When a person looks to see whether he has an attraction to a job, it is necessary to look at it with the proper lens—whether the work itself speaks to you. For example, you see the potential for the work to elevate you... you see the potential to enjoy this line of work, not just the money that you will earn from it.
Sometimes, a person isn’t attracted to the work itself—to the contrary, he dislikes it very much, it’s not good for his gashmiyus or his ruchniyus... and he doesn’t enjoy this type of work, but he is attracted to the job for the money that he thinks he will earn from it.
He says: Listen, I am going to need to earn my parnassah in a distant place. I will thus destroy my relationship and my connection with my wife and children, and my ability to be mechanech my children... but what can you do... parnassah....
When a person speaks this way, he should know that he has deviat- ed from the path... he has lost the plot! This parnassah didn’t truly find favor in his eyes, it is not his mission! Even the gentile in the story of the Chovos HaLevavos knows that this isn’t in keeping with Jewish thought and attitudes!
