Beyond Twelve
Gates Parshas Shemos January 8, 2010
Welcome to Beyond Twelve
Gates. Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy
are becoming more unhappy with their jobs. A new survey found
only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work. To paraphrase
that great philosopher Mick Jagger, 'we can't get no job
satisfaction.' Workers have grown steadily more unhappy over the
past several years because incomes haven't kept up with inflation, and the soaring
cost of health insurance has eaten into workers' take-home pay. However,
another significant factor identified as a cause for unhappiness is
that fewer workers consider their jobs to be interesting.
In lieu of searching for a
new job, you may want to consider the following question; what is it that
you actually DO for people throughout the course of your day? Not your
title (e.g. 'salesperson'). Not your profession (e.g.
'engineering'). What benefits or services do your daily professional
efforts provide for other people? What meaning do you give
to people's lives that otherwise would not have
existed? Focus on the answer to that question -- and I'm sure
your job just became much more interesting!
Parshas
Shemos Exodus 1:1 -- 6:1
The book of Exodus begins by
describing the gradually increasing enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt. It was Pharaoh's plan that the backbreaking
labor would stunt their rapid physical growth. Moses is born, and when
his mother is unable to keep him hidden from the Egyptian authorities any
longer she places him in a basket and sends him down the Nile River. He is found by Pharaoh's daughter and
raised in the royal palace. Already a grown man, Moses kills an Egyptian
who he witnessed beating a Jew. Moses flees to the land of Midian and
marries Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, and they have two sons.
When Moses is shepherding his
father-in-law's flock, G-d appears to him in a burning
bush and tells him he will lead the Jewish people from Egypt.
Initially reluctant, Moses is shown three miracles to perform before the Jewish
people to prove he was sent by G-d. Moses, accompanied by his brother
Aaron, encounter an obstinate Pharaoh. The Egyptian king not only
refuses their request for a three-day respite to worship G-d, but even
increases the slave's heavy workload. The portion concludes with the
people complaining to Moses and Aaron for making their situation worse.
Rabbinic Ruminations
Are you a beautiful
person? You very well may be, but still not qualified for admission to
the elite social networking site BeautifulPeople.com.
Potential members are only allowed entrance into the community after current
members vote on the applicant's beauty. BeautifulPeople.com
caused a stir earlier this week after its members voted to oust some
5,000 users from its site for becoming less, well, beautiful. The dating
site, which describes itself as an 'exclusively beautiful
community," removed the users for gaining
weight over the holidays.
"As a business, we mourn
the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high
standard of beauty be upheld. Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat
to our business model and the very concept for
which BeautifulPeople.com was founded," Robert Hintze, the
community's founder, said. Is this an ...ugly policy?
The Torah
appreciates external aesthetics, but places a much greater emphasis upon spiritual
beauty. King Solomon said,
"Charm is deceptive and beauty is naught; a G-d revering woman is the one
to be praised (Proverbs)" External beauty may capture our attention,
but sterling character traits, a pleasant disposition and a
beautiful neshama (soul) have the potential to capture
our heart.
Quote of the Week
If you do what you've always
done, you'll get what you've always gotten -- Tony
Robbins
Joke of the Week
The gabbai came to
shul one early Shabbos morning to find a man sprawled across 3
entire seats in shul. "Sorry sir," the gabbai said,
"you're only allowed one seat." The man groaned but didn't
budge. The gabbai said, "Sir, if you don't get up, I'm going to have
to call over the rabbi." Again, the man just groaned, so the
frustrated gabbai summoned the rabbi. Together the two of them tried to move
him but with no success. Finally, they had the police called. The
cop surveyed the situation and then asked, "all right buddy, what's
your name?" "Sam, " the man moaned. "Where
ya from, Sam?" With pain in his voice, Sam replied, "The
balcony."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for reading 'Beyond
Twelve Gates'. Comments, questions, requests to be added to our email
list or better jokes can be sent to Pepshort613@sbcglobal.net or adarabba@hotmail.com Care to know more about Nusach Hari Bnai
Zion Congregation? Check us out at www.nhbz.org If you enjoyed Beyond Twelve Gates, please
share with a friend. Thanks to Alan Haber for his assistance in
distributing BTG
