Tafkid: Every Person is Born With a Specific Mission תפקיד ויעוד

This idea of Tafkid, תפקיד, or יעוד, has become ubiquitous: that God entrusted every Jew with a specific job to accomplish, placed him in the time and location where he can do that job, and endowed him with the particular talents he needs to do it.  We are told we need to identify our purpose, to find out what we were created to do, to learn what specific task it is with which we were entrusted.  Once we know that, we can focus our energy on accomplishing that task.

This sounds nice.  But as with any idea, one has to be aware that there are several possibilities: 

• it might be self-evident, so obviously true that it doesn't need to be proven;
• it might be an idea that we find in Chazal and which has been recognized for milennia;
• it might be found only in the recent baalei hashkafa;
• it might be New Age Judaism, something to inscribe on your moebius energy bracelet;
• or it might just be wishful thinking.

These five possibilities are not, unfortunately, mutually exclusive.

So, what do you think?  Let me clarify that.  I'm not interested in your opinion.  I want authoritative sources.

Here's what turned up.  There is no order to the sources.  I listed them either as I thought of them or as they were sent in. 

1. The Gaon in his new edition of his pirush on Mishlei, 16:4.  The Gaon says that some nevi'im, like Shmuel, were called "Haro'eh", the seer, because people would come to them and ask them for what specific job they were created לפי שורש נשמתו ולפי טבע גופו, in consonance with the root of their soul and their physical nature.  He also says that when nevua'h ended, this information would be imparted with Ruach Hakodesh.  However, the Gaon says that with the passage of time, our ability to hear what Ruach Hakodesh is telling us has become extremely attenuated.  It is highly unlikely that any of us can know what our true tafkid is.  Therefore, every person should do whatever mitzvos come to hand.

2. Tiferes Yisrael in Avos 4:3 on the Mishna of

אל תהי בז לכל אדם, ואל תהי מפליג לכל דבר, שאין לך אדם שאין לו שעה.

אף שעכשיו לא תראה בו צורך כלל בעולם, מדהוא משולל מכל דעת, ולא עוד אלא

שתראהו ג״כ דוחק עבדי ה' ורודפם, והוא כשחפת בעולם; עכ״פ דע שלא לחנם הניחו הקביה בחיים עדיין, על כרחך שיש בו עכשיו צורך הנעלם ממך, או שיבוא שעה שיהיה צורך בו, ומי יודע מהו הטוב שיתגלגל על ידו, ואל דעות השם'

Brief translation:

(The Mishna says "Do not denigrate any person...because every person has his hour.")  The Tiferes Yisrael says "Even though now you can't imagine of what possible use is such a man, because he is completely lacking sense, and even worse, he persecutes and pursues the servants of Hashem, he is like a disease in human form, even so- know that not for nothing does Hashem let him live; there must be some hidden need for his existence, or the time will come when he is needed.  Who knows what good can come through him?  Hashem is the Master of Wisdom.

3. Netziv: The Netziv is in the end of Parshas Shlach, Bamidbar 15:41, in the parsha of Tzitzis. He says that the passuk ‘velo sasuru acharei levavchem’ means that although Koheles says “ שמח בחור בילדותיך, ... והלך בדרכי לבך ” (rejoice in your youth, young man...and walk in the way of your heart), which means that “אם בא אדם לשאול איזהו דרך ישרה שיבור לו בדרך לימודו או במה להיות זהיר טפי על זה אמר קוהלת והלך בדרכי לבך מה שלבו נמשך אחריו ברור שמזלו חזי שזה ענין לפי כח נפשו” (if a man asks, what is the right path for me in learning or in scrupulousness, Koheles tells him to walk in the way of his heart, what his heart feels drawn to; it is clear that he subcounciously realizes that this type of thing is good for his specific abilities), because a person should choose to dedicate himself with special joy and diligence to a certain derech halimud or a mitzvah that he enjoys.  (Of course, he continues, the Torah warns that he should only choose from among the options that the Torah gives, and he shouldn’t innovate new paths and concepts, as did the mekosheish, even if it’s le'sheim shamayim. This is what the Torah means with “lo sasuru”-- like “vayasuru es Eretz Kna’an.”)

Please note that the Netziv is NOT saying that people were born with specific tasks, just that we were born with unique talents and predilections, and that one should work within that framework in order to succeed. The Netziv is using the concept of “chanoch l’naar ahl pi darko” for choosing a direction in life.

4.  The Satmerer in Vayo’eil Moshe in the beginning of Parshas Nasso says that a person that enjoys a particular mitzvah, and always looks for and finds opportunities to do it, was born for that mitzva. He uses this to explain why Kehas and not the bechor, Gershon, was given the task of carrying the Aron.

5.  Rav Kook: (echoing the Tiferes Yisrael)

אלקי, עד שלא נוצרתי איני כדאי, ועכשיו שנוצרתי כאלו לא נוצרתי. לפני שנוצרתי, כל אותו הזמן הבלתי מוגבל שמעולם עד שנוצרתי, ודאי לא היה דבר בעולם שהי' צריך לי. כי אם הייתי חסר בשביל איזו תכלית והשלמה הייתי נוצר, וכיון שלא נוצרתי עד אותו הזמן הוא אות, שלא הייתי כדאי עד אז להבראות, ולא היה בי צורך כי אם לעת כזאת שנבראתי, מפני שהגיעה השעה שאני צריך למלא איזה דבר להשלמת המציאות. ואילו הייתי מיחד מעשי אל תכלית בריאתי הנני עכשיו כדאי, אבל כיון שאין מעשי מכוונים לטוב התכלית הרי לא הגעתי אל תכלית בריאתי ואיני עדיין כדאי כמו קודם לכן

עולת ראיה ח"ב עמ' שנ"ו.

(Thank you, Micha.  Also, thank you to Rav Pinchas Rubenstein of http://www.lifnim.co.il/content.asp?pageid=97)

Brief translation:
....I was created because the time came for me to fill some need for the perfection of the real world.  If I were to dedicate my efforts toward fulfilling the purpose of my creation, I would be considered "worthy." ....

6.  Reb Tzadok :

אבל באמת כל אחד מישראל הוא מדוגל בדבר אחד על כל ישראל, ובדבר זה הוא בחינת מלך על כל ישראל ... וכל אחד יש לו דבר אחד, שבזה הוא נכתר בכתר על כל ישראל

פרי צדיק ח"ב עמ' 117.

Brief translation:

Every Jew is uniquely qualified in one aspect, superior in that respect to any other person. In that one matter, he is like a king over the Jewish People....

and also, almost identical with the Tiferes Yisrael,-  `

אין לך אדם שאין לו שעה: והיינו, שכל א' מישראל באותו שעה ובאותו עניין הוא הגדול מכל ישראל, וכן חבירו בשעה אחרת. והיינו, מפני שכל א' מישראל יש לו חלק בתורה, אות או חלק מאות, אשר בחוסר אותו האות או חלק ממנו הס"ת פסול 

פרי צדיק ח"ד עמ' 6

Brief translation:

Every Jew has a time and place when he is the only one that can do a necessary task.... this is because every Jew has his own portion in the Torah, he is represented by one of the 600,000 "letters" in the Torah, and without him, the Sefer Torah is passul.

7.  The Sfas Emes in Parshas Korach 5647, (sent in by Chaim B.) quotes his grandfather as having said exactly this idea in the Mishna of Im ein ani li mi li.  See it at the marvelous hebrewbooks.org here

במשנה כל מחלוקת שהיא לש״ש סופה להתקיים זו מחלוקת שמאי והלל ושאינה לשם שמים מחלוקת קרח וכו' וכן הוא בזוה״ק דפליג על שבת שנק׳ שלום ואחיד במחלוקת ע״ש. כי בודאי יש מקום לחילוקי דיעות שנמצא בבנ״י כמ״ש כשם שאין פרצופיהם שוה כן אין דיעותיהם שווה. והענין עפ״י מ״ש אא״ז מו״ר ז'ל על המשנה אם אין אני לי מי לי כי כל אדם נברא לתקן דבר מיוחד שאין אחר יכול לתקן וכן בכל זמן וזמן מיוחד תיקון אחר.עכ״ז כשאני לעצמי מה אני שצריך כל אחד לבטל חלק פרטי שלו אל הכלל ע״כ דפח״ח

Brief translation:
In the mishna (in Avos) "any dispute that is motivated by a desire to do Hashem's work will have a positive result, such as the disputes between Shamai and Hillel, but if the disputants are motivated by self-interest, it will end badly, such as the dispute of Korach etc. .....  Certainly, there is a place for the inevitable differences of opinion among G-d fearing Jews.... As my grandfather said regarding the Mishna "If I am not for myself, who will be for me," that every man was created to correct one specific problem that nobody else can correct, and every moment presents its own particular task.  Still, if I focus only on my personal purpose, what am I?  Because every person needs to subordinate his own share to the community.

8.  Rav Rudderman used to say this pshat in the davening of the Yamim Nora'im.  מעשה איש ופקודתו, Ma'asei Ish Ufekodaso, he said, meant that Hashem compares what each man has done, מעשה איש,  and  פקודתו, his Pekidah, his tafkid.  Unfortunately, for most of us, there is a vast gulf between what we could have and should have done and what we do.


9.  Reb Yosef Ber Soloveichik (quoted by Rabbi Shachter) used to say that (Kiddushin 31b and Yerushalim Pei'ah 1:1) someone said that Reb Tarfon used to do tremendous Kibbud Eim, and the other Tannaim said "Ha! He hasn't even come close to fulfilling the mitzvah!"  It seems that they are denigrating his great sacrifices and efforts.  Rav Yosef Ber explained that when a person fulfills his purpose, Hashem takes him to Gan Eden.  The Tannaim were saying that he has not even a little done what he is capable of doing, so there is good reason for Hashem to let him stay in this world.

10.  Rav Dessler in Michtav Mei'Eliahu II:158 and IV:99 says that everyone was created for a specific purpose and he is preordained with abilities and circumstances and spouse and years of life to effectuate his tafkid.  He uses this to explain the Gemara in Moed Kattan 28 "bani chayi umezoni... b'mazla talya milsa."


So, we have great geonim who do say this idea, and even read it into two mishnayos in Avos, though more in the way of drash than pshat in the Mishna.  The Shiurei Daas probably says something about this too.  According to great unknown, everything I ought to know and don't know is in the Shiurei Daas.  Or maybe its "I ought to know everything in the Shiurei Daas, and I don't."  But I do know there's no such Gemara, and I would be thrilled to find out that it's in some Medrash or Rishon.

Micha and Chaim B - and Yehuda Oppenheimer, a welcome latecomer to our website- brought up very nice points, as follows.

Micha: Given that we are all made unique and Hashem intervenes to give each of us what He feels is appropriate (Hashgacha Pratis for all people), and given that Hakadosh Baruch Hu isn't arbitrary, one is compelled to believe He has a unique purpose for each of us.

Chaim B: When people talk about gilgulim, they either say that they're going around because they need to correct an error they committed in a previous life, or because they didn't do what they were sent to do. If a soul has a specific mission, then it makes sense that it has to keep coming back until its job is done.

Yehuda Oppenheimer:  Reb Moshe in Vaeira, that although Moshe was greater than Aaron, they were שקולים in the sense that שניהם עשו מה שנצטוו ונשלחו - they both completed their individual שליחות.  With that he explains the Gemara of עולם ברור ראית (Bava Basra 10b) that

 אלו שכחם קטן בכשרונותיהם אבל עשו כפי כחם קיימו שליחותם בעוה"ז ולכן הם למעלה 

and
Avos 2:8 explained in Ruach Chaim with this idea. On the Mishna אם למדת תורה הרבה אל תחזיק טובה לעצמך כי לכך נוצרת, Reb Chaim Volozhiner understands it to mean:

אל תאמר כי כבר יצאת ידי חובתך למה שנבראת עבורו ... ואמר "כי לכך נוצרת" כי הנה כל אדם נברא לתקן מה, זה דבר זה וזה דבר אחר 

After all was said and done, I added the following:
From the forensic perspective, I would say that both ideas, universal Hashgacha and gilgulim, plus the absence of earlier sources, point to the Ari z"l. I have a feeling we'll eventually find a reference to the idea in his writings or in the Ramchal. As Alexandre Dumas might say, Cherchez le Arizal.

So now that we've determined that is an idea with strong support among our gedolim, we should take it seriously.  How do we use the idea in our daily lives?

First, as the Gaon pointed out, you have to realize that nobody can know with certainty what his tafkid is.  It's not like we get marching orders from the famalia shel ma'ala.  We're left to try to figure out what we ought to be doing, based on hints and intuition and so on.  I guess this process is part of learning to know yourself, which is valuable in itself.  So it's worth spending some time assessing our abilities and circumstances, and pondering what role we might effectively play in Hashem's plan.

Speculatively, one might say that finding your life's work is like finding your life's mate.  The Gemara in Sotah 2a says that forty days before a child is formed, a voice comes from Heaven and proclaims the appropriate shidduch for that child.  All things being equal, (and despite the Gemara in Moed Kattan 18b about Shema yekadmenu and the Meiri about what zivug sheini means and Ibn Kreskas about hashgacha and hishtadlus,) we believe that the person one marries is the person that was designated for him.  Perhaps the same can be said of the Tafkid: we are obligated to do our best to discover what we were meant to do, and all things being equal, what we focus on is what we were meant to do.  And perhaps it might not be us that does our assignment, but rather a descendant who carries something of us within them.

Second, the idea that each person is created with a tafkid is a consolation to people who are not gifted with natural talents, or who are handicapped; it doesn't matter.  Every person with a spark of self-awareness is created with the opportunity to do something important, we all contribute in some way to the betterment of the world and to the fulfillment of Hashem's plan.  Our only obligation is to play the hand we're dealt as best we can.  No person's achievements can be judged by comparison to others'.  As the Gemara (Erchin 11b) says, Meshorer sheshi'eir bemissa: a Levi whose job it is to guard the doors is not expected to sing, and if he attempts it, it is a mortal sin.  If you're a meshoreir, then sing! If you're a sho'eir, then guard!

Third, if you're convinced that you are uniquely qualified to do a certain job, and someone tries to take it away from you, don't just quietly walk away.  Fight for your destiny!  To silently abdicate your crown you were born to wear is not only shameful, it is a denial of the significance of your entire existence.

~~~~~~~

I found that Reb Chaim Vital in his Hakdama to Shaar Hahakdamos says this idea.  Here it is, three quarters of the way through the hakdama.  Starting with the words "Ki chol hatzadikim vechol ba'ei olam mizera yisrael."  Here's part of it:

וכבר נרמז כ"ז גם בדברי רז"ל במדרשים וכמ"ש בשמות רבה פ' כי תשא וכן במדרש תנחומא בפ' כי תשא ע"פ איפה היית ביסדי ארץ וגם ע"פ ראו קרא ה' בשם בצלאל וכו' כי כל הצדיקים וכל באי עולם מזרע ישראל תלוים בגופו של אדה"ר זה בגופו וזה בראשו וזה באזנו וזה בצוארו וכו' וכן עד"ז כל הנפשות תלויות בנפשו וכל הרוחות ברוחו וכל הנשמות בנשמתו וכמו שגופו של אדה"ר כלול מרמ"ח אברים ושס"ה גודים כן נפשו רוחו ונשמתו גם כלם תלויים בתורה שיש בה רמ"ח מצות עשה ושס"ה מצות לא תעשה אשר ז"ס מ"ש רז"ל א"ל ר' פלוני אבוך במאי הוה זהיר וכו' ואל זה רמזו ז"ל המאמר הזה בשיר השירים במ"ש ועל מה אתיא להאי גופה סרוחה וכו' גם כל העולמות כלם הם בחי' אדם אחד כלול מתרי"ג אברים וגידים וכמו שמצינו כנפי הארץ טבור הארץ עין הארץ לב השמים וכיוצא באלו וכנזכר בפרשת הזהר בריש פרשת תולדות דף קל"ד ע"א וז"ל לית לך כל שייפא ושייפא דקיימא ביה בב"נ דלא הוי לקבליה בריה בעלמא דהא כמה דב"נ איהו מתפליג שייפין וכו' הכי נמי עלמא כל אינן בריין כלהו שייפין שייפין קיימין על אילין וכו' ואל זה רמז מ"ש למעלה למינדע ליה לגופא ולאשתמודע מן איהו וכו' ואמר עוד וחד למנדע ולאסתכלא בהאי עלמא דאיהו ביה ועל מה אתתקן באופן כי האדם צריך להשיג ע"י טרחו בחכמה הזאת עד שידע שורשו ואחיזתו בגוף האדם העליון היכן וכן ברוחו ונפשו ונשמתו וכן אחיזתו במצות התורה בפרטות היכן עיקר אחיזתו ובזה תבין ותשכיל מ"ש חז"ל כל העושה מצוה אחת מטיבין לו ומאריכין ימיו ונוחל את הארץ וכל מי שאינו עושה מצוה אחת אין מטיבין לו ואין מאריכין ימיו וכו'

To my untrained eye, this is much closer to the Netziv's idea than to Reb Tzadok's.   But the Lubavitcher Rebbe in his Likute Sichos (12 Tamuz '14 and 16 Tamuz '12) uses it like the latter.

From the Lubavitcher, briefly:
Sein chelkeinu be'sorasecha (Avos 5:20) means that each person has an insight to Torah that nobody else can reveal, as we see that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know the things that Reb Akiva taught (Menachos 29a.)
We find that certain Tana'im took particular care to do certain mizvos, in a sense specializing in fulfilling that mitzva as perfectly and fully as possible.  This is because each person has his own unique connection to the Torah and the Mitzvos.
When a person sees that his attempts to do a certain mitzva always are unusually difficult, he should realize that those are the mitzvos he was born to do, and the Yetzer Hara is being moser nefesh to stop him.  (This, by the way, is something the Chasidim often say; I also saw it in the Slonimer's sefer.  The Netziv, on the other hand, says that the way to know what you were born to do is to think about what comes most easily to you.  This sounds like a diametric contradiction, but it's not.  They're both talking about things that you are drawn to do but find difficult to achieve.)

A new citation:  The Chasam Sofer quotes the Rambam as having said a very similar thing in a letter to his son. The Chasam Sofer quotes this Rambam three times that I know of; in his drashos in Parshas Ki Savo, in his introduction to his teshuvos in Yoreh Deiah, and in his pirush on Maseches Gittin. But I haven't found the Rambam inside yet, despite all the databases I have.  In any case, Rabbi Klein cites it in his Mishna Halachos vol 13 #210 as follows:

למאן דלא חזינא קמברכינא ה"ה כבוד האי צורב עוסק בחוקי חורב יחזקאל אלימלך אייזענבערג הי"ו בישיבה הגדולה צאנז נתניה.

דבר אשר נסתבך בענין מה שאמרו ז"ל שצריך לבקש רחמים על החולה שהרי ידוע שיסורין ממרקין עונותיו של אדם א"כ טובה הוא לו מה שיסורין באים עליו וזה הוא גם בכלל להתפלל עליו לרפואה ואולי מוטב שימות קודם זמנו והלא בחנוך כתיב ויתהלך חנוך את האלקים ואיננו כי לקח אותו שלא יתקלקל והביא גם מה שכתב הרמב"ם באגרת דמוטב לו לאדם כשמת צעיר שיקלקל פחות והח"ס הקשה על זה והאריך עוד בזה.

 

הנה ראשונה הנני להעיר שנשתבש מאד ונתקלקל לו יסוד הדברים ונתערבו זה בזה, והלוא מקרא מפורש בתורה שמצוה להתפלל על חולה, ויחל משה מכאן שמצוה להתפלל על החולה עד שיחלה עצמו עליו, ובשמו"ע בברכת רפאינו ועוד והקב"ה מתאוה לתפלתן של צדיקים ומה שכתב בשם אגרת הרמב"ם דמוטב לו לאדם כשמת צעיר והקשה עליו הח"ס וכתב דלא ידע מקומו אמת דיבר דאין מכתב כזה  ולא כתב הרמב"ם כן אלא שכתב הרמב"ם ז"ל אשרי מי שחתם ימיו במהרה כלומר אשרי לו לאדם שהשלים את כל מצותיו ותפקידו בעוה"ז והולך לו למנוחות לעוה"ב כאדם השלם שהשלים על מה שבא לעוה"ז וע"ז הקשה מרן הח"ס דא"כ כשרואין צדיקים מאריכין ימים יש ח"ו מקום לטעות שלא שלמו ימיהם במהרה ואינם צדיקים גמורין ותי' שהקב"ה מניחן בשביל הבנים שיגדלם או בשביל שצריכין לטובת הצבור וזה שאמר והותירך ה' לטובה בפרי בטנך ובזה נראה לישב הצדיק אבד ואין איש שם על לב וגו' כי מפני הרעה נאסף הצדיק ולכאורה אולי מת מפני שבא זמנו למות ולהנ"ל זה אינו שהרי הצדיק זמנו כבר השלים בעודו צעיר לימים ומה שהאריך ימים הוא רק לטובת הכלל שצריכין לו ואם רואים בשמים שאינם כדאי שיחי' עוד מפני הרעה ח"ו יאבד הצדיק מן העולם וז"ש הצדיק אבד ולא שמת דלצדקתו כבר השלים ימיו ועכשיו לדורו הוא דאבד והבן.

  

And another teshuva from Rabbi Klein there #214:

ומיהו אלו אין להם שייכות עם מה שכתב הרמב"ם אשרי מי שחתם ימיו במהרה כי הרמב"ם ז"ל מיירי במי  שיש לו תפקיד מיוחד להשלים את עצמו בהשלמה זו ולמשל מי שנשלח מחוץ למדינתו לרכוש כמה דברים  והוא בזריזות עשה הכל ורכש כל הצריך וגדולה מזו בזמן קצר הרי הוא שמח לחזור לביתו במוקדם האפשר  כל שאין לו עוד שם מה לעשות וכן הוא אם מי שחתם ימיו במהרה שכבר תקן הכל ולא כן אלו שהרי נלקחו  מפני הסכנה להם או החשש שלא יתקלקלו וזה פשוט מאד. 

And here's the Chasam Sofer himself in his pirush to Gittin 55b, talking about the same Rambam:

ידוע מ"ש רמב"ם באגרותיו כי לכל אדם ניתן מדה ופלס מה יתקן בעולמו וכשגמר תיקונו יפטר לעולם הבא ואשרי מי שחתם ימיו מהרה אלו דבריו שם, ואומר אני אשרי הנ"ל נאמר לאפוקי המתעצל ומתרשל אבל מי שגמר תיקונו המחויב ומנדבת לבו רוצה וחפץ לעבוד ה' עוד באחריתו טוב מראשיתו אזי טוב לו חיותו בעולם הזה.

The only Rambam I found that was anywhere near this was what he wrote in a Mussar to his son, which is worth reading for many reasons, as will become clear.

ודע בני כי האדם המסכן בזה העולם השפל הנבזה אין לו מנוחה בו ואשריו למי שחתמו ימיו מהרה בלא טרדת נפשו. ולולי זה החכם הנזכר רבי אברהם אבן עזרא זצ"ל אשר העירני על ענינים רבים ולא ידעתי בהם אלא אחר שחברתי פירוש המשנה והחבור שקראתיו משנה תורה וספר מורה הנבוכים, הייתי מעירך על סודותיו שרמז בחבוריו ובספריו. והשמר לך שלא תטריד שכלך הזך ונפשך היקרה אלא בחבורינו וחבוריו וזולתם שוא ותפל ויכלה הזמן והם לא יכלו. ושמור נפשך מאד מדברי רוב חבורי אנשי צרפת היא פרנצ"ה אשר לא יראה להם שהם מכירים הבורא יתברך אלא בעת אכלם בשר השור שלוק מטובל בחומץ ובשומים והוא טבול הנקרא בלשונם סלס"א ויעלה איד החומץ ועשן השומים אל מוחם ויחשבו אז להשיג בהם הבורא יתברך בכל שעה, ושהוא קרוב בתפילותיהן וצעקותיהן בקראם בתלמוד וזולתו מחבורים ומדברי ראשי ישיבות, גם בשומם הבורא יתברך מדרס לשונם בספרם ובזכרם הבורא ית' בכל שעה באותם הדברים המגשימים הבורא ית' עלוי רב וגדול מדברי הכופרים חלילה לו. ויוציאו ספרי תורה ללא צורך יברכו בהם הקהלות:

It's interesting because it seems to say what Rabbi Klein says was not said by the Rambam, and because of his high regard for the Ibn Ezra, and because of his less respectful opinion of the French Bnei Torah.


March 2018: 

I just saw an article written by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks which discusses, and more importantly, Illustrates, the idea expressed above.  It is to be found here:
http://www.aish.com/tp/i/sacks/476486613.html?s=mm


Vayikra(Leviticus 1-5) 

The Call

It was never my ambition or aspiration to be a rabbi. I went to university to study economics. I then switched to philosophy. I also had a fascination with the great British courtroom lawyers, legendary figures like Marshall Hall, Rufus Isaacs and F. E. Smith. To be sure, relatively late, I had studied for the rabbinate, but that was to become literate in my own Jewish heritage, not to pursue a career.

What changed me, professionally and existentially, was my second major yechidut - face-to-face conversation, - with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in January 1978. To my surprise, he vetoed all my career options: economist, lawyer, academic, even becoming a rabbi in the United States. My task, he said, was to train rabbis. There were too few people in Britain going into the rabbinate and it was my mission to change that.

What is more, he said, I had to become a congregational rabbi, not as an end in itself but so that my students could come and see how I gave sermons (I can still hear in my mind's ear how he said that word with a marked Russian accent: sirmons). He was also highly specific as to where I was to work: in Jews' College (today, the London School of Jewish Studies), the oldest extant rabbinical seminary in the English-speaking world.

So I did. I became a teacher at the College, and later its Principal. Eventually I became - again after consulting with the Rebbe - Chief Rabbi. For all this I have to thank not only the Rebbe, but also my wife Elaine. She did not sign up for this when we married. It was not even on our horizon. But without her constant support I could not have done any of it.


I tell this story for a reason: to illustrate the difference between a gift and a vocation, between what we are good at and what we are called on to do. These are two very different things. I have known great judges who were also brilliant pianists. Wittgenstein trained as an aeronautical engineer but eventually dedicated his life to philosophy. Ronald Heifetz qualified as a doctor and a musician but instead became the founder of the School of Public Leadership at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. We can be good at many things, but what gives a life direction and meaning is a sense of mission, of something we are called on to do.

That is the significance of the opening word of today's parsha, that gives its name to the entire book: Vayikra, "He called." Look carefully at the verse and you will see that its construction is odd. Literally translated it reads: "He called to Moses, and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying ..." The first phrase seems to be redundant. If we are told that God spoke to Moses, why say in addition, "He called"?

The answer is that God's call to Moses was something prior to and different from what God went on to say. The latter were the details. The former was the summons, the mission - not unlike God's first call to Moses at the burning bush where He invited him to undertake the task that would define his life: leading the people out of exile and slavery to freedom in the Promised Land.

Why this second call? Probably because the book of Vayikra has, on the face of it, nothing to do with Moses. The original name given to it by the sages was Torat Cohanim, "the Law of the Priests"[1] - and Moses was not a priest. That role belonged to his brother Aaron. So it was as if God were saying to Moses: this too is part of your vocation. You are not a priest but you are the vehicle through which I reveal all My laws, including those of the priests.

We tend to take the concept of a vocation - the word itself comes from the Latin for a "call" - for granted as if every culture has such an idea. However, it is not so. The great German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) pointed out that the idea of vocation, so central to the social ethic of Western culture, is essentially "a religious conception, that of a task set by God."[2]

It was born in the Hebrew Bible. Elsewhere there was little communication between the gods and human beings. The idea that God might invite human beings to become His partners and emissaries was revolutionary. Yet that is what Judaism is about.

Jewish history began with God's call to Abraham, to leave his land and family. God called to Moses and the prophets. There is a particularly vivid account in Isaiah's mystical vision in which he saw God enthroned and surrounded by singing angels:

Then I heard the Voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

The most touching account is the story of the young Samuel, dedicated by his mother Hannah to serve God in the sanctuary at Shiloh where he acted as an assistant to Eli the priest. In bed at night he heard a voice calling his name. He assumed it was Eli. He ran to see what he wanted but Eli told him he had not called. This happened a second time and then a third, and by then Eli realised that it was God calling the child. He told Samuel that the next time the Voice called his name, he should reply, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.' It did not occur to the child that it might be God summoning him to a mission, but it was. Thus began his career as a prophet, judge and anointer of Israel's first two kings, Saul and David (1 Samuel 3).

These were all prophetic calls, and prophecy ended during the Second Temple period. Nonetheless the idea of vocation remains for all those who believe in Divine providence. Each of us is different, therefore we each have unique talents and skills to bring to the world. The fact that I am here, in this place, at this time, with these abilities, is not accidental. There is a task to perform, and God is calling us to it.

The man who did more than anyone to bring this idea back in recent times was Viktor Frankl, the psychotherapist who survived Auschwitz. There in the camp he dedicated himself to giving people the will to live. He did so by getting them to see that their lives were not finished, that they still had a task to perform, and that therefore they had a reason to survive until the war was over.

Frankl insisted that the call came from outside the self. He used to say that the right question was not "What do I want from life?" but "What does life want from me?" He quotes the testimony of one of his students who earlier in life had been hospitalised because of mental illness. He wrote a letter to Frankl containing these words:

But in the darkness, I had acquired a sense of my own unique mission in the world. I knew then, as I know now, that I must have been preserved for some reason, however small; it is something that only I can do, and it is vitally important that I do it ... In the solitary darkness of the "pit" where men had abandoned me, He was there. When I did not know His name, He was there; God was there.[3]

Reading Psalms in the prison to which the KGB had sent him, Natan Sharansky had a similar experience.[4]

Frankl believed that "Every human person constitutes something unique; each situation in life occurs only once. The concrete task of any person is relative to this uniqueness and singularity."[5] The essence of the task, he argued, is that it is self-transcending. It comes from outside the self and challenges us to live beyond mere self-interest. To discover such a task is to find that life - my life - has meaning and purpose.

How do you discover your vocation? The late Michael Novak argued[6] that a calling has four characteristics. First, it is unique to you. Second, you have the talent for it. Third, it is something which, when you do it, gives you a sense of enjoyment and renewed energy. Fourth, do not expect it to reveal itself immediately. You may have to follow many paths that turn out to be false before you find the true one.

Novak quotes Logan Pearsall Smith who said, "The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves." All real achievement requires backbreaking preparation. The most common estimate is 10,000 hours of deep practice. Are you willing to pay this price? It is no accident that Vayikra begins with a call - because it is a book about sacrifices, and vocation involves sacrifice. We are willing to make sacrifices when we sense that a specific role or task is what we are called on to do.

This is a life-changing idea. For each of us God has a task: work to perform, a kindness to show, a gift to give, love to share, loneliness to ease, pain to heal, or broken lives to help mend. Discerning that task, hearing God's call, is what gives a life meaning and purpose. Where what we want to do meets what needs to be done, that is where God wants us to be.

NOTES:

1. Hence the Latin name Leviticus, meaning, "pertaining to the Levites," i.e. the priestly tribe. 
2. Quoted in Michael Novak, Business as a Calling: work and the examined life, Free Press, 1996, 17.
3. Viktor Frankl, The Unconscious God, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1975, 11.
4. Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil, New York : Vintage Books, 1989.
5. Viktor Frankl, The Doctor and the Soul, Souvenir Press, 1969, 57.

6. Michael Novak, Business as a Calling, Free Press, 1996, 17-40