Rabbi Charles P. Sherman
Ben Cowen Bar Mitzvah
September 4, 2004
Elul and Labor Day
Friends, if you look at a luach - a Hebrew calendar - you will see that this is the 18th day of Elul. We are in the middle of the month in which we Jews are summoned to carefully examine our lives. We are instructed to scrutinize the way in which we live and see what needs fixing as we prepare for a new year. Are we on target, or off course? If misdirected, how do we get back on target? That is the purpose of our introspection and inventory-taking.
And this is the Labor Day weekend. Surely our work is a central dimension of our lives. We spend at least a third of our day at work, most of us for more than two-thirds of our lives.
So this Labor Day weekend in the middle of the month of Elul seems to be a very good time to look at the work part of our lives as honestly and as thoughtfully as we can. Our tradition would have us ask ourselves questions like these: What does my work mean to me? Has it become the be-all and end-all of my life, to the harm of other parts? Am I doing my job with enthusiasm or am I just going through the motions? Do I find fulfillment in my work, and am I giving it my best, or am I slacking off? Deep down, do I wish that I were doing something else, or do I feel fortunate that this is what I am doing? Am I frustrated and resentful that I am not being paid enough or appreciated enough, or do I feel satisfied with my compensation? These are the kinds of questions which I believe Elul calls us to consider.
I read something this summer about Jay Leno which may help us with these difficult Elul/Labor Day questions. The news story said that NBC had negotiated a new contract with Mr. Leno to continue as the host of the Tonight Show for five more years. The story pointed out that at the end of those five years Jay Leno will be 58 years old; by then, he will have been host of the show for 17 years - giving him the second longest tenure in the history of the show, second only to Johnny Carson.
I thought it was somewhat strange to talk about a man still able to work at the age of 58, and that it was equally strange to tout a man being in the same job for 17 years - as if that were something extraordinary. Do we really live in such a fast changing society that 58 is considered unusual for a person to still be able to work? I know a lot of people who are over 58 and who are still working - very productively too. Do we live in such a fickle society that 17 years on the same job is considered remarkable? But the ability of a person to continue working, even at the ripe old age of 58, and to hold the same job for 17 years are not my major concerns today - though perhaps they should be of concern to a world which worships youth and that values change so much. I would rather focus today on two things Jay Leno said when his new contract was announced.
The first question reporters asked Jay Leno was : "Did you get a raise or not?" Now, Leno could have said "Yes I did," and he could have told the reporters the amount of his raise. He could have said triumphantly - "I sure did!" And he could have said it that way because the amount of your salary is the definition of your worth to many people.
Or he could have said: "Yes I did, but I didn't really get what I should have." And he could have made a pretty good case because I hate to tell you Leno fans, but he only gets $16 million a year for doing the Tonight Show whereas his rival - David Letterman - gets $31 million a year, and more people watch Leno every night than watch Letterman. Jay Leno could have said: "I deserve as much as he does, and I am very upset that I am being paid $15 million less than Letterman is - it is not right!"
But Leno did not say that to the reporters who asked him if he got a raise. Instead he said something which I find very interesting. He replied: "Sure I got a raise. But the truth is that at this stage of my life I do not really need the money. If you can't live on what I make in my present contract, there is something wrong with you."
The news story went on to say that there were no agents and no lawyers involved in the negotiations. Instead the President of NBC Entertainment simply said to Leno: "We would like to sign you on for five more years." And Jay Leno said: "Fine." And then they worked out the details.
There are two lessons I would have us learn this morning from the Jay Leno experience. The first is to do what you love and love what you do. That, more than your salary, more than your status, more than anything else will determine how much fulfillment and how much joy you will get from your work.
Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century. He turned out at least two books a year, every year. Barbara Walters once interviewed Asimov on television; she asked him how many books he had written, and he told her an astronomic figure. The number impressed Barbara Walters so she asked him: "Don't you ever want to do anything but write?" Asimov said, "No."
She pressed him. "Don't you ever want to go fishing or hunting or dancing or hiking?" He said, "No."
She continued. "But what would you do if the doctor told you you had only six months to live?" Asimov replied: "Type faster."
Here was a man who was happy doing what he was doing and that, I think, is one of the secrets of our work life. If we spend a third of our lives at our jobs, it is vital that we do something we like to do. If you are happy in your work, if you look forward to going to work, you are fortunate. It makes no difference what the job is. It does not matter if that job has status, whether it is something others consider important, whether it requires creativity or
not - the only thing which counts is that you love doing it. If you have such a job, consider yourself blessed. Be thankful you have it.
But if you have a job that you hate, if you have a job that provides you with no sense of fulfillment, if you have a job you dread having to go to each day, then I believe whether you have tenure or not, a good pension or not, whether your job is safe or not, whether you are being compensated well or not, perhaps you should consider venturing out and doing something else.
I know that giving up job security is scary, especially during these uncertain times in which we live. But if you no longer find any satisfaction, any sense of fulfillment in your work, then perhaps it is time to try something else.
This is Elul. One of the questions which each of us needs to confront at this season of the year, that we need to ask ourselves in the silence of our own souls, is - do I love my work or am I just doing it for the money? Do I find my work purposeful and pleasurable, or do I do it just because I have to?
I understand that these are not easy questions to confront; for some they are painful questions. But these are the kinds of questions we need to face up to during Elul. May I remind you that the Hebrew word for work is avodah, and avodah has two distinct meanings - work and worship. These two concepts are connected in Judaism - we worship God by the way in which we work. We worship God not only with our lips and tongues, but with our hands and feet. We worship God by the way in which we do our job. I can think of no greater blessing for a person to have than to be able to say - I look upon my work not just as a job, but as a service to God, as a way of making the world better, as a way of finding purpose and fulfillment in my life.
It does not matter what the job is. What counts is how you feel about your job. You can be a ditch-digger or a street cleaner - it doesn't matter. If you honestly feel that you are doing your part in making the world a cleaner and better place by what you do, and you have pride in the knowledge that you are doing your job well, then yours is a good job and yours is a rich life.
But sometimes, even when we love what we do, as Jeff Cowen loves making beautiful music, and even if we are good at our job, as Jeff certainly is, life throws us a curve. Our employer goes out of business through absolutely no fault of our own. That can be a tragedy. In this case it is a shande; it is a black mark on our community, not on the Philharmonic Orchestra musicians, those talented people who gave their all. But Jeff, and others, refuse to make it a personal tragedy. Instead, some have looked for other work which will provide equal fulfillment, as I have no doubt that Jeff's new calling for which he is preparing so thoroughly and diligently, will provide him. So the thesis of what I am trying to teach this morning remains the same, perhaps even more so.
Jay Leno obviously loves his work. The picture which accompanied the newspaper story about his new contract showed him looking exuberant. That is the first lesson I think we should learn from his example - love what you do and do what you love. If you don't, you doom yourself to boredom and emptiness in the work part of your life, and that is not the way to live.
I am a little hesitant to tell you the second lesson I learned from the Jay Leno contract announcement. I'm afraid that next year when the Personnel Committee and Budget Committee and Board are considering a pay rase for the Rabbi, someone may quote this sermon back to me; but, we'll preach it anyway. Leno did not say "How come I make so much less than David Letterman?" Remember, he said: "If you can't live on what I made in my old contract, then there is something wrong with you."
I believe he was right - if you can not make it on $16 million a year, then you probably won't be able to live on whatever they are going to pay him in his new contract either. But what Jay Leno was really saying is that enough is enough, and there comes a point when you have enough; and if you are wise and you are healthy, then when you reach that point, you recognize it and you behave accordingly. So, if these words come back to haunt me in my next salary negotiations, so be it. I hereby announce that when I get to a salary of $16 million a year, I am going to say "enough is enough."
Friends, if you are never able to say dayenu, if you are never able to say enough is enough, then no matter what you earn, your life will be forever frustrating and your salary negotiations will always be unpleasant and your work will always be a source of contention. I do not know what the exact figure is for anybody else. I do not know if it is $16 million, as it was for Jay Leno, or whether it is some other figure higher or lower than that; but, at some point each and every person has to be able to say dayenu, enough is enough.
No matter what we make, there is always someone who is going to make more. If you are Jay Leno, it is $16 million; then there is David Letterman who does the very same work you do and who works the same late hours you do and who gets $31 million - and that is not fair. But that is not our choice. Our choice is whether to let the money that someone else makes frustrate us and depress us and prevent us from enjoying what we have and taking pleasure in what we do.
So the second Elul lesson I believe we can learn from Jay Leno is that at some point we say, as he did, enough is enough. That is the only way to protect ourselves from becoming obsessed with and harmed by the frantic chase to accumulate more and more and more. At our Passover seder table, we sing that favorite song, Dayenu. We love that song because it has a one-word refrain and a simple melody, and everybody can join in. We pound the table and raise our voices and sing it lustily.
May I suggest, in all seriousness, that we do the same thing during Elul that we do on seder night. During this month of preparation for the new year, let us set aside some time and make a list of all the blessings in our lives. And if you are going to do it this weekend, let's focus especially on the blessings in the work part of our lives. Let's list all the gadgets we have which our grandparents never dreamed of having, the appliances we enjoy that they knew nothing about. Let's count up all the things that even the poorest among us are able to afford and that we should not take for granted, and let's give thanks to our jobs that make these purchases possible.
And then let us say, whether we make $16 million a year as Jay Leno does, or even if we make a little bit less than that - as I suspect some of us sitting here today probably do - either way, let's learn to say dayenu, enough is enough. For if we earn enough to keep us and our families in the basic necessities and in a few luxuries, and if we find pleasure and purpose in the work part of our lives, then let us say with a whole and happy heart - thank You, God, for this job that I have. May I do it well as it deserves to be done, and may it be avodah - may it be genuine service in Your sight and in ours. Amen
I'm grateful to Rabbi Jack Riemer who so often helps me with my work. This sermon is another example of how.
