Friday, June 14, 2013

What Symbol is in Your Office

There are superstitions and then there are symbols that have alternative meanings. Which one is real and which one is more important?


Sports players have "traditions" they never say superstitions but they perform the same rituals every game, that is until the game they lose or get hurt and decide to adjust their rituals.

Speakers, presenters and musicians each  have their warm ups and preparing before they go on stage. They also call them exercises or training but they can be just plain superstitions.

Are these rituals right or are they wrong? Do they really help you or are they meant to attach you more to your inner self and in turn to God or your deity? Can one truly believe in a ritual that speaks to nothing? The atheists out there may argue there is no one listening and still others will argue there are realms of the world we can not see but influence us. It does not matter what your theological perspective is, what matters is that we all agree sometimes we need some help.

In this week's parsha, among other actions, the wandering Jews of the desert rail against Hashem and Moshe again about the hardships and the lack of bread and other things they miss when they were slaves in Egypt. Hashem sends venomous snakes to bite the complainers and then some of the people cried to Moshe to save them and this is what happened:
In 21:8. The Lord said to Moses, "Make yourself a serpent and put it on a pole, and let whoever is bitten look at it and live.

ח. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ עַל נֵס וְהָיָה כָּל הַנָּשׁוּךְ וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ וָחָי:
Look up, to Hashem for help and be cured.  "Make yourself a Seraph" the Hebrew says, which can be interpreted as an angel, not just a serpent. If so, then surely looking at the angel, representing God would protect and cure them. Looking up at a snake, if you choose, could be about us seeing the parallel of how symbols can be used for good and evil.

In your office if you have the same rituals every day for your employees to follow, are they for good? Do they help people? Do they empower them? Or do your rituals limit them and provide a double edge sword of which to pride yourselves?

Do your company symbols inspire hope and greatness in yourselves and fear in your competitors? I hope so, because if it is the other way around you may need to start looking for a new symbol.
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Parsha Chukat in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 19:1-22:1
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

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