Why She Didn’t Fire Me

Among the benefits of bitachon is that trust in G-d will bring a man not to serve any other entity. He will divest himself from their favors and from the bother of being gracious to them, as well as from the obligation to pay them back for any good they do to him. – “The Gate of Trust in God”, Introduction  

We worked together for about six months. She told me exactly what she wanted me to do, then told me the results she expected from these efforts.  

There is a difference between what I can do and the results these actions produce. Sometimes, I can do a little and dazzle a client with an amazing outcome. 

This wasn’t the case. Call it a bad year for business. Call it an uncooperative algorithm. Call it bad timing. After I did everything she asked, none of the results she wanted materialized.  

At the end of the contract, she demanded a meeting with me.  

I knew what came next. You win some and lose some. She was going to fire me pronto.  

The Gate of Trust 

A friend told me that since the war began, she started to read “Sha’ar HaBitachon” (“The Gate of Trust in God”) by Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pekuda. [Editor’s Note: “The Gate of Trust in God” is in  Chovot HaLavavot – Duties of the Heart Volume 1, Section 4]. This chapter is core reading on developing faith and trust in Hashem.  I took her advice and started to read.  

The book is timeless. For every different phase in your life and for every different phase in the world around you, The Gate of Trust in God teaches you how to accept it as Hashem’s Will.  

The Introduction talks about the benefits of having faith. It focuses on how we don’t have to flatter people who have what we want or can help us. When we accept that everything comes from God and that they are mere couriers of His Will, we treat them in the way that Hashem commands and not according to what we want from them. If they ask us to do something inappropriate, like laugh at a joke that has loshon hara, we won’t because we know that it’s not important what they think of us. Hashem is the One Who decides if we get the things that we want, so we only need to “flatter” Him.  

I took this to heart as I entered the meeting.  

A Complete Shock 

The meeting started as expected. She spent half an hour telling me all the ways we fell short of our goals. I smiled. I knew that she is responsible to deliver these results and that she bears the consequences of not achieving them.  

As the time went on, I could see her getting frustrated. Then, she took a deep breath. I was waiting for her to drop the sword and get it over with. Instead, another fifteen minutes of venting her frustrations.  

Then, she said something I never expected: 

“David, what do we do for the next six months? I need your help on this.” 

Ya’akov never expected Yoseph to be alive, but Hashem showed his kids to Ya’akov! 

I never expected to come out of the meeting in one piece, and here I am, signed on for another contract.  

He Who Decides Income 

I’ve had job interviews that ended well – so well that the person who would be in charge of me sits me down after the final interview to tell me what I will be doing on my first day of work. Two days later, I’m told that they changed their mind.  

I’ve had job interviews where it was clear as day that the position would be better filled by someone else  . . . only for the interviewer to prolong the interview to find ways they can keep me in the running.  

King Solomon teaches that “… the race does not belong to the swift, nor the war to the mighty; neither do the wise have bread…” (Kohelet 9:11) 

Young lions, the strongest of the earth, go hungry, but those that seek Hashem lack nothing.  

God is the boss. He gives. He takes . . . and He does it all for our benefit.  

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, 300 Marketing Solutions, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO-optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.