אל תעזוב את העבודה לפני שמצאת אחרת

00:00 Speaker 1 This is Igeres, and we are looking at letters from exactly fifty years ago, give or take. We are on Yud Beis Tammuz. We're looking at a Yud Beis Tammuz letter from Tav Shin Lamed Gimel, fifty years ago as of Yud Beis Tammuz. The letter is Yud Tav Tav Chaf Ches. And here, somebody wrote to the Rebbe asking about switching their job. They have a job right now. They were looking for a better job. I don't have the details. They don't say the details anywhere. But this was somebody who was interested in looking for a different job. The Rebbe first of all writes to this person, "Hanaggah Yemis Al Pi Shulchan Aruch." This is advice that the Rebbe was actually giving a lot in Tammuz for some reason with that exact lashon. I don't know why, but a lot of back-to-back letters have, "Hanaggah Yemis Al Pi Shulchan Aruch," that exact lashon. Please live your day-to-day life according to Shulchan Aruch. "Mivi Yibrach, Viyirach Hashem Yitbarach Kol Yemim." And somebody who lives their life according to the Shulchan Aruch, this brings them berachahs every single day. And I love when this shows up in letters because people always ask for segulos, and there's actually an entire book I have on my shelf somewhere that is Etz Segulos HaRebbe, where they just give you all of these fancy things you can do in order to get the beracha that, uh, that the Rebbe promises, when in fact, the Rebbe's frequent advice, maybe his most frequent advice as

01:02 Speaker 1 a segula for beracha is to live your life according to Shulchan Aruch, which doesn't sound nearly as mystical, but I bet you it's twice as effective. In any event, look at the PS, that's our subject for today. The PS says, "Nit Kedai Apolozin Itzikah Parnasah." It is not appropriate for you to abandon your current parnasah. Don't do it. "Kal Man Miz Nit Ezicher Mit, Mit An Anduzach Parn-- Parnasah" as long as you don't definitely have the ezicher. As long as you don't definitely have some other parnasah lined up. This is the Rebbe giving somebody advice saying, "It is not appropriate to abandon your current job until you have another job lined up." In the parlance of the day, don't quit your day job, right? Don't stop working unless you have another job lined up. Uh, I can't promise this is going to be the most interesting Igeres share ever just because the Rebbe says this so many times in so many letters. I brought a lot of them. I bet you there's even more. I think I found something like ten. There's another one also the year Tav Shin Lamed Gimel where the Rebbe gives almost the exact same advice. "Apia Nali" says, "Yichaf Ezed Parnasah B'din Acher V'Kal Man Shlim Zeh Yamshich B'shalato." The Rebbe says to somebody who he thinks should be looking for a different job, "Definitely begin looking around for another parnasah, but do not leave your current job until you find another job." The Rebbe doesn't allow it, even when

02:10 Speaker 1 in this case, he's advising somebody to switch jobs, saying, "Clearly, the job that you're in is not appropriate for you. Clearly, it's time to switch." Nonetheless, he says, "Kal Man Shlim Zeh Anu Yamshich B'shalato." Until you find a new job, don't leave your current job. This seems to be a herut HaRebbe simply by the fact that he says it so many times. We have another letter from Tav Shin Lamed Gimel. That's three in our year. Yud Tav Tav kuf Samech is this one. "Kal Man SheBituchah Parnasah Yesa Teva Ein La'azev Zeh SheKvari Yesha Yashnah." You're not allowed to leave the job that you have right now as long-- un-unless, until you find, until, "Sheim Bituchah Parnasah Yesa Teva," unless it is a certain thing that you will have a, a secure thing, that you'll have a better parnasah doing this other job. So people are strictly not allowed to leave their current jobs unless they're sure they're going to something better. They are allowed to start looking, but it doesn't sound like they're allowed to leave. You'll also see this in Igeres Kodesh Volume fourteen, the letter is hey, reish, chaf, tes. "Ein Haneh La'aznia Im Shimsha Parnasah Terem Shimshani Mokar Parnasah Matin." It is not appropriate, it's not what we do to abandon one parnasah before you've found another source of parnasah that is appropriate. "Harim U'gelei Dedende" and this applies to you as well. There's a ksavyad that was printed in the Beit Meshiach. I can't read Ksavyad very well, but I believe

03:18 Speaker 1 that this is what it says here. Um, fortunately, they did spell it out for us. The ksavyad is on your screen. What it says is, "Bechalal Ein La'azey Parnasah Shal Kol Sham Kam Kam Mishnah Mikaylim Shemeytzim Parnasah Karov L'Bituchah B'mekomeha." In general, we have a rule, don't leave a parnasah of several years unless you've already found a parnasah that is, um parnasah karov l'bituchah b'mekomeha. Parnasah that is almost a certain thing in its own place or in the place where you're going. "V'frac kasas idim avinim" and certainly follow the advice of people who know this line of work well. Once again, another letter that's says in Igeres Volume twenty-seven, the letter is yud, kuf, daled. Yud, kuf, daled. Sorry, just a moment. This letter in volume twenty-seven, yud, kuf, daled, says, "London London." Says if according to your prior letter, you have a job in London that seems to be going well for you, it gives you your parnasah, maybe a little more than your parnasah that you need, you should continue in London. "Kal Zvad Iz Belos Angeles Harim B'geder Ashar." Any of your svad of possibly getting a better job or a different job in Los Angeles is a gu- is guesswork. It's a measurement. "Ein La'azey Parnasah SheSe Temtzigeh Bishvil Zeh." Don't leave your current job that you have managed to get on behalf of a hope of a better job somewhere else. This is the Rebbe not allowing people to take risks in their job search. I have one more

04:38 Speaker 1 letter to show you on this topic- -of the possible reasons. Somebody probably should be muted, but I can't figure out which one of you. Um, 'cause I can't find the screens. Igeres Kodesh volume twenty-four, page tes, ayin, zayin. Says, "V'na, V'megileh Sheilosin," response to your question, "V'geleh Shilt V'sim Mar Sheyef Yeh..." I don't know what that is. "Temah Shah, Matah B'zez Halav V'kam Avtachtin. Yez Ayin Zimidin Mal Astah." Since this is a job, I think you're talking about revolves all sorts of details, you should seek the advice from other people in that place. Then the Rebbe says our point, which is . Once again, like a bad dream. In any event, do not leave your current job unless or until you have a better parnasah, or you're almost certain you're going to have a better parnasah somewhere else. The Rebbe has, I think, we went through eight letters, something like that, each one saying almost the exact same thing. This seems to be so, uh, pervasive in the Rebbe's writing. You know, a lot of times we look at Igeres and we always say we're not sure if the Rebbe's writing the individuals or writing the Rebbe. And I think when you see something this many times in almost the exact same lashon, you have to conclude this is a shita. The Rebbe's shita is that we do not leave our jobs, no matter how appealing another job might be, unless that other job is a sure thing. And, uh, meaning this, uh, the American

05:52 Speaker 1 dream, part of the American dream, at least not the official one, but you know, the unofficial one, is that you, uh, abandon the work that doesn't suit you enough to write your screenplay, right? Or to, uh, or to write the next Great American Novel. The Rebbe is not a fan of this. Unless you have a contract to write the next Great American Novel, you're not allowed to leave your job. Uh, I was trying to figure out reasons for this. The Rebbe never in any of these letters gives a reason for this herut. Obviously, the-- then there's a simple reason, which is that it's a bad idea, right? If you were advising one of your friends or one of your children about what to do with work, you would tell them, "Don't, don't you dare leave a good thing till you found something better." But that doesn't really sound like how the Rebbe talks to me, and it seems to strike against ideas of bitachon, that God will have our backs anyway. So I went looking for possible reasons. I have two possibilities, and then I really wanna open the floor and let us brainstorm some other ones. Two possibilities. This one you'll find in Igros volume nineteen. It is letter Zain Kuf Nun Ches. The Rebbe says, "B'chaya yud haskafah." In general, you know my hashkafa when it comes to parnasah. "Shekedai ze stadles di stada b'din parnasah shein ba daig ve'aseh." The Rebbe says, "My philosophy when it comes to work is find a

06:51 Speaker 1 job that doesn't have a lot of daigos, that doesn't have, that doesn't have too much worry, too much concern to it. Find an easygoing job." "Ve'kamumen, ve'ereit im abura bedach, ve'ein yin shparnasah, is beleiv eleiv ve'eleiv." And he says, "This is well known from Chassidus, that you're not supposed to pick a job that, uh, that involves your entire heart, that involves your entire mind. It's not supposed to be, uh, absorbing, the job that you take." "Lachen, kedai ze sven li shava l'shanas parnasaseh la'ad la'ad." He says, "Therefore, every person should find ways to change their job li- bit by bit." "Ve'enain shleiti abhem daiga amuros," that they'll have less and less worry. That is, I, I think I know what he means here. The longer that you're in a job, the more you're able to tailor your job to your hours, right? The more you can, uh, the more you can cut back a little bit of time, the more you can pick roles in your company that will cause you less daiga. The Rebbe's saying over time, as you get more established in a company, you start to pick roles that won't take as much out of you to quasi. "She's vendos she'ikvos, ki nei ses ve'yin ses," I think that it's, it's my hope that if you think about this carefully and you search out ways to do this, in the end, you will arrive at such a, you arrive at such a place that you'll be able to, uh, that you'll be

07:50 Speaker 1 able to cut back on your hours and cut back on your efforts, your daigos. "She'shkizbar chasidus, she'ef li tipos yesa." And, uh, it should help that it shouldn't take too much hard work. There's something similar to this that's printed in a, uh, Verle Dert Novit, which is the same thing that our print letters to the Rebbe, believe it or not, that were originally in English translated into Hebrew. I couldn't find the English, so what I'm about to read you is a Hebrew translation of an English letter. How do you like that? "B'def last, kalaved echadosh utech, Eisek Chadosh," says, "When it comes to opening a new business or, uh, or starting a new job, evad yidrish ve'derav shel sumas lev, it's either God's going to take a lot of your effort. You're going to pay a lot of attention to make it work." "V'leini tziblitz place v'deish chamah sman v'shal vah sefash shah ad latava bayis v'nehleishei v'necham peesh." You're not able to tell in advance just how much of your mental health is going to go into establish yourself, establishing yourself in a new job. When I put these two letters together, I get a possible answer, which is that the Rebbe's telling people, "Don't, uh, abandon your current job and then go looking for another job, and meanwhile, you're struggling to find parnasah because that's entering yourself into a situation of daigos of parnasah." And the Rebbe's work philosophy is that a person's parnasah should be v'shal ve'tubal nofah sefash. It should be

08:55 Speaker 1 as, uh, as, as minimally worrying as possible. So the Rebbe's giving an eitzah that prevents people from being worried about their job, saying, "Look, even if you don't like your job, keep your job till you find a new job." It's not really parnasah advice because, uh, obviously, the money that you're gonna make is decided on Besht Shana, and the Rebbe's not worried that somebody who is supposed to have money won't have money if they make a bad decision. I think what the Rebbe is worried about here is that somebody's going to take a parnasah that would have come v'shal ve and turn it into a parnasah that's going to come only b'dei ve through, uh, finding a new job and establishing themselves in a new workplace. So one possibility is that the Rebbe's trying to avoid daigos of parnasah. I have one other possibility, and then I'd like to hear what you guys think. Uh, it's a Terras Manach combine twenty-seven, page twenty-eight. It's a footnote in the middle of the papranga. In the middle of the papranga, there's a yintas kisla papranga. The Rebbe-- Somebody asks the Rebbe for a bracha parnasah, and the Rebbe gives it to him, but only after making fun of him a little bit. "Halachis," this is the footnote, "Amar," the Rebbe, "Lecha shlikesh bracha parnasah." Somebody asks the Rebbe for a bracha parnasah, and the Rebbe says back, "Shev lecha eini talsei lecha eim. Yiaseh uvelachleh hamunah." He should do his work with emunah. "Yiafsik lechach veis tach

09:55 Speaker 1 bulas." And not to-- And to stop looking for ways to make more money. Stop finding the next big hustle. Stop looking for trickery. "Ve'emrei, tzuk a klugdar ve'nitz daina fili yintas kislev." You don't have to be too smart, even on Yintas Kislev. You don't need tach bulas for your parnasah. "Yiufarah be'parnasah be'archava." And then he gave him bracha be'parnasah be'archava. But once again, the Rebbe's saying here that he doesn't want to look for too many tach bulas. And this is a theme in Chassidus. It's also a theme in Shaarei Bitachon, that part of bitachon and part of working and part of a v'zeh hamalacha be'emunah is that although you try your best at work, you're not hustling. You're not constantly trying to find the next gig that will make you a little bit more money. So it's also a possibility that the Rebbe's telling people that he doesn't want them jumping from job to job without it being a careful consideration, without making sure something else is lined up because that's a, that's a, uh, that's a hustling mentality. That's a looking for the next buck here and there. That's tach bulas, yoseh it is. That is not necessarily in line with bitachon, and it's certainly not necessarily in line, certainly not necessarily, and not necessarily in line with the values of Chassidus. So two possibilities why the Rebbe, I guess, we'll review the whole thing. But in review, the Rebbe says in, like, a billion letters that you are not allowed to leave the

10:55 Speaker 1 job you have until another job, um, is, uh, until another job is basically a sure thing, that abandoning your job and then looking for work is not appropriate. We listed at least three possible reasons. One that's kind of a throwaway, which is that it's just a bad financial advice, but I don't think that's the Rebbe's intent. Another possibility we raised is that maybe it's because that causes daigos, and, uh, we try to avoid daigos of parnasah whenever possible. And a third possibility is that perhaps looking for work in that manner, in that haphazard, hustling, jumping from job to job sort of way is considered tach bulas yoseh it is, something that the Rebbe does not think is appropriate. Okay, I'm opening the floor. Uh, we're ending a little early today, but I guess that's more time for discussion. Please tell me what you think.

11:37 Speaker 2 Um, my, my first comment is, and I, you know I always have something to say, is that, first of all, I mean, I missed the very beginning, but I think this is a very, very, very common thought amongst employees. And I went through it myself when I was unhappy in my previous position, and at one point, I even told my wife, "I'm gonna leave even if I don't have enough. I'm just-- I just can't take it anymore." I just wasn't happy, and I wanted to leave. So obviously, if I would've seen this, that would've given me some calm to say, you know... Well, in the end, I didn't because my wife said, "Yeah, that's very nice, but, uh, we still need an income." So You know, figure it out somehow, and Baruch Hashem, I got the job that I'm in right now. But I think it's something very, very, very common with employees that have a... Maybe it's not so common with, with the business owners themselves, but with employees, it's maybe they're looking for tachbulus is more for the, for the business owners. But the employees thinking that, "Hey, you know what? I'm unhappy. I need to leave," and, you know, maybe take a chance with something or look for something else. The Rebbe seems to repeat over and over again that you have to go for something that's more certain. Like, you, you can't just, like, pie in the sky, maybe something's gonna work out. A guy I know is gonna do a

12:37 Speaker 2 place, whatever. And, um, but it-- and it's interesting that you're putting the, the, the focus on the fact that the Rebbe just doesn't want people to be too stressed at work and have diggers of Parnasa. I think it's also because it's, in a certain way, even though he doesn't mention it there, but it's a, there's a burden on the Rebbe when it's-- you don't have Parnasa. You know, they're constantly asking for berachos, they're constantly stressed, they're constantly-- the, the families are suffering. You know, people suffer when they don't have Parnasa. And the Rebbe's saying, you know, even though he's not saying it clearly, that there's, there's an element of suffering that needs to be avoided here. But, uh, you know, it also seems to be very clear that that's also something. Anyone?

13:18 Speaker 1 I didn't forget to unmute myself. Uh, yeah, there's a, there's a letter I came across in one of these books that was compiling letters on Indiane Parnasa, that Rebbe says that he's not able to sleep when he hears that there's a Hasid in Australia who doesn't have work. So, uh, definitely just throw these points. This could just be a-- not just, but in addition to all the other things, it's definitely a milocha nefish for the Rebbe and for the other Hasidim and for people who have to support somebody who's out of work. Um, the reason why I don't love jumping right to that, though, is just because what, what you described, what you described as, "I don't like my job, so I'm going to run off and just throw my lot into, uh," you know, kind of take the leap. That sounds like batachen, doesn't it, to a degree? I mean, that sounds like a, "I trust that God will take care of me." You would almost think that the Rebbe would advise such behavior, right? If you didn't know anybody, you might think that the Rebbe would say, "Hey, you know, you don't like your job or it's not working out, or maybe, you know, it's not good for your Torah learning, it's not good for your davening, leave and you'll find something else. You know, trust, trust in Hashem." And the Rebbe is not saying that. The Rebbe is saying, "I want another job lined up." So for that, I had to go

14:11 Speaker 1 looking for other batachen possibilities.

14:13 Speaker 2 No, I, I, I agree with you. It's like I had a friend of mine who used to say a line when you-- when somebody would say something about someone who's doing something wrong, and it's like, "Wait a second, you have to be dam hakaf's hos." He would says, "Yeah, it says, it says dam hakaf's hos, but, uh, not dam hakaf stupid." So, you know, there's a, there's a concept of batachen, yeah, a hundred percent, but you don't go play in traffic and say, "David is gonna give me the beracha that I shouldn't get hit by a car." You know? So there's a batachen el-element, but part of the batachen element, actually, to twist it a little bit on the other end, is batachen is that the place that you're in is the place where you're supposed to be, and therefore within there is your success. So leaving that up to Hashem and saying, "Oh, Hashem, I'm gonna leave my job. You know, I'm gonna have batachen, you're gonna find Parnasa for my family," that's not batachen. Batachen, again, you can get into all the emunah batachen discussion as to what's batachen and what's emunah, but the concept of that, that-- what I always thought of batachen is, that batachen is trusting Hashem, that the position that you're in is the position that you're supposed to be in. And that is where the Ebeshtor wants, wants you to-- wa-wants you to be and then find whatever it is that you need to find within that position.

15:09 Speaker 2 So I wouldn't say that, that, uh, hashlech halashavia havcha, uh, in, in Parnasa is, is inyun batachen.

15:17 Speaker 3 Can you hear me?

15:20 Speaker 1 Yes.

15:22 Speaker 3 Um, yeah, okay. I'm curious whether you have come across any letters about someone leaving a job to start a business.

15:31 Speaker 1 There is one about that. There's a letter where there's a son who's, uh, in his father's business, and he thinks his father's not making good business decisions and writes to the Rebbe saying that instead of trying to fix the business internally, he'd like to strike out on his own. I d-I did find one letter like that. And, uh, the Rebbe does not advise it. As a matter of fact, I did bring you that letter. I forgot I brought you the end of that letter. That's the letter near the bottom where the Rebbe tells-- Let me pull it up. That's the letter where, uh, he tells him that it's difficult to start new jobs, right? I don't think it's this one. Where is it? I have a piece of it.

16:05 Speaker 3 Like, with, with, with that, I mean, you kind of can't really excuse me, um, you know, hold down a job and start a new business at the same time, that there is, there is some period where, you know, you've got to take the quote, "leap of faith." Um-

16:23 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, obviously, I can't, uh, I can't say never, but, uh, but I didn't find a single place where the Rebbe gave somebody, uh, where the Rebbe let somebody leave a job without having something, uh, without having something else that was... In a couple of places, he said, "Karov l'vadai" or, uh, or, or, "Karov l'batuach." So maybe it's that before you, before you leave the job and start the new business, it's gotta be lined up really well. He always says to ask other people who are involved in that business. So I would guess, based on these letters, that if somebody wanted to do that, they would need to reach out to other people in the field, be quite sure they have the startup money and the startup capabilities to make it work, and then once they're, you know, karov l'batuach, they'd be allowed to leave their job. Um, but, uh, other than that, no, r-- full leaps of faith, I, I haven't seen anywhere.

17:05 Speaker 3 And like in, in my particular case, so-

17:07 Speaker 2 Mendel Santos asked a question. Mendel Santos asked a question. He said I was talking about stress that people are going through. What if your current job is, is, is giving you stress?

17:16 Speaker 1 I mean, it's, it's a point that I thought of when Surly was talking too, right? You, you mentioned this too, that a lot of people, they wanna leave because it's just causing them so much stress. Yeah. So it might not be a good answer as to why, right? So I, I, I used the stress thing to propose why perhaps the Rebbe has this hora'ah. Might not be that's the reason. I don't know what the reason is. I'm sure about the hora'ah, though. It's just so-- it, it, it's so-- it's repeated so often in so many letters. The hora'ah is that no matter how stressful your job is, you can't leave until you have a new one lined up. You should start looking. You know, look, send out your resumes. But until, until things look karov l'vadai, don't, don't, don't leave. Don't know.

17:48 Speaker 3 Right. It's, it's, it's not saying to not go get, uh, fi-fi-find a better job. It's just saying to make sure you have it first.

17:54 Speaker 1 Absolutely. Absolutely. He tells people to go look for other jobs, but he tells them not to leave until they have something. And I think that would be the same rule as you asked for a business. That it would be, uh, that they can, they can leave to start their business, but only once it looks pretty sure their business is gonna work.

18:09 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. Right.

18:11 Speaker 4 What, uh, weird, weird, interesting question, Yechiel. What if, like, you know, sometimes you leave a job, you get a nice, uh, you know, a nice package to leave. What if you, you eliminate that stress? You know, if you leave, you, you have six months you can live on at, at no cost, you know? Would that be-

18:30 Speaker 1 Definitely would have been my, uh-

18:31 Speaker 4 Huh?

18:32 Speaker 1 Definitely would have been my havamina. I would have thought that if you can leave and have a six-month severance, you should sit on the six-month severance and look for work. And now that having seen these letters, I don't think that's the Rebbe shita. I think the Rebbe would say to-

18:42 Speaker 3 Karov l'batuach for at least six months.

18:45 Speaker 1 Yeah, but that's-- but then after six months, it's batuach that it's gone, right?

18:48 Speaker 4 Right. You see, you still have the stress.

18:50 Speaker 3 If not Parnasa, that's-

18:51 Speaker 4 What am I gonna do after six months? Right.

18:53 Speaker 1 Yeah. So prior to seeing these letters, I would have thought-- I would have probably advised somebody to go for it. I would have said, "Yeah, you know, you have six months, you'll find work." Um, but, uh, but I guess people who, people who have had to look for work know better. Sometimes you don't find work in six months. And, um, and the Rebbe doesn't seem to be allowing this unless it's, you know, karov l'batuach, karov l'vadai. So I don't think so. I don't-- I, I, I don't think based on these, somebody should, uh, should leave with a six-month severance and look for work. I think they should find a new job first. When I was at the Times, a bunch of people took buyouts, and that was the theory. They didn't have new things lined up. They took these pretty good buyouts that would keep them going for six months to a year, and they looked for work. And some of them found work, and some of them didn't. You know? That happens, too.

19:34 Speaker 5 Can I, uh, chime in here?

19:36 Speaker 1 Yep.

19:37 Speaker 5 Can you hear me?

19:38 Speaker 1 Yeah.

19:38 Speaker 5 Um, there's also-- I, I thought of another scenario where it's quite prevalent now. People move away to another community without having a Parnasa.

19:49 Speaker 1 In at least one of these letters, he talks about moving to a new place without it being a, a karov l'vadai and uses the same Russian. Yeah. Yeah. Mo-moving without knowing what you're gonna do, the Rebbe is not happy with either.