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We thank Peter and Debbie Friedmann for their inspiration and support.
We thank Neil and Emily Kishter for their generosity and caring.
New Job
Inspiration
Getting a new job is more than survival. Our employment speaks to dignity and self-worth. We can understand our work as holy service (avodah), the term used to describe the tasks of the priests serving in the Temple in Jerusalem. We are encouraged to find the sacred even in the most mundane tasks just as the priests cleaned ashes from the floor of the Temple. A new job, whether a stepping stone to a career or a temporary source of income, is an opportunity to perceive our lives as meaningful.
Prayer
בָּרוּך אַתָּה הַ’ אֱלֹּהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁנָּתַן לִי תִּקְוָה וָכֹוחַ וְהֵבִיא אוֹתִי לַעֲבוֹדָה חֲדָשָׁה זוֹ כָּךְ אֲנִי יוּכַל לְהִתְפַּרְנֵס
Baruch Ata, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shenatan li tikvah v’ho-ach v’he-vi oti l’avodah hadashah zo, kach ani yuchal l’hitparnes.
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of Time-and-Space, who gives me hope and strength and has brought me to this new employment so that I may make a living.
Rabbi Ruth Adar
Text
Ecclesiastes 2:24
So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
Mekhilta Yitro BaChodesh
Kol hatchalot kashot: All beginnings are hard.
Rashi
And now: If now you will accept upon yourselves, it will be sweet for you from here and further, because all beginnings are difficult.
Psalm
Psalm 90:17
May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us; let the work of our hands prosper, O prosper the work of our hands!
Song
“Don’t Stop”
If you wake up and don’t want to smile,
If it takes just a little while,
Open your eyes and look at the day,
You’ll see things in a different way.
Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.
Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you’ve done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.
Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.
All I want is to see you smile,
If it takes just a little while,
I know you don’t believe that it’s true,
I never meant any harm to you.
Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.
Don’t you look back,
Don’t you look back.
Fleetwood Mac