When All Else Fails

Rabbi Brody is right – emunah is like a muscle. Unless you constantly work to maintain its strength, it will weaken. Challenges that you could easily hurdle, like lifting 30 pounds, gradually become impossible until you get back to the gym and start working out again.  

The actions we do in order to gain muscle strength both physically and spiritually are the same: resistance training.  

Only with harsh challenges is our emunah muscle pushed to the limits. Just like you learn new things the more you exercise, with emunah it’s the same.  

You go through similar challenges all your life only to learn new ways Hashem is watching over us.  

The Sure Thing 

After 20 years in Wall Street and Israeli High Tech, interviews no longer shock me.  

I had sure things go sour right at the end, and vice versa. There was an interview where I told a group of investment bankers how a guy got so angry at me, he took a Bloomberg machine and threatened to smash it over my head.  

They hired me on the spot.  

There were situations where I interviewed, didn’t hear from them for six weeks, and then got the job. There were situations where I got a call for an interview on Thursday, and then started working on Sunday.  

I’ve seen it all. . . or so I thought.  

Last week’s interview process never went so smoothly.  

I had an interview with the recruiter on Wednesday. We hit it off. The next day I spoke with the person I would be working for, and she gave me a writing assignment.  

Just after I handed it in, they set me up to speak with the head of Marketing.  

Not long after was I scheduled to meet with the co-founders of the company in their Tel Aviv offices.  

The meetings went perfectly.  

When Nothing Can Go Wrong 

After my meeting with the co-founders, I was sent back to the person I would be reporting to. We spoke for about half an hour about what I would be doing on the first day on the job. That was new for me. I never spoke about the actual work while still in the interview process.  

It was smoother than I had ever experienced.   

The next Sunday, I took my wife out to lunch to celebrate. The call would come that afternoon.  

It didn’t.  

Then Monday. My references checked in to say that they spoke to the company. A company doesn’t contact your references unless they’ve made up their mind.  

Tuesday comes and goes. Nothing.  

Wednesday.  

Thursday, I finally get the call.  

“Hi David. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We were really excited to meet you, but we decided to go in another direction.” 

Even after decades of experiences like these, it still stings. My emunah muscles must have atrophied.  

It took a week to finally let it all go.  

That’s when it hit me.  

If I can do something to absolute perfection and still fail, it shows that I am not running the show.  

This isn’t my world. I don’t make the rules.  

My job is to try as hard as I can and ask my Father for blessing in all that I do.  

He decides what will endure and what won’t. Nothing I do, no matter how perfect, changes Hashem’s outcome.  

It’s all up to Him.  

I do not, nor will I ever, stand on my own two feet. I am in my Daddy’s arms, like a baby, with no control over where I am headed.  

It’s better that way. He can see further out ahead, and He knows what’s best. Like any daddy, He will never do any harm to His child – or to any of His children.  

Whatever went wrong this year was for a wonderful purpose.  

Shana Tova! 

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The Ben Horin family lives in Afula with their children, a new high-tech center, Jewish and Arab neighbors, and Matilda, the local camel. David’s Israeli startup, Center Stage Content, provides content services for startups and small businesses.