Magic Jewball

At my worst days in my old job, when my boss was being his most evil, the way I dealt with it was to look like I was paying attention to whatever he was saying, but sing in my head the classic Jewish song, Esah Einai, which is a gentle tune which goes around and around and has the words to Psalm 121.

In Hebrew it’s:
Esah einai el heharim,
me’ayin me’ayin yavo ezri
Esah einai el heharim,
me’ayin me’ayin yavo ezri

Ezri me’im Hashem,
Oseh shamayim va’aretz
Ezri me’im Hashem,
Oseh shamayim va’aretz

If you left your Book of Psalms in your other pants, it’s this one:
I lift up my eyes to the hills
From whence will come my help.

My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth.

About two or three times around that song, I could pretty much forget he existed.

Today, my former co-worker who ended up with my job and is the son of a preacher and a very churchy guy himself, has this as his Facebook status message:

I am blessed even with all the problems I have to face. I stand strong! I am able to stand because my faith is solid. I look to the hill which cometh my help. I say to you, stand strong on your faith.

Now, Pious B is laughing at this because I like to send her this guy’s mangled inspirational status messages for fun. But I do NOT think this is a coincidence. Seriously, you need Psalm 121 to survive that job; it should be listed in the requirements.

Even Korean tourists to Israel love Esah Einai!

Do you remember that Sex and the City where Carrie gets broken up with on a post-it note? Tragic, just tragic. It could have been worse, though. She could have found out she was getting laid off by receiving an invitation to her own going away party. You think that sort of thing doesn’t really happen, don’t you? But, my friends, it does, and I know it because it happened to me. In fact, my going away party was earlier this week. Luckily, I received a thoughtful invitation. The best part was, and by that I mean the most bitterly ironic, was that the party was simply “lunch with cupcakes and a few thank you words.” Then there was no food for me and there were no cupcakes. Inside, I sort of laughed at this, but later, I managed to corner the other woman who had gotten laid off and our conversation went like this:

Me: Did you know before that email that we were finishing this week?
She: No! I couldn’t believe it! I thought we were staying through the Summer. Then I get this email about a lunch with cupcakes… and to top it all off, there were NO CUPCAKES!

I think “there were no cupcakes” might be my go-to phrase from now on for all of life’s unfair moments.

I mention all this because I couldn’t decide how to handle some aspects of the situation and solicited advice from some friends. One of them, my friend Tami whose faith I very much admire, told me she would advise her own daughters to pray about it. This is the second time I’ve heard this phrase this week and it’s led me to ponder. Jews don’t really pray for guidance or to ask a question. There are three kinds of Jewish prayer: praise for God, requests for things (like rain or peace or a child), and thanks. Usually in that order. Makes sense, right? But sometimes I do want guidance and so I write this as a reverse of my usual Jew&A. If anyone would like to comment and talk about praying about things, I’d be very interested. Not so that I can do that too, really, but more to better understand it. You’ve all been so kind and interested in my religion and I am in yours, too.

I know the temptation is to comment, “So sorry, Bec” or “What? No cupcakes?” and you can do that too but I would really like to hear about what it means to pray about things. But let me ask that in the Jewish way.

You guys are the greatest, most wonderful readers a blogger could have. I praise your very awesomeness! I am nothing compared to your loftiness.
Could you tell me something about praying about things and maybe experiences you would feel comfortable sharing?
I appreciate it so much! I thank you for all you do.

Love,
Becca

Edited late Thursday to add: Today is the National Day of Prayer which I did not know when I wrote this. ~cue Twilight Zone music~

Title comes from:
The Doors – The Soft Parade