{"id":23583,"date":"2017-03-31T05:53:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T12:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=23583"},"modified":"2017-03-31T15:23:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T22:23:51","slug":"the-work-is-not-solely-ours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/03\/31\/the-work-is-not-solely-ours\/","title":{"rendered":"The work is not solely ours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music is an amazing tool for learning. When I was a kid, I learned a lot of Jewish music. It wasn\u2019t choir music, or strictly for prayer. No, I learned \u201ceverything\u201d Jewish through music. I sang parts of Pirkei Avot<\/em> (Sayings of our Fathers), Israeli pioneering songs from kibbutz life, Torah verses, Israeli pop songs and commercials, and even, yes, a lot of liturgy.<\/p>\n

It happened on autopilot. I wasn\u2019t forced into anything. There was no strong emphasis on performance. It was \u201cNaaseh v\u2019nishmah<\/em>,\u201d \u201cWe will do and we will hear.\u201d (Exodus 24:7) When you participate and enjoy singing, sometimes the words sink in. I remember my mom putting on records (of Jewish music) and I\u2019d roll around the living room rug, listening and singing.<\/p>\n

When Christian classmates were busy memorizing Bible verses to earn rewards at church, they\u2019d ask me how many I could recite. I had no idea what to say. \u201cOh,\u201d I\u2019d say, \u201cWe don\u2019t do that.\u201d We did do that, I realize now, but it was so intuitive, so much a part of our daily experience, that I never even noticed what was happening. I knew the words, in Hebrew and English. I understood them, but I never thought of it as reciting religious text. It was part of a summer camp song session, or a regular Sunday at religious school, or in the prayers we sang at services.<\/p>\n

Years later, I still have that musical memory bank. It comes in handy. Recently, exhausted and stressed, I was able to sing along without thinking when someone introduced a new tune at services. It might have been new to others, but I\u2019d heard it before. I also used this treasure trove to dig up something I needed to think about \u2013 work\/life balance.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Tarfon said the day is short and there\u2019s a lot of work, and the workers are lazy and the reward is great and the master of the house is pressing \u2013 it\u2019s not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. (Pirkei Avot 2:15)<\/p>\n

I remembered the whole quote by hearing a bit of the tune in my head. Suddenly, I was singing to myself on the street as I walked to an errand. I went home to look it up on sefaria.org, an online nonprofit that offers open-source access to Jewish texts.<\/p>\n

The bigger issue that I wrestled with was that of work and community involvement. How much is enough? How can we decide where to invest our time and why?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think of myself as a big volunteer, but lately I\u2019ve become overwhelmed. I had to reduce my volunteer load. Managing my work, household, kids, community commitments and health felt like too much. Only one thing might need more time \u2013 an extra freelance job, a couple kids sick with viruses or a volunteer gig \u2013 and the whole tower of cards will tumble.<\/p>\n

As a relative newcomer to Canada, I cannot call up a family member in the neighbourhood or a longtime friend to bail me out. Our extended families are far away. Although some friends might be able to help, they, too, are caring for kids, juggling jobs, etc. It\u2019s my observation that many newcomers feel this way. The process that recruited them to Canada felt very positive, but after that? It can be a daily struggle. It\u2019s hard to find a place in a community where long-established families have strong roots.<\/p>\n

So, what does Rabbi Tarfon have to do with this? Well, this song helped me realize that, while I felt deep responsibilities towards my commitments, I couldn\u2019t \u201cfinish them\u201d on my own. I could work, volunteer and try to help, but our effort has to be a communal one. It\u2019s not all my personal responsibility \u2013 and if my health or family\u2019s well-being is at stake, that has to come first.<\/p>\n

Bringing a good attitude to the work we do is important. We can\u2019t all be like the curmudgeons on the Muppets. Those grouchy men are the ones who sit in the balcony, scowls on their faces, as they criticize all the other Muppets who put on the show. Instead, we need to each do our share, because the grouchy puppets in the corner aren\u2019t contributing.<\/p>\n

We have to stop ourselves when our efforts to contribute become too much, too taxing and risk our well-being. When we start criticizing everyone else? It\u2019s time for a break \u2013 because we aren\u2019t finishing all that work by ourselves, in any case.<\/p>\n

What we are doing is contributing to a whole, healthy (Jewish) community. And, if you keep reading, Rabbi Tarfon says, \u201cIf you have learned much Torah, your reward will be much.\u201d This is an interesting circular argument. The rabbi suggests we work hard, and we do our share. Then we\u2019re rewarded for our learning. Guess what? My reward for stepping back from volunteering was more time to study Rabbi Tarfon\u2019s wisdom. I learned it again \u2013 and now offer it to you. That\u2019s a sign of a healthier work cycle.<\/p>\n

Joanne Seiff<\/strong>, a regular columnist for Winnipeg\u2019s <\/em>Jewish Post and News, is the author of a new book,\u00a0<\/em>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016. This collection of essays is now available for digital download, or as a paperback from Amazon. See more about her on joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music is an amazing tool for learning. When I was a kid, I learned a lot of Jewish music. It wasn\u2019t choir music, or strictly for prayer. No, I learned \u201ceverything\u201d Jewish through music. I sang parts of Pirkei Avot (Sayings of our Fathers), Israeli pioneering songs from kibbutz life, Torah verses, Israeli pop songs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[218,230,6909],"class_list":["post-23583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-judaism","tag-pirkei-avot","tag-work-life-balance"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}