As this year draws to an end, one thing that does not look so bright is the stock market. And people who are looking forward to retiring, and those already retired, are asking the question, is it so wrong to look forward to retirement? And now with the market the way it is, they don’t have the confidence to do so. Is this a good or bad thing?
On the one hand, we have to feel bad because the market is down, and we want the potential retiree to have a break from work. However, perhaps there is an upside as well.
In this week’s Torah portion, Vayeishev, we read about how Jacob wants to relax. He is aging; he has had a long and challenging life. He had to deal with Esau, with Lavan as a boss, with the death of his beloved wife, the obduction of Dina, and now he has a whole family to raise. He just wants to live in peace and tranquility. Instead, his sons sell his favorite son, Joseph, into slavery and Jacob believes that Joseph is dead. This is not a way to live out your life. In the end, he does have the “best years of his life” ahead of him, but that is yet to come.
Why is he deprived of his retirement at this point, and only is rewarded with it seventeen years later? Is he too young for retirement?
Our sages say that it is not so simple. It is true that Jacob could have laid back at this point in his life and relaxed, and even benefited from all of his hard work up until this point – including all the trials and tribulations that he went through. The reward would have been well earned. However, the rewards of retirement would have been in accordance to his challenges. Yet, this one last excruciating challenge of “losing” Joseph, the pain and suffering that he went through during those seventeen years of separation, prepared him for, and propelled him to, greater heights, heights that he was unable to reach before the challenge. Only because of this great and difficult time, that his children put him through, was he sent into this deep soul-searching journey, so that when he was eventually reunited with his son, he was able to reach a level of happiness, and true inner joy that he was unable to achieve before.
In our own lives, we don’t understand the market forces, nor do we understand the life challenges or experiences that we face. The whys of life are beyond our understanding. What we do have at our disposal is how we respond to them. Instead of kvetching, we can and should look at our date of retirement as an opportunity for growth. Just as Jacob was able to grow during his time of waiting, so can we grow as well. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take seventeen years and that it is not as painful.
Shabbat Shalom