JHP S1E2 Avodah: The first path - whom do you serve?

Jewish Heroism Project

The second core episode of the Jewish Heroism Project! Check out www.jewishheroism.com for source sheets and supplementary videos. Life is work. What are we laboring for and whom do we serve? This class introduces avodah, work, as the ability to actualize creation’s potential and the first path ofheroism past the gate of good. It explores humanity’s original task as steward of creation, and how ourstruggle with agency and responsibility shifted the focus of our work to ‘the ground from which we were taken.’ Next we meet the first faithful servant, Eliezer, and follow his story in our quest to understand what it means to serve. Then a new perspective on the Exodus in Egypt is offered, framed by the unavoidable truth that ‘everybody has to serve somebody.’ The heroic stance of avodah emerges from all of these, and we end with a reminder that the good of creation is always present in potential, so the time to do the work is now.