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The way the priests approached their Temple service can also serve as an example for how people should relate to their jobs. The priests prepared themselves and took special care not to become impure, which would have disqualified them from serving. Similarly, everyone should properly prepare themselves for their work and find meaning and holiness in it. Whatever their profession – teacher, doctor, engineer, salesperson, or anything else – people should try to get enough sleep so they can do their job well. Rather than being complacent, they should always look to become more knowledgeable about their job or more skilled at it and have in mind that through their work, they are making the world a better place.
A few outstanding individuals can be compared to the High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies to atone for the nation on Yom Kippur. Because their work is so holy, they must sometimes even sacrifice their families. For example, if a doctor with extraordinary life-saving skills gets a call from the hospital, he or she must drop whatever they may be doing and go, even if the call comes in the middle of their daughter’s wedding. When the doctor takes leave of family and guests, all they can do is pray he or she succeeds in saving the critically ill patient hovering between life and death. The same is true for the commanders of an elite units of the IDF. They must be in a perpetual state of readiness. Even if he is with his wife giving birth, he must leave if suddenly called to save the Jews from their enemies. His wife, while giving birth, will pray for him to return safely and see their child, just as the entire nation would pray for the High Priest to succeed in his mission on Yom Kippur.
