Entrusted With A Task

(Picture by H. Pleijel)

A person cannot understand Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur until he has had an exacting and unforgiving boss. It is only with this experience that he can fully comprehend what it means to operate under Din; strict accounting.

As is common with most workers, there are times when a worker becomes tired of the routine nature of his job. He may even become lax and occasionally stop fulfilling the tasks entrusted to him.

If this period of laxity continues too long, a significant amount of work piles up and files are not dutifully maintained. This situation, however, never continues indefinitely. Sooner or later the boss comes looking for a particular file or to check on the status of a project.

In a panic, the worker hurries to accomplish in a short amount of time all of the work that he has previously shrugged off. He may even come in early in the morning or on Sunday if he is desperate to make right all the things he had done wrong.

Yet, despite all of the worker's efforts, the boss is less than pleased. He expected his worker to be responsible to work on his tasks everyday and not to put it off until the last minute.

At this point all the worker can do is be contrite and say that he is sorry without offering any semblance of an excuse; silently hoping for his boss's rachmanus.

This is where we stand on Yom Kippur.