And here goes my rant:
I do not know when, where, and why it started, but there is a pretty much universally accepted norm for all companies to leave the following voicemail message on their answering machine: “Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed.”
Whether you call the IRS, Target, your insurance company, or whomever, the chances of hearing this annoyingly pointless statement is quite high. It is arguably the most unnecessary sentence ever spoken.
Like seriously, what are the chances that every single corporation in America has menu issues, so much so that they all need to be changed? And why is there a need to listen carefully? It is not like anyone memorizes the previous menu options, do they? Besides, no one wants to have that pressure and be told to listen carefully. We are not in 3rd grade, thank you very much. We just want to speak with a human being on the phone and get on with life. Why. Is. That. So. Complicated!
And do not even get me started on the “Your call is very important to us” automated prompt. Yeah, right! That is a verified lie! If the call was really important, there wouldn’t be a day’s long delay in reaching a human being on the other end.
My friends, as much as I ranted about the “Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed” prompt, when I read Parshas Beshalach, it gave me a new perspective, a new depth of meaning, and most of all, it taught me an important lesson about menu options changing.
You see, the Jewish people were stuck between a rock and a hard place. In front of them was a raging sea, behind them were the blood-curdling Egyptians, and on either side of them were wild-hungry animals (see Midrash). The Jewish people cried out – ויצעקו – to Hashem. Rashi on this verse (14:10) says: תפשו אומנות אבותם – they cried out and prayed to Hashem, practicing the profession of their ancestors. The Jewish people understood that in order to reach Hashem, you needed to call Him – to pray to Him – just like Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov did. The “menu option” to connect with Hashem was through prayer and talking to him. So that’s the option that they chose, rightfully so.
But, in Chapter 14, Verse 15, Hashem says something astounding: מה תצעק אלי – Why do you cry out to me!? Travel! On some level, Hashem was telling the Jewish people: PLEASE LISTEN CAREFULLY AS THE MENU OPTIONS HAVE RECENTLY CHANGED! Yes, the “menu option” usually requires you to cry out to me and connect through prayer. But, listen carefully, because, as Am Yisroel, you need to know that sometimes the menu options change. Now, do not connect through prayer, connect through action and mesiras nefesh. Just go, travel, step foot into the sea, and I will take care of you.
As annoying as the automated prompt on an answering machine are, perhaps it can serve as a reminder to us to be ready to adjust to changing menu options. We must be ready to change and adapt, and learn how to connect to Hashem in different ways. Sometimes through prayer. Sometimes through Torah study. Sometimes through kindness. And sometimes through action.
Ori Strum is the author of Ready. Set. Grow. and the host of The Torah Sparks Podcast. His favorite color is metallic blue and he has a knack for learning life lessons from random things.
And here goes my rant:
I do not know when, where, and why it started, but there is a pretty much universally accepted norm for all companies to leave the following voicemail message on their answering machine: “Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed.”
Whether you call the IRS, Target, your insurance company, or whomever, the chances of hearing this annoyingly pointless statement is quite high. It is arguably the most unnecessary sentence ever spoken.
Like seriously, what are the chances that every single corporation in America has menu issues, so much so that they all need to be changed? And why is there a need to listen carefully? It is not like anyone memorizes the previous menu options, do they? Besides, no one wants to have that pressure and be told to listen carefully. We are not in 3rd grade, thank you very much. We just want to speak with a human being on the phone and get on with life. Why. Is. That. So. Complicated!
And do not even get me started on the “Your call is very important to us” automated prompt. Yeah, right! That is a verified lie! If the call was really important, there wouldn’t be a day’s long delay in reaching a human being on the other end.
My friends, as much as I ranted about the “Please listen carefully as our menu options have recently changed” prompt, when I read Parshas Beshalach, it gave me a new perspective, a new depth of meaning, and most of all, it taught me an important lesson about menu options changing.
You see, the Jewish people were stuck between a rock and a hard place. In front of them was a raging sea, behind them were the blood-curdling Egyptians, and on either side of them were wild-hungry animals (see Midrash). The Jewish people cried out – ויצעקו – to Hashem. Rashi on this verse (14:10) says: תפשו אומנות אבותם – they cried out and prayed to Hashem, practicing the profession of their ancestors. The Jewish people understood that in order to reach Hashem, you needed to call Him – to pray to Him – just like Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov did. The “menu option” to connect with Hashem was through prayer and talking to him. So that’s the option that they chose, rightfully so.
But, in Chapter 14, Verse 15, Hashem says something astounding: מה תצעק אלי – Why do you cry out to me!? Travel! On some level, Hashem was telling the Jewish people: PLEASE LISTEN CAREFULLY AS THE MENU OPTIONS HAVE RECENTLY CHANGED! Yes, the “menu option” usually requires you to cry out to me and connect through prayer. But, listen carefully, because, as Am Yisroel, you need to know that sometimes the menu options change. Now, do not connect through prayer, connect through action and mesiras nefesh. Just go, travel, step foot into the sea, and I will take care of you.
As annoying as the automated prompt on an answering machine are, perhaps it can serve as a reminder to us to be ready to adjust to changing menu options. We must be ready to change and adapt, and learn how to connect to Hashem in different ways. Sometimes through prayer. Sometimes through Torah study. Sometimes through kindness. And sometimes through action.
Have a holy Shabbos!
