Jewish Musings, Sunday 9/3

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.



Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Holly

Lee

Louise

Lynne

Peachy



And for those of you who stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE!

Today's topic: Work ethics.

How do you define work ethics? Is there anyone in particular that you learned them from?

Yesterday was my dad's birthday; if he were still alive, he would be 107 years old (!!). I've been thinking about him a lot. I learned a lot from him, mostly by example, even though it took me a long time to incorporate his ideas into my life. He worked hard his whole life, even after he got Parkinson's disease. It was very difficult for him to work as long as he did, but he did so for as many years as possible. He wanted to support our family and take care of us all.

He believed in being honest and working as well as possible. Even when he started showing symptoms of the Parkinson's, including falling, he refused to give up. I honor that in him.

My mom also worked hard. She gave up being an office manager and went into civil service, so that we would have health insurance.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[louise]

My parents also set good examples. I grew up learning that a jb worth doing was worth doi ng well, to do y bet, and so on. I also was taught about fair play. These have been guiding principles in my life.

I have my boss's funeral this afternoon. His ashes will be interred on his property. I'm hoping his rabbi will attend but whatever it is I am very glad to be included.

[gazelle18]

One of the most important attributes a lawyer SHOULD have is “ethical.” As a practicing lawyer, I took this seriously, and some days it was harder than others to toe the ethical line. But I tried hard to do so. Which is why it is so painful to see lawyers caught up in the former president’s legal issues. Those lawyers deserve to disbarred, and perhaps convicted. A lawyer is ethically prohibited from filing a lawsuit that he or she knew or reasonably should have known contained false allegations.

[peachymom1]

My mom taught us to work hard, be on time and be reliable, not only with your own particular job, but in cooperation with others. Whether you were a dishwasher or a corporate CEO, you did the best job you could. All my sisters and I internalized this work ethic. In fact, when I got my first job at a hamburger/ice cream place, I recommended one of my sisters to work there too, and she was hired. It was great when we were scheduled together, because we got things done quicker and more efficiently than anyone else.

I may have learned Mom's work ethic a little too well - I've stayed at jobs longer than I should have because I didn't know I could (and should) walk away from a job I wasn't suited to, or a boss who was a jerk. But I did learn, and the job I have now is well worth all the frogs I kissed on the way there. I'm grateful to Mom for teaching me to be a good worker.

It's been raining on and off all weekend - I've never before experienced a rainy Labor Day weekend in Los Angeles!

[hollygail]

Yesterday was wonderful. There's a small Renewal chavurah that meets not too far from me. Generally speaking, Saturday morning services are scheduled every month or two. And I'm asked practically every time if I'm available to read Torah, and lately, I'm asked which Saturday mornings in the month I'm available and that's when they schedule their Shabbat morning service in that month. It really was lovely. (I also lead other parts of the service, and have brought in additions myself, not to mention correcting people's interesting ways of spelling Hebrew words; I had a friend years ago who said her favorite song was "Micah Mocha").

A friend who lives in a city south of where I live (even closer to the Mexican border) who knows I've been wanting a car Have I told you that DH and I have been sharing one between us? It was a gift of sorts from the chiropractor DH worked for, managing the chiropractic booth at the County Fair every year. I worked for him in his office for several years before the pandemic. He closed his business during the pandemic (was able to sell it to a much younger go-getter who has become our chiropractor). He and his wife took over the property in Nebraska that his parents had owned (and where he and his siblings were raised). He had been commuting every other week to (and from) San Diego for the last few years he was in practice here. There were enough vehicles there that he didn't need the one he was using while in San Diego (which he used for the last time taking his last few things from here back to Nebraska). Granted, DH had to fly to their house to pick it up and drive it home, but he did. It needed only a little work to pass the California smog tests to be licensed here, so if you add the airfare, gas to drive it home and the upgrades to be "fit" for this State, it may have cost us around $1000. It's a 2002 (I know, but wait) Lexus (which apparently runs forever) with just about 300,000 miles on it when we got it (it's now, what, 314,000?) and has the single most comfortable driver's seat I've ever experienced. But it meant (among other things) that I paid my carpool buddy ever other time she drove us to Sunday School last year (she didn't mind; moreover, she told me I'd estimated too much money [the first time, I handed her a $10 bill] and she asked me for only $6. She's the one who insisted she'd have been driving every other time so I shouldn't pay her for the times she'd have been driving had I had a car to drive us the alternate Sundays...

So this friend from farther south lives in an interesting neighborhood. She's one of the few totally Caucasian neighbors among mostly Filipinos and Middle Eastern Chaldeans with some Mexicans mixed in. Her car mechanic (a Chaldean Christian; I think he fled Iran under Hussein) is a top-notch mechanic. Bottom line, she completely trusts him and he treats her like a sister rather than like a customer (she helped him set up an accounting system and taught him about employment laws when he was ready to hire his first employee) and everyone he knows has heard wonderful things about her so even his friends she doesn't know apparently know who she is and they too hold her in high regard. One of his sons came into a 2017 Honda HR-V (I think that's its designation; the smaller SUV by Honda) that he worked on as a school project (post-high school; I don't know if it was community college or some specialized type of post-high school; he received an excellent grade when he finished). He was selling it. The father told my friend who said she had a friend (me) who was looking, and they held the car until I could go look at it. I drove it around the neighborhood of the father's shop (note: I am NOT at all familiar with the roads in that city!) with DH in the front passenger seat and the son in the back seat (I asked him to come with us since I was unfamiliar with the area). This young man volunteered all sorts of information about the car and what he'd make sure happened before I drove it away (assuming I'd purchase it), and then came into the front seat (when we got back at his dad's shop) to answer my questions about all the do-dads on the dashboard. I bought it. Well, that is, I said I wanted it; we came to a price I was willing to pay and he was willing to accept ($1500 less than he'd originally asked and $500 more than I'd offered). I'm picking it up Tuesday, either with my personal check which he can take to a branch of my bank to cash or else a cashier's check (if no branches are near his place). YAY, ME!!!

As for Lee's topic for today, my parents also instilled in me a strong work ethic. I had a few careers in my life, giving my all to each. I valued respect and loyalty. I've always received good evaluations and was valued by my co-workers and bosses. Yes to work ethics! There was a time (in the 1980s) when "bio-ethics" became a thing. I considered going to JTS (which had a fabulous, possibly the best, reputation for Talmud study) in order to pursue a career in business ethics (alas, the idea of moving back to New York City with its particular winter season stood in my way until the next financial difficulty, not quite depression, hit). Oh well...