiness and with good heart from abundance in everything, you will serve your enemies." (Deut. 28:47-48) And it says "in order to afflict you" (Deut. 8:2) "to improve you at your end" (Deut. 8:16).