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With deep pleasure, we wish
everyone a very
Happy and Healthy New Year.
May you be inscribed in
The Book of Life.

the end, it was his des-
tiny and he had to go.
How do we know our
true calling? Rick
Jarow, in his beautiful
set of audiotapes titled
"Your Life's Work,"
explains: "The sense of
calling has its origins
in the deepest recesses
of our being. It is the
call of the heart which
is not necessarily heard
as a physical voice, but
often as a feeling, as a
yearning, or even as a
restless sense that
something is missing
in our life.
"This sense of call-
ing is literally the
breath of the divine
emerging through the
clamor and haste of
the world. To follow it
is to make your very
life beautiful no matter
what the circum-
stances.
"To listen to it is to
respect yourself; to
honor it is the first
step in the creation of
an open, free, and
compassionate society;
and to cultivate it is
the work that pleases the inner being.
And when the inner being is pleased,
the world will smile upon it."
When varied human beings come
together, each following a unique call-
ing, they create a beautiful, complex
masterpiece. Each has a role in perfect-
ing the world as a kingdom of God.
A story about Sir Michael Conti
rehearsing the London Symphony to
play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony illus-
trates this truth.
The full orchestra and a large chorus
were singing the fourth movement,
when the piccolo player suddenly
stopped playing.
He said to himself, "Everybody else
is so loud, they cannot hear me any-
how. What is the difference if I play?"
Sir Conti suddenly stopped the
rehearsal and shouted, "Where is the
piccolo? I do not hear the piccolo!"
Sometimes we need to take time out
of our lives to consider our mission.
We need to disappear from work and
family obligations for a brief period.
Even a week in the mountains or a day
at the beach can help.
During one particularly difficult
year, the demands of my synagogue
were pulling me in too many direc-

"We are not the same
as our parents. They
certainly raised us and
gave us our values, and
therefore they are
worthy of honor, but
we are not here to live
their lives or fulfill
their dreams. We have
our own unique gifts
to give the world
and our own mission
,,
to complete.

• Pasta Specialties • Pizza
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OPEN DAILY - LUNCH & DINNER

OPEN WEEKDAYS UNTIL 2:00 AM

WEEKENDS UNTIL 3:30 AM

A Ferndale Favorite Since 1961

Woodward at 9 Mile • (248) 548-5005

— Rabbi Michael Gold

tions. I had lost my focus. I took a
week by myself in the Pocono
Mountains to think and re-evaluate.
My strength has always been as a
teacher applying the wisdom of the
past to the human realities of today. I
needed to concentrate on this mission.
That summer is when I began writing
my book.
Each of us ought to study our own
lives at times, perhaps coming away with
some deep and useful insight: "Aha! This
is why God put me on this earth."
Try to write your life's mission as an
"elevator speech." Suppose you were
on an elevator moving down from the
fifth floor with a total stranger. You
have about thirty seconds, until you
reach the first floor, to describe your
life's mission.
What would you say? ❑

— The above article is adapted from
Rabbi Michael Gold's new book, "The
Ten Journeys of Life: Walking the Path
of Abraham" (Health Communications,
$10.95), available from Simcha Press.
Rabbi Gold, the spiritual leader of
Temple Beth Torah in Tamarac, Fla.,
can be reached through his Web site
at www.rabbigold.com.

• Excellent
choices for lunch
specials.

ef HONG HUA

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27925 ORCHARD L.Ala. ROAD • FARMINGTON HILLS

248-489-2280

HOURS: 11

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\S A \VI I K

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9/14

2001

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