Rabbi Nehorai said: I forsake all professions in the world and teach my son only Torah, for a person eats of the reward for learning Torah in this world and the principal remains for him in the next world. Other professions are not like this: If a person becomes sick or old or is in agony and cannot work at his occupation, he will die of starvation. The Torah, however, is not like this. It will protect him from evil when he is young and provides him with a future and hope when he is older (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 82a).
It is interesting that Rabbi Nehrai is the same person as Rabbi Meir. As such, in that sugya on the SAME topic Rabbi Meir writes:
Rabbi Meir said: One should make sure to teach his son a trade which is clean and easy; then pray to He who owns all the wealth and property of the world. For there is poverty and wealth in every occupation. One’s occupation does not cause poverty, nor does it bring wealth. All is determined on the basis of one’s merit (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 82a).
This is a CLEAR and OBVIOUS stira between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Nehrai who are no less than THE SAME PEOPLE!?!?!
I understand that there are TWO shitos and both are true and viable. Both are a derech, and ashrei mi who has the Toroso Umnoso and woe is the one who must rely on teva. As Chazal tell us:
‘And you will gather in your grain’ (Deuteronomy 11: 14). Why does the Torah state this? Since it says (Joshua 1: 8), ‘This book of the Torah should not leave your mouth, ‘ I might think that these words should be taken literally. That is why it says, ‘And you should gather in your grain,’ that is, pursue, in combination, with Torah a secular occupation. These are the words of Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Shimon b. Yochai said, Is it possible (for a person to have an occupation and still study Torah properly?) If a person plows during plowing season, plants during planting season, harvests during harvesting season, threshes during threshing season, and winnows during the windy season, what will become of the Torah? But, when Israel performs the will of the Omnipresent, their work will be done through others. As it says (Isaiah 61: 5), ‘And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks.’ And when Israel does not perform the will of the Omnipresent, their work will done by themselves, as it says, ‘And you will gather in your grain.’