Right before Yom Kippur, while families were just beginning their before the fast meal, my nieghbor, Jay Meyers, got into a car accident. His car flipped over and stayed that way while rescue crews worked to extricate him. People gathered around. At our table we heard news of the crash too. No one even knew who was in the car – it was so mangled.
Whoever it was , we prayed for them and when we heard it was Jay, we prayed with even more intensity. Shuls all around the community said special prayers for him. He was in the hospital and no one knew what the prognosis would be.
One week later, I’m getting into the car and who do i see? Jay, and his wife, walking down the street. It was like a dream! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It felt like an illusion but it was true. Jay, had gotten out with barely a scratch. Despite the fact that it took Jaws of Life to remove him from his smashed car, Jay was whole.
Their gratitude was overflowing. Before Shabbos he wrote a beautiful expression of his feelings. I’ll share it with you later in the week.
A few weeks later, he wrote this. Gratitude for parnassah – for our jobs. And his words go for any job, an office job, a home based job, or the job of taking care of our families. I’m not a paper keeper, but these two writing I’ve kept. (edited slightly for the wider audience)
Gratitude by Jay Meyers 
Thank you Hashem for your generous expression of love. Thank you Hashem for always sending us a way to make a living. It may not be the most exciting job, intellectual or even stimulating. every day 8-10 hours. It may cause us to deal with people who we do not enjoy being around, or who have no respect for us or for others. this test is sometimes very difficult. We all want the most perfect environment to make a living and we want the most pay for our work.
So what should we do? Should we stress about our job every morning on our way to work? If Hashem gave us this job then maybe it is right for us and a little tweaking is in order. We could possibly look for another job – but still, make the best of where you currently are.
What are you like when you are at work? Happy – frustrated isolated? Do you communicate well with your peers or other employees? How do others perceive you? Are the stereotypes correct or are you changing them?
It’s very hard to be happy all the time, especially when your heart is not in it.Think about the saying, “if you smile at someone, then a smile is returned to you.” Our job is to glorify G-d’s Name, wherever we are. Many times we are held to a higher standard. “We should know better,” people think.
Examine your circumstances. Are you extending a simple hello? How do people see you? Are people going out of their way to say good morning or ask how you are? Are you approachable? Try hard each and every day. Be on time, look presentable, have confidence in yourself. Learn your job and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Making a living is a great mitzvah. Thank you Hashem for allowing us to have a place to go each day. Thank you Hashem for work, which is in fact healthy for us. It is our job to make our jobs calm and relaxing.
Enjoy your work, get to know the people you work with. At the end of the day,leave work at the office and come home to your blessings. Feel the effort that you spent during the day and know that you did it, not just for your employer, but for yourself. Hashem helps those who help themselves. Thank you Hashem for always taking care of us.
Very intersting article..
After having been a housewife of 10 years, I somehow started a career as necessity prevailed. I liked very much the aspect of this specific career path, which offered me the possibility of working from home, while still physically interacting with numerous customers. I was able to be close to my children while my husband was working long hours. And the extra income was indeed very much appreciated.
This is when I remember starting a habit of whispering :”Thank you Hashem for giving me the means of feeding my family” when kissing the Mezuzah at the entrance of our Kosher supermarket.Sometimes with a tear in my eyes, as I would remember “older days” of hardship…
Hashem helped me tremendously and I had the pleasure to be able to train others and help them entering this incredible field, (which is somehow difficult to enter).
I have trained hundreds of individuals, from every walk of life and to this day I have traveled to Brazil, London, France, Israel repeatively to offer this program. I also had people travel to me from Amsterdam, Nigeria, Russia, the Philippines, Uganda, United Arab Emirates,and more to learn the secrets I appearently am the only one to graciously reveal..
An additionnal benefit to this surprising development of my career and my life, is that I offered my husband to retire and be home with us. My working week is about 10 hours work, to organize my classes. We are home a lot, and spend lots of family quality time together, and consequently our children are very attached to their Abba. And their relaxed Imma.
When I do travel, I get to visit my married children and grandchildren, as well as distant relatives which I got to meet in their hometowns of Lima, Sao Paulo, Loas Angeles, and London, to name a few.
When I come home I realise, time after time, how blessed we are and how generous Hashem has been with our family.
The most surprising of all?
When a beautiful woman, sitting next to me at a Shul’s Bris celebration, naively asks me:” What part of it do you like the most?”
Easy question, easy answer: I love it ALL!!!!
Danielle, I’ve taken so long to respond b/c I”m so overwhelmed by your comments – I have a whole megilla I want to write. In short – you are one unique and special woman!
Danielle, I’ve taken so long to respond b/c I”m so overwhelmed by your comments – I have a whole megilla I want to write. In short – you are one unique and special woman!
Thank you Rivka, for posting my letter, my eyes have been opened since eruv Yom Kippur. My involvement with WOW has been enjoyable. We get wake up calls all the time but do we react on them. I wish I could keep that feeling that I had after the accident of complete thankfullness but it goes away so fast that I have to keep working on it myself. My family is precious to me as well as my friends and Rebbi’s. I am also working on appreciating my wife for all she does for my family. We have to constantly work on ourselfs and its really hard but meaningful. Keep up the good work you are doing for Klal Yisroel, we need more leaders like yourself. Kol Tov.