I love my work as a professional but that’s not the entirety of who I am
– I’m also a husband and father as well as a frum yid.
That’s why I have seforim on my office shelf as well as textbooks, and why I have pictures of gedolei yisroel on my wall next to my family photos and my degree.
All aspects need to be integrated in order to be a well-rounded yid.
Make your home a Makom Torah
I have the zechus of living in Eretz Yisrael. But I am at work or travelling for many hours of the day. I have had to create a makom torah for myself at work even as I race to fix urgent hugely expensive problems that suddenly appear all over the world and need my creativity and my signature. I have had no choice but to work on erev chag and times I would have rather been at home.
One such time was erev Pesach. Being a first born I needed to make a siyum to avoid fasting erev Pesach. I gathered men from each of the cubicles around me asking them to come help me as I explained my need.
One of the people I had been working with for years explained he was sorry he couldn’t help as he was not Jewish! I hadn’t even known that.
My desk includes all my important international documentation. But I have a special shelf that includes my current gemarah I am studying, a picture of my son in yeshiva, A picture of my wife and family. A place for my talis and tefillin. And most important I have an impressive metal artwork of Rav Elyashiv up on my wall ahead of me.
I may be working on top class international projects but I have the gedolim and my Yiddishkeit surrounding me wherever I go.
Establish a Makom Torah at your work.
Put up a visual reminder of your values to guide your day in between the stress and chaos that derails us.
