Reflections on Work
A number of people responded to our last Reflections
focusing on Bringing God into - Work. Here are their blessings and
reflections:
1) Julie Geller - Denver
"Thank you for the opportunity to do your work in this
world."
2) Seth Merewitz - Sacramento
"Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has given me the
opportunity to work, to earn a livelihood, and to confront and put Torah into
practice by engaging in business."
3) Eudice Ben Or - Jerusalem
I am a school principal.
I am blessed with waking up every morning excited about
what the day will bring. I do not even have the concept of work on my mind.
What I do is so far from work. Work sounds tedious, obligatory and downright
depressing. All I know is I do not relate to what I do as work -
it does not feel like work but rather an amazing combination of intense
involvement with the human race, primarily those age 5-18, which includes
laughter, guidance, soul searching and lots of play.
I work with children in a school that has no teachers' room.
I never understood how people who chose to work in education would run like
wild horses to the teachers' room during break and slam the door shut avoiding
any visual or auditory contact with their students whom they love so much (and
many of them actually do really love their students). I do take a break in
school but I sit with these wonderful children who share with me about their
lives and I share with them about mine. I am so grateful that these children
allow me to be a part of their lives.
I clean the toilets at my school and consider it to be
holy work. This bothered parents greatly and they were bugging me to hire
someone to clean the toilets. I know how important it is for a child to be able
to feel comfortable when they need to go to the bathroom. Dirty bathrooms may
prevent the child from using their body functions and consequently
feel sick, cranky or unsafe. I consider it an honor to create a
comfortable environment for them when the need calls.
On the same note, I adore looking at the garbage our
school accumulates. It is full of color and smells (some rather pungent)
but it is full of life. It represents the by product of the children's day of
learning and growing. Pencil shavings, crumpled up notes with discarded ideas,
half eaten sandwiches, broken hair rubber bands - the list goes on. I feel that
each we create a new world which is unique and will never be repeated.
I bless those awful terrible days where I actually might
turn to a colleague and say "what were we thinking?" There are
days where something awful simply has to come out and when it does it often has
a snowball effect. These are not fun days I promise you, but one thing I have
learned is after these horrific days often comes renewed commitment and deeper
understanding and I am truly grateful to be able to have new insights which
often come after difficult and sometimes painful events.
Many people in education complain about difficult parents
and I have seen my share of them. I consider myself blessed to be a part of
every interaction with every parent. And after 30 years in education I will
take the screaming, yelling parents any day over the passive, uninvolved ones.
At least they are still showing up in their children's lives and I am grateful
to be allowed to be a part of their parenting venture. What an honor and
awesome responsibility that each parent bestow upon us by letting us take care
of their most precious children each day.
I am blessed with failing a lot. I have learned so
much from my mistakes and since I seem to keep repeating my mistakes, I get to
learn so much more! I get to apologize to my students knowing that this apology
is really meant for my needs only (since the harm has already been done) and in
most cases I am blessed with another chance to do better.
I am blessed to have shortage of money. I have not
traveled as much as many of my friends but I truly appreciate what we have and
actually feel lucky. Choosing to work in education has brought me many
blessings - none of any real monetary value. I am keenly aware and blessed that
I am able to do what I do because my husband worked for many years in high tech
effectively subsidizing my work. Two years ago he took the plunge and finally
left his high paying job and came back to education. Practically all of his
work related stress has disappeared. He took a sixty per cent pay cut and faced
his greatest fear of financial ruin. He is in shock that we are not homeless
and that somehow we keep trudging on.
There have been many darker moments in my life which were
unexpected and unwanted yet somehow they all seemed to lead me to where I am
today. My real hope is that my children will be blessed with health
and the opportunity to be engaged on a daily basis with something they are
passionate about. For me work is not a dirty word.
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Our next Ayeka
Reflections will focus on Bringing God into - The Kitchen.
Please send us any
thoughts, reflections, or experiences you have on this subject.
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Israel Events
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Jerusalem Seminar
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Ayeka will start the Seminar: Bringing God Into My Relationships - in Jerusalem starting Monday,
December 28th, 7 pm. Contact us for registration information. |
Check Out
Ayeka Seminars
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Bringing God Into My Daily Life and
Relating to God.
The seminars can be run by institutions, independent groups or two
people on their own. Seminar materials are provided when you register
online at our website.
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Advisory Board
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Ayeka is honored to have an Advisory Board of world-renowned personalities in the fields of Jewish education and public service:
Dr. Erica Brown
Rabbi Rachel Cowan
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg
Avraham Infeld
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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Ayeka Seminars
in America
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Ayeka is deepening its roots across the US:
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Boulder
Cleveland
Denver
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To bring Ayeka to your synagogue and/or community, or become an Ayeka facilitator, contact us at info@ayeka.org.il
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Ayeka's Mission |
Ayeka is bringing God back to the conversation.
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Ayeka provides
an agenda-free, safe space to personally explore the question: How can
I best fulfill the challenge of living in the Image of God - in my
daily life, my relationships, my work and community, with the Jewish
people and all of humanity.
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