A Soulful Journey

Editor: What is your business? Poet: I wrote poetry, songs, dramas. Editor: I understand. But what do you do for a living? It is not easy to be an artist.  Like clergy, it must be a “calling.”

 Cohen, a shopkeeper, called up a manufacturer to order more goods. “Listen Cohen,” the manufacturer shouted, “You already owe me for the two last orders – and now you have the chutzpah to call in another order for merchandise?   You should be one hundred percent ashamed! You think I’m in business for love?” Cohen pleaded ad explained that he would send a check for his total indebtedness the following day.   “I’m gonna borrow from my wife’s insurance.   Listen, you’ll get a check absolutely in tomorrow’s mail!” The manufacturer relented and said, “Okay – I’ll ship the order.” Then he relaxed for a minute and said, “You know, Cohen, I wish I had a hundred customers like you!” Cohen was stunned, here he was insulted and all of a sudden he I complimented, so he asked, “Listen, first you complained about me and then you say you wish you had a hundred customers like me.   How come?” The manufacturer sighed, “Cohen, let me tell you I really wish I had a hu...

A man is rushing to get to another town for business. “But don’t you have a cemetery where you live?" asks a rabbi. “Of course,” he answers. “Oh,” says the rabbi. “I thought you were rushing to another town because your town did not have a cemetery.    But if it is only to enter your own cemetery few rubles richer….why rush?”   -Herbert Weiner

An old man lay dying.   When all his children were assembled for the last farewell, he looked and asked, “Is everyone here?” They nodded. With a troubled look, he asked, “So who is taking care of the store?”  -Milton H. Polen It is funny but untrue.   The first thing to come to us in life is love.   The last thing to leave us is love.   All else in bweteen matters less.

When the Rebbe urged his disciples to think of God during business they responded, "How can we think of matters of prayer while conducting commerce?" "Why not?" the Rebbe replied.  "You think of business while you are praying."

The Baal Shem Tov once said, Imagine a man whose business propels him through a maze of streets and across the marketplace through the long day.   He almost forgets that there is a Maker of the world. Only when he realizes that it is time for Minha, the afternoon prayer, does he stop to remember that he must daven. Then, from the depths of his heart, he sighs.   In that moment he is full of regret that he has spent the full day on vain, idle matters.   He moves into a side street, stands still and prays.   God holds him very dear and his prayer pierces the firmament.

“ Hello, Abie? How’s business?” “Rotten. Every day I keep my shop open I am losing money.” “Well, why don’t you close it?” “What!! Close the shop? And what shall I live on?” - Friday Night Book Focus on what is real, what is most important. Then all those ancillary bug-a-boos will recede into the background, where they belong.

Harry Burgess and Les Thurlow have coffee every day at local shop. A tourist asks Harry how he lost part of a finger. Harry responds that it wore out pointing directions to passers-by. One day Harry was ploughing his field with a white horse. It dropped dead. Harry left the horse in the field and went over to see Les and asked him if he wanted to trade his black horse. Les said that would be fine. “Let’s shake on it,” said Harry. And they did. Then Harry stated matter-of-factly, “My white horse is lying dead in the field.” Les said, “That’s okay, my black horse died Monday.” Funny stories with a powerful moral.  Friends offend and have disagreements.  Yet when their love is stronger than ego their relationship is forever cemented.

A Jewish shopkeeper lay on his deathbed. The family gathered close to the bedside. His wife sobbed. “Jacob, Jacob! Have mercy,” they cried. “Do not leave us. Have pity open your eyes. See! We are all here around you. Look – here’s Morris, Harry, Sarah, Rivkah! Jacob arose with a start. “If you are all here,” he shouted, “who’s minding the store??” Funny. Knowing why this is a funny anecdote is important. It stresses that when we are near death the mundane does not matter. No one would care who is at the store when the Angel of Death stand with his sword unsheathed. A perspective from our tradition: Treat each moment as your last and each moment will yield its greatest fruits.

What do we learn from each moment? What can we learn from a flower? A leaf? A story? A joke? “The Inspector was asking the class where they hopes to go when they died. All the replies were satisfactory with the exception of that little Aby, who said he hoped to go to hell! “To Hell,” exclaimed the Inspector. “Yes. That’s where father says all the business has gone to.”          - from The Friday Night Book   The meaning? We give energy to whatever we choose to speak of, or work toward. If love is what we focus on, we will create that all around us. If we strive for kindness we will make it reality. If we elect business, we will succeed in it, no matter the cost. Choose wisely.