Reflections of a Full Back


Back in my footballing days, my preferred position was full-back. It lacked the glitz of the full forward position, but I never felt less useful. While his role was kicking goals, mine was to prevent them.

You might be familiar with the formula of “job, career and calling” – three modes of relating to one’s particular occupation. Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour, found the people with the highest level of satisfaction in their workplace saw their work not just as a way to earn money (job), or a path towards self-fulfilment (career), but rather as a way of perfecting the world (calling).

Often we define successful individuals as those who lead innovation, galvanise public opinion and accrue fabulous wealth, while the administrative assistant and the office cleaner are merely their support staff. Dr. Wrzesniewski demonstrated that in terms of subjective happiness, this association is false. I recall one of the cleaners at the school I attended being interviewed for a student magazine. His response to the question “where do you see yourself in ten years?” was “cleaning the Temple in Jerusalem.” What struck me was that he had no aspiration of leaving his occupation. To the contrary, he wanted to continue this role, but in what he perceived as the next level of service – from supporting a Jewish day school, to supporting Judaism’s holiest site.

When Yaakov flees to his uncle Lavan’s home, Lavan’s fortune increases magnificently. The Zohar debates the degree of the blessing – whether it was 100 or 1000-fold. Lavan was a pagan, a man whose gods mirrored the natural world. Yaakov was a monotheist, who’s G-d was transcendent and thus, unlimited. By Lavan providing for Yaakov, his potential became manifest. According to one view in Zohar, he reached his own, limited potential (signified by 100, a symbol in Kabbalistic thought of the fullness of nature). According to the second view, he achieved the unlimited potential of Yaakov (signified by 1000, a number often used in Jewish texts to denote abundance). In less abstract terms, a full back can either be viewed as a facilitator of the full forward, or as their equal partner, notwithstanding the fact that they don’t actually hammer home the goals.

One can strive to live out ones own potential, or one can strive to partner with that which is beyond themselves, transforming a possible 100 into a flourishing 1000.

Based on Lekkutei Sichot vol. 20 pp 136-143

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