Question of the week:
I have a fear of dying. But it expresses itself in a weird way. I have read stories of people doing one mitzvah and then dropping dead, because that one good deed was their life mission. So now every time I do something good, I think maybe this is my last. This freaks me out and it isn't good. Should I try not to fulfill my mission so I can live, or do good deeds and die?
Answer:
There are two types of workers: employees and contractors. A contractor is there to do their job, and that's it. As long as I have completed the tasks given me, as long as the items on my to-do list are all ticked off, I have done my bit and I can go home.
Then there is an employee, who is there to work not until the job is done, but until the day is over. It is not enough that my immediate tasks are done, I have to seek out more work and ensure every moment of the day is productive, otherwise I am short-changing my employer.
We live in G-d's big factory, and we are all workers, each with a specific role to play, in the grand scheme of creating a world of goodness. And we have a choice. We can either suffice with fulfilling our obligation alone, and no more, or we can go beyond that, and refuse to rest until the job is done, until the world overflows with goodness.
If you choose to work like a contractor, only seeking to fulfill your mission, you should know, once your job is done, you have nothing more to offer, and it is time for you to leave this world. But if you choose to be an employee, to serve G-d not for your own self-fulfillment but for His sake, then there is no end to the good you can do. And so even once you have fulfilled your personal mission, you go on to more and more tasks until your day is up.
Never say I have done enough. And don't be scared of running out of good deeds to do. There's still plenty of work to do. So do it.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
PS. There are rare cases when a soul is sent down here with one single mission to achieve, and once that is done, they are free to go back to heaven. Sad for us, these special souls leave us early, and we should be thankful for ever having met them.
Source: A Letter of the Rambam
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MEANINGFUL MOTHERHOOD BACK ON THIS WEEK
Mother as teacher - stages of development and when to teach what
Mondays 10am at Nefesh with Nechama Dina Moss and Shterny Dadon
SERVICES AT NEFESH
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SHABBOS SERVICES
Friday, 20 February 2015 | 1 Adar 5775
Earliest Candle Lighting 6:21 pm
Candle Lighting 7:25 pm
Mincha 6:15pm
Friday night Shabbos Service 6:30-7:15pm followed by Kiddush
Shabbos Day, 21 February 2015 | 2 Adar 5775
Parshas Terumah
The Chassidic Parshah Class 9:00am
Shabbos Service 10:00 am-12:15pm
Followed by Kiddush sponsored by the Moss family to welcome Nechama Dina and Bluma back from the Chabad Women's Conference in New York.
Mincha 7:20pm followed by Seuda Shlishis and words of Torah
Shabbos ends and Maariv 8:20pm
WEEKDAY SERVICES
Shacharis
Sunday 8:00 am
Monday-Friday 7:00 am
Latest Shema this week 9:52am
MAZAL TOV TO
Jason and Molly Gellert on the birth of a baby girl! Naming this Shabbos at mincha...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
Sholto Macpherson on 3 Adar/ 22 Feb
Doron Lever on 6 Adar/ 25 Feb
Jack Reuben on 6 Adar/ 25 Feb
LONG LIFE TO THE FOLLOWING WHO HAVE YOHRZEITS THIS WEEK
Abie Greengarten for his father Moshe Greengarten (Moshe Machum Uri ben Yisroel Yoel) on Rosh Chodesh Adar/ 19 Feb
Harold Judelman for his father Israel Judelman (Yisroel ben Zwi) on 2 Adar/ 21 Feb