Q:
How can a person hope to be matzliach in a career of thinking about Hakodosh Boruch Hu if during the day he’s confronted with so many tzorchei gashmiyus and dealing with people?
A:
How can one continue with thoughts of Hakodosh Boruch Hu if he is busy throughout the day with material things and he’s in contact with people?
And the answer is, if you learn to utilize these things, they will remind you of Hakodosh Boruch Hu because everything in the world is actually made for the purpose of reminding you.
Let’s say you’re a grocer. At random, I picked a certain calling. As you stand behind the counter and somebody asks let’s say for a can of sardines or for a herring, so you’re thinking, “Where does this come from? It’s from Hakodosh Boruch Hu, who gave an instinct that’s far away in the waters of some distant ocean, this creature is fruitful and is multiplying itself for the purpose that it should be served on your table.” And here you’re handing it across the counter – it’s a result of the nifla’os haBorei.
You know how many miracles have to take place before you have a herring? First of all, the herring has to reproduce. How can herring reproduce in the ocean? There are no places where they can go out together? There are no homes where they live together? It’s a very difficult business for fish to reproduce. It’s a miracle that they reproduce at all. And how can they find food? There’s food available for herrings too. And there are nissim upon nissim.
And then when the grocer hands a bag of apples across the counter and he thinks, “Where do these apples come from? Where did the beautiful red color come from? And why did the red color come just only when the apple became sweet and soft, but before it was green? Why is it that only when the apple is ripe does it turn red?” And he’s thinking these noble thoughts. And if he’s trained, a grocery store is the very best place to study Chovos Halvovos and to study בראשית ברא אלקים and to come to emunah.
And in addition, while he’s handing things across the counter, he’s thinking, “I’m serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu, פותח את ידך,” he opens up his hands like Hakodosh Boruch Hu does, “ומשביע לכל חי רצון.” And the fact that he’s getting paid for it, he ignores that. That’s a little lubrication to make it easier to do that, but actually his intention is to be walking in the darkei Hashem.
So a grocer and a butcher, these people certainly find it easy to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. If you’re a dentist or you’re a physician, so רופא חולי עמו ישראל, so you throw in some gentiles also, that’s lubrication in order to encourage you in the main purpose of your life. רופא חולי עמו ישראל! What’s greater than that – helping the Jewish people, saving Jewish lives? That’s the umnus of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
What isn’t there that a man couldn’t utilize? Except if you’re running a movie, that’s a question. That’s a hard job to find some justification. But all parnassas, all legitimate parnassas are ways and means of spurring our minds to think of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
You’re selling jewelry, you know what jewelry means? A big amount of jewelry goes to chasanim to give to their brides. You know what’s going to happen now? It’s the beginning of a great career. A young man is marrying a young women and he’s giving her a ring. First, a הרי את מקדשת ring. Before that an engagement ring, and a הרי את מקדשת ring, and that’s encouragement for the great career that’s waiting for them – a career of bringing into the world a Jewish nation. So what’s better than that?
And even if it’s jewelry that an elderly man buys for his wife, sometimes it has a very good purpose. Many times it’s to encourage her in her daily household duties. Sometimes it’s boring for a woman to work day in and day out and she produces good meals and they’re quickly devoured and forgotten. There’s no monument of her labors left. A man who produces things, sometimes he can show samples, sometimes he has diplomas on the wall. What does a woman have to show for all her labors? And therefore, sometimes if a man appreciates and he brings his wife a gift, a ring or a watch or something, so that encourages her and compensates her and makes her understand that she’s appreciated.
There’s certainly in all parnassas, there’s something that could cause a man to feel he’s serving Hakodosh Boruch Hu. If he’s in a parnassah where he doesn’t feel that, then he better look for something else. Most likely, he’s a holdup man. Any decent parnassah can be utilized as a means of reminding yourself of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
(March 1979)
