The very best book I have read in the last six months is not a theology or even Bible book. And, it is a must read for all who long for freedom, restoration of kol Israel, homestead, homeschool, rear children, have teens, etc… Basically, everyone who has any interest in this blog. 😉

For more than two decades, I have taken an interest in the ups and downs of national and global economies. In the United States, we have been through some serious highs and lows while watching the value of the dollar continue to erode.

Personally, I have been through a couple different career fields with a modicum of success, but limited stability. For most of that time, I worked jobs that required me to be away from the home during the day and sometimes at night, always building some other man’s dream/kingdom, and not that of my house.

Rory Groves, author of Durable Trades, had a similar experience as a computer programmer with an ever changing field, project and company instability, as well as separation from family. His desires for family, personal business, and generational business cause him to really start pondering why the working world has changed so much in the last 150 years.

Without question, the world’s system of economics and family life are contrary to the way Yah designed man and family. Going off to work for someone else is hardly a picture of Adam in Gan Eden having dominion and being fruitful. Further, the world system best benefits Babylon and not kol Israel and the Kingdom!! (More later)

As Rory began to look for an exit to the rat race, he came to the realization that until the 1850s, there were really only about 70 trades or ‘career fields,’ most passed father to son or through apprenticeships. It is since that point that industrialization and the age of technology have caused career choices to be so specialized and subdivided. Today, more than 39,000 career choices exist, many becoming obsolete within years or changing to the point that workers in the field need constant retraining or ongoing education. And, the vast majority are not family friendly or provide heritable business.

In Part 1, Rory explains, in very readable style, the dilemma for the family, both economically and structurally. He explains the instability in the economy as well as the ever changing career dynamic which subverts the God-given mission of multiplication and dominion. He explains his findings regarding ‘durable trades’, their benefit to family, both present and generational, then he gives his criteria for grading more than 60 trades and opportunities that have stood the test of time.

Those categories are then ranked and details for each category are shared in Part II of Durable Trades. Significantly, his criteria are historical stability, resiliency, family-centeredness, income, and ease of entry. Each of the five categories is weighted and given a score followed by a short profile of someone in that is in that field. Lastly, each trade has a list of additional resources.

A glimpse of the book looks like this:

The final section of this incredibly valuable book is Part III: Durable Foundations, wherein Rory writes about the dignity and discipleship of work and how to build a resilient future. Each paragraph is packed with solid gold quotes and deep wisdom.

Beautifully, a number of the trades can be overlapped or a home/fellowship/community can intentionally build multiple layers and trades that build symbiotic economic stability as well as mutual support. To me, this is incredibly exciting because it is part of the road map out of Babylon, not just as individual families, but corporately!! Kol Israel can easily begin to build its own sub economy regionally and even internationally (more later…).

While my family has had a homestead for nearly two decades, our vision has generally been about food stability and health. Durable Trades has lifted my eyes to a bigger vision that involves learning another skill that will benefit our family income as well as provide a needed skillset in our community that no one else has. Coupling this with the ability to open a store on TheTorahNetwork.com, which I wrote about yesterday, really excites me. I can see much more than simple benefits for my family, I can clearly see how this benefits kol Israel!!

I strongly recommend Rory Groves’ Durable Trades, available at Amazon. This nearly 300 pages of valuable information, insight, wisdom, and vision that you will not be able to put down!

If you are not yet convinced, here is a YouTube interview of Rory by Anne Elliott, Homeschooling Torah: