Manual Laborer Archives -

Manual laborer: Cottage landscape work, circa 1967

Starting my first year of high school, I worked helping to beautify our cottage property. Although my parents paid me something, it became a work of passion for me.

The cottage property had a large scooped-out descent to the lake, somewhat treacherous to get to the shore. I planned out a series of patios and a small staircase, as well as a large rock retaining wall. We had a crew with a bulldozer lay some felled tree trunks to form the base of the retaining wall, and also had loads of earth, sand and concrete blocks delivered after I had done the basics, which included back-filling the gully with all sorts of landscape debris. I dragged tree stumps, branches and all sorts of stuff to be buried in the patio.

Once the basic structure was ready, it was a huge job to cover the ugly tree trunks forming the lake-side of the patio wall with a rock wall. Not wanting to bother with concrete (and liking the more natural look) I decided to simply slant the wall and let it support itself. Getting the rocks was a huge job — I took all that I could from the lake, but many more required hauling with a wheelbarrow from all over our property and the surrounding hills. Then it was a matter of placing each rock in a way that it fit securely to form the wall.

I added a rock fire pit for nightly bonfires next to a huge rock slab that couldn’t be moved, a rock and log staircase, and a small concrete block wall to create the two now-level tiers of the sand-filled patio. I also found and transplanted some small pine trees from the back lot to areas where we would appreciate them, and created a small rock-and-moss garden with transplanted wildflowers and moss.

Wood chopper: Cottage work, circa 1967/8

Our cottage had a wood-burning stove in the living room, used both for atmosphere and for quickly warming up the place after the cold nights. We also made almost nightly outdoor bonfires in the fire pit I built.

This required lots of wood. We also had tons of felled trees from when we had the space cleared for the cottage itself. And the guys who felled those trees used their chain saws to cut the trunks into manageable lengths. But in order to use them, they had to be split into quarters or smaller.

I was not one to do much manual labor, but I guess I rose to the occasion. I spent a few hours each morning splitting logs with an axe. Then I created a huge split-log pile behind the cottage. Soon there were so many split logs that I worried about fire hazard, so I arranged them in walls so that there was plenty of air around them. This became our “log fort”, and provided an endless supply of wood for all the years we were there… and much was still left when we sold the place!

Brickworker: home improvements, 1989

Although we really liked our little house in Thornhill, the exterior grounds needed work. Without any experience in such things, I decided to take it on myself.

No YouTube videos in those days, but I read lots of articles on how to properly work with brick pavers.

I carefully planned out a front stoop and staircase, a walkway to the sidewalk, and a walled-in garden alongside the garage. I figure as long as I was embarking on such a project I might as well address the backyard as well, so I designed a patio and a swing set.

Digging out the old sod proved too difficult for me, so I hired our housekeeper’s husband to do that part. But the rest I did myself!

I had the brick pavers and wall retainers delivered, along with crushed limestone as a base, and some railway ties to frame the patio. Rented a machine to tamp down the limestone base, and a brick table saw to cut the pavers. It was a huge job, but I pulled it off. To this day I don’t know how.

I found some “before and after” photos that I took of the front, some shots of the patio, and a video that I took during the construction.

Remarkably, when I visited in 2021, the front walkway and steps still looked perfect!

Teacher: Bnos Rabbeinu Girls High School, 2006-2017

When the new girls’ high school was started, I felt obligated to help with it. So I got as involved as I could on a very part-time basis. In the very early years, I would have all email that was sent to the students directed to my computer and automatically printer so I could drop it off at the school each morning. (Students didn’t have email of internet access, and phones were still pretty rudimentary and were not allowed to have data plans)

I also took on the role of helping with the physical aspects of the student dorm — mostly safety, including locks, keycode entry system, stove gas line shutoff lock boxes, light bulb changing, electrical, air conditioners, laundry equipment, … you name it! Given that these kids were away from home with no one really looking after their day-to-day needs, and knowing that I’d want such care if my own kids were out of town, it felt right to provide this needed help.

Eventually I also started teaching one course per week to grades 11&12 — at first photography, then later a physics course that I really enjoyed. I found a great book call ” How Things Work” that was used as a basic physics course in some university arts streams, but I wanted it to be even simpler. In consultation with the author, I modified the course to remove all the math — creating a “conceptual” physics course. Wherever I could I’d merge Torah concepts or at least the amazing symmetries and workings of physics that could not be considered accidental.

I thoroughly enjoyed teaching (as I had enjoyed teaching in University), and got special satisfaction from interacting with these young people and feeling like I was perhaps making a bit of a difference in their lives. Many of these kids were from difficult family situations, including broken homes, abusive homes, poverty, etc.

Teaching — even though it required a lot of preparation (I used to go to Starbucks for a few hours on Sunday to prepare my upcoming classes) — was a great source of satisfaction for me at a time when my career had taken a back seat due to being laid off and unable to get back into my field due to my age.

In the last few years, I taught a basic computer course, introducing such things as Word, Excel, and basic computer literacy in Microsoft Windows. I also gave a several-part seminar in internet and connectivity (cell phone) safety. My belief was that kids should be aware of all the dangers (spoofed emails, viruses, online bullying, dangers of chat rooms and groups, etc.) rather than simply being forbidden to use these services, because all kids will find a way to access them even if they are forbidden. For that class, I arranged for the school to get a number of refurbished laptops, which I then configured for safe classroom use.

Being the only technical person directly involved with this tiny school, I took on the role of technician for the annual production (after first getting approval from a Rav because of singing). I ran a laptop control of projected images and videos, and also helped set up all the rented audio equipment.

During a photography class exercise taking “advertising” shots, someone snapped a photo of me at my desk…