Relax, Hashem Is in Control

I sit on the bus, and the blinking cursor of the writing software, better known as WORD, reminds me every second that I am supposed to complete a document by the end of the ride. Yes, I am writing this column while traveling by bus. Sometimes, to meet the deadline to submit the column to the editor, I intentionally choose to take the bus to come up with something decent to publish. But that's not the point here. The blinking cursor is not a common occurrence for me. Usually, I don’t let it rest for more than a few seconds. But this time, it blinked quite a bit because I wasn’t sure how to begin explaining a concept to you, which I consider important, but Hashem helps, as He always does, and sent the best words to my mind for you.

The difference between a salaried employee and a self-employed worker is mainly the headache. A salaried employee has quite a few headaches because of the pressure, the tasks, the boss, and all sorts of other reasons encountered throughout the day. Usually, that employee does not concern themselves with all sorts of small and annoying things that need to be addressed, like income tax, expense reimbursements, national insurance, health tax, VAT, sick leave, and other terms that are simply handled by someone in accounting and, as far as the employee is concerned, everything is automatically done. The salaried employee receives their salary every month, at most glancing at the pay slip to see what was deducted and why, but beyond that, they have no involvement in these things. They also do not run to the tax office at the end of the year to file a capital statement with eighty-nine forms that take hours to fill out. That employee is also supposed to stop worrying about the things mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph once they leave work, let alone when they get home.

Now think the opposite. About a self-employed business owner. Let's say it's a very small business with two employees. All this paperwork is just a small part of the business. You also need to ensure that the employees are at least minimally satisfied. What happens if someone is sick? What about the raw materials, or the productivity, or the hours, or the child who doesn't have school today? All these questions not only concern the employer but also take up a very valuable time. In my role as a producer at the Hidabroot channel, I can tell you that most of the energy directed at work, not just mine, is because of the people and their complexities, not the production itself coming to fruition. If everyone were robots, producing a very complex program would take only two days. For a self-employed person, the headache carries over, even after going home, and I wouldn't be surprised if they dream about it at night.

Still, at the end of the month\week\day, when the salaried employee opens their pay slip, it's likely that most of the time the numbers they see will not match those seen by the self-employed person. I'm not saying this is how it is for everyone. After all, Hashem is the one who sends us the funds to shop at the grocery store. Don’t think otherwise. The channel through which we receive a livelihood is the channel of work. In any case, I know many people willing to have a lot of headaches all day if at the end of the month they would have a large plus in their bank account. By the way, almost everyone wants to reach this goal without the headache. They call it the lottery. To our matter, the most successful combination is, of course, to be a salaried employee and earn like a self-employed person. It's even better if you manage like a self-employed person at the same salary, and then your life is sweet as honey. And that is precisely the advantage of the believing Jew.

Ask any average observant Jew, and you will notice that one of the great and important advantages is looking upward in times of distress. An observant Jew is someone who is essentially salaried, with the pay of a self-employed person. The meaning is, you essentially earn the maximum with the minimum headache. You have a book of instructions and tasks to perform to the best of your ability, within your limits, of course. It also repeats, so you can get used to even the more challenging tasks, and the boss won’t demand something you objectively can’t do. Oh, and there’s always the option to ask for another opportunity if you did all you could and still failed. I’m telling you, there’s no job in the world with such conditions. And the real cherry on top is that everything you managed to create in this life ultimately goes to you. In other words, you're building your villa yourself, so generally speaking, there's no reason to complain about hard work...

The upward look mentioned at the beginning of the previous paragraph is one of the great benefits of serving Hashem. Hashem, who owns the whole story here, explicitly tells you: "Don’t worry!, you do what you can, and I will take care of everything. Your livelihood, health, food, clothing, marriage, children, etc., etc... And know that everything I do, I do for your benefit, even though you might not see the entire picture as I do. So if it seems to you there isn't, then actually it's the best for you". I’m not sure about the phrasing, but I suppose the general idea is clear. You can always look up and talk to Hashem. After all, He takes on all the responsibility. Now think about it. You receive an advance salary (otherwise, how would you explain a baby living until the age of 13 and only then starting to become obligated in commandments? Until age 13, who provided food, breath, health, and other survival needs for work that won’t start until another 13 years?), there is no discrimination based on your skin color, size, beauty, gender, or overall, everyone is equal, there are excellent promotion opportunities, and your rank is given according to your effort, not your elbow power. I really don’t know any employer willing to offer these conditions and end up giving all they "earned" to the employee.

Being an observant Jew means to be a worker for Hashem without worries. Just like a salaried employee. Although it's also a trait that requires working on, to completely eliminate worries from your heart, but at least you need to start and then rise. It’s called faith. And from experience, it works and works well.