Story of the Day 4/ 10/ 2012

Aaron is home from the yeshivah in Israel.
We are concerned about his future.
He is 21.
He is a college dropout.
He sleeps in our basement.

Okay, he sleeps in his bedroom, we dont' have a basement and the crawlspace has spiders.

He had a great time at the yeshivah in Israel, except for the mice, and the city , and the....
and he has been looking for another yeshivah,
But no amopunt of yesivah opportunities is going to keep him from bouncing back to our basement, crawlspace, his bedroom, unless he has some idea what he wants to do. You know a goal, other than sleeping in our basement.

I should probably define this better. A a job. A career, some way to earn enough money to move out of whatever sleeping space his old parents are providing.
hopefully before he is 35.
This is a real concern of ours.

Apparently, the head-honcho rabbi at his yeshivah, or at least of his program at the yeshivah had the same concern.
He was kind enough to give some of his time to Aaron, so that Aaron could discuss his future plans.

Aaron made a list- a list of possible career aspirations before the meeting.
Aaron went down the list of options with the rabbi.

Aaron told him that his first choice would be to marry a nice Jewsh girl... who is rich.
The rabbi told Aaron that he didn't' think this was the right goal to work towards.

Aaron then told him that his second choice would be to earn a living as a stand up comedian.

The rabbi hesitated for a moment.
I am sure he was envisioning my 6'3" baby boy, with the big smile and the white shirt and necktie and the large black velevt yarmulke standing in front of a group of somewhat inebriated, not very modestly dressed men and...women... amidst a smokey haze that was hopefully from cigarettes, and telling...jokes.
Not knock knock jokes, either.

The rabbi then told Aaron that he thought that this goal was also not the right one to be working towards.

Aaron pulled out his list, and recited his third possible goal.
He would like to make movies.
Films.
Videos.
Probably with the same people from the bar.
Of course, when he was in college, before he dropped out, and he was studying filmmaking, the head of that department thought this was a pretty good goal.
But the head-honcho-rabbi-guy is part of a yeshivah that doesn't' allow any videos at all. No Youtube, no DVD Saturday night movies, no.....



So, Aaron, who had come prepared to this meeting, recited the 4th possible career he had written down on his list.
He would like to herd sheep.

The rabbi was...startled.
He had not, in all of his years of being rabbi , heard any of his students express this particular goal.
He was not sure how to respond.
Was this better or worse than being stand-up comedian?
He finally replied, "Most of the people who do that are Arabs."
He thought another moment, then added, "And I am not sure where you would go to learn that."

All of the sudden goal number one was sounding lot more realistic, or ...something.
At least to Aaron's parents.
Either that or buying a lottery ticket.

But Aaron didn't discuss buying a lottery ticket. At least, not with the rabbi.

I also need to add that the idea of meeting with the rabbi to discuss his career options was NOT the rabbi's idea. It was Aaron's.
Yes, Aaron was actually concerned, although, I think that after hearing this list of options, the rabbi was more concerned than Aaron.
This is just feeling, mind you. A very strong feeling.

The rabbi is obviously very thoughtful person, though, and after hearing Aaron's list of ...options, decided that film would be an okay thing to pursue.

But he told Aaron that his BEST option would probably be marrying that nice, rich Jewish girl.