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June 2007
Ask the Rabbis
What does Judaism say about being a workaholic?
Orthodox
I once asked a student of mine in Jerusalem, “Would you rather be happy, or rich?” He responded with a big smile on his face. “Can’t I have both, rabbi?” I told him, “Sure, in a perfect world that’s a nice answer, but let’s get back to reality.” I pressed again. “So what’s it going to be?”
Without hesitation he answered, “Well, of course, rabbi, I’d rather be happy than rich.” I said, “OK, great—stay here in Jerusalem for a month and I’ll teach you the secret of happiness.” He looked down to avoid eye contact and said, “I don’t know, rabbi. A month is a long time and I have to get back to work.” Then I asked, “Would you stay for a month if I gave you $10,000?” He answered, “No problem!” I smiled and then asked, “Tell me again—would you rather be happy, or rich?”
How would you have responded? We must realize that God can’t demand that we work 80-plus hours a week and at the same time lead spiritual lives, seek happiness and spend quality time with our families. Are we living to work, or working to live?
A tip for success is to make your family your most important business partner. We need to treat family matters as important business deals because our family is even more important. We all know that we’d rather be happy than rich, but it takes a lot of discipline to prioritize our lives accordingly.
Rabbi Scott Mathias
Director of Aish on Campus
Washington, DC
Modern Orthodox
The Jewish tradition highly values work and human creativity. Work is a source of independence and dignity. Rabbi Soloveitchik says the Torah stresses God’s Creation of the world to inspire humans to be like God—creating and building the world.
The Talmud and Maimonides state that Torah study goes well with work. In Pirkei Avot, we are told that Torah with work makes you forget (read: prevents) sin.
Workaholism represents the danger of too much of a good thing. Whether driven by the joy of work, the desire to achieve or the worship of wealth, people tend to go overboard. The results often are destructive: neglect of family, abuse and deterioration of health.
The Torah, however, has prepared a cure before the disease strikes. The medicine is Shabbat. One day a week, humans are commanded to enter a state of rest. On this day, the prohibition of creative labor means no change can be made in the material world. Wealth-making is to be put aside. People must shift rhythms from doing to being.
The lessons are many: Savor life. Stop and smell the roses. Enter into relationships. Make love. Develop yourself. Improve your world. Enter into community. Commune with God.
Rabbi Irving Greenberg
Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation
New York, NY
Sephardic
Aside from recognizing our practical need for gainful employment, Judaism views the opportunity to be productive and creative as a blessing; as the Book of Psalms declares, “when you eat of the toil of your hands, you are fortunate and it is well with you.” There is no question that engagement in meaningful labor—beyond the immediate satisfaction it provides and its role in developing our moral character and sense of responsibility—makes a crucial contribution to the ongoing development of community and of civilization as a whole.
At the same time, the sense of accomplishment and achievement that is associated with productivity can potentially become addictive. We observe this all the time among career-driven individuals whose entire existence are dedicated to the pursuit of wealth, social self-promotion and professional advancement. Their mistake is not in deriving pleasure or pride from their success, but in their choice to sacrifice the most precious benefits life has to offer. Such people often pass through this world without ever having experienced the joy of raising children or the transformation of spiritual growth. Their obsession with empire-building simply will not allow them to step back and marvel at the beauty that surrounds them.
It is for this reason that in the Torah we find the institution of the Sabbath, a day on which creative activity and productive work are prohibited. The Sabbath reminds us that labor is only one thread in the complex tapestry of human existence. The spiritual high we derive from transcending our constant focus on the material and the mundane is the blessing of the Sabbath day.
Rabbi Joshua Maroof
Magen David Sephardic Congregation
Rockville, MD
Conservative
This is a question you ask a rabbi? I answer from both sides...the stack of return phone call messages, the books to read, the people who need to be visited at a hospital, the fences that need to be mended, the school projects that need attention. Because you like doing it, because it satisfies you, because it makes you feel that you are serving the Kodesh Boruch Hu, you gladly do it. This is the life most of us choose, the juggling we perform, as we live in 2007.
Judaism sends a strong message: Six days! Then STOP! On Shabbat rest, renew, refresh yourself; be in God’s image and find your creative/godly self within your family, your community and yourself. I once heard a memorable lecture by Rabbi Harold Kushner where he spoke the great line, “No one ever says on his deathbed, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’” So when the urge and the need to do more comes, each of us has to step back and say, “We can only do so much.” And then remember the first part of the well-known teaching in Pirkei Avot, “Yours is not to finish the task...” And yet, why am I writing this on my “day off?”
Rabbi Gary L. Atkins
Beth Hillel Synagogue
Bloomfield, CT
Reform
There’s a great scene in HBO’s hit show, Entourage, where the workaholic talent agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) is so intent on getting a multi-million dollar deal that he attempts to close it on Yom Kippur—while sitting in a synagogue service.
In today’s world, we have become master multi-taskers; our world is so fast-paced that we have created a language consisting solely of acronyms and emoticons for instant messaging and mobile texting.
The only day that has a name and not a number is Shabbat, meaning there is a special focus on this day as compared to the rest of the days of the week. We, as beings created in God’s image, are supposed to mirror God by doing what God did in Genesis—resting.
How many of us ignore this sacred time and continue to check emails, make phone calls and take meetings? Before we know it, we’ve allowed billable hours to determine our self-worth. Americans Jews, who work more hours and take less vacation time than ever, need to stop, unplug and unwind; if not after work, then at least on Shabbat.
Where would the Jewish people be today if Moses was too busy working to notice the burning bush? Each of us should recognize the danger signs of becoming an “Ari Gold,” someone who ignores the sacredness of a Holy Day and the loving relationship he has with his family just to make a deal.
May each of us recognize that the most influential deal we can make is one with God, and take time away from work in order to seize the opportunity to rest on Shabbat.
Rabbi Joui Hessel
Washington Hebrew Congregation
Washington, DC
Humanism
Long before the term “workaholic” was coined in 1971 by Wayne Oates, our immigrant forbearers proved how hard people could work. One might even say they were driven to work, but not in the sense the word is used today, as a kind of addiction or avoidance of other obligations, especially to one’s family. To the contrary, they endured long hours and horrible conditions to make ends meet and to give their children opportunities to achieve a better life.
Judaism values hard work, but not as a goal in itself. We want to set aside time for learning, doing good deeds and having quality family experiences that earlier generations could not enjoy. The challenge is finding the right balance and learning to set boundaries.
That’s especially a challenge for a rabbi who can easily be absorbed by work and find no end to things that keep him or her busy, often at the expense of time with family. And that’s why it’s time to shut down the computer for the night.
Rabbi Peter H. Schweitzer
The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism
New York, NY
Reconstructionist
Work is like a drug: sometimes constructive and healing, removing pain; sometimes addictive, dangerous, even lethal. The difference concerns timing, dosage and the substance itself. What kind of work do we do? How often? And for how long at a stretch?
In the language of 12-step recovery, Judaism is both enabler and ally. Exacerbating the problem is our concept of avodat hakodesh, holy work, and the intentional overlap between prayer and labor (avodat connotes both, like the English “service”). When your efforts are in line with God’s, who calls it quits at 5 pm?
Judaism helps us with its tradition of balance. Maimonides always recommended the shvil ha’zahav, or golden mean, in all things. Jews know that too much of a good thing is not good.
The ultimate Jewish tool for balancing work with the rest of our life is the “radical” notion of Shabbat. We set aside a special time where work is prohibited. Labor unions brought us the five-day workweek, which, when followed religiously, helps prevent workaholism—but Hebrew culture pioneered both Shabbat and the sabbatical.
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation
Bethesda, MD
Renewal
Judaism teaches that human beings need time for self-reflection, spiritual growth, loving family and communal sharing. Yet today’s high-stress culture precludes time for this sort of spiritual deepening. In fact, for many of us, the hardest work we do is finding time to rest.
Much of the public discourse in America focuses on under-employment rather than overwork, but the two are connected. Jobs are poorly paid or chopped up into temporary or part-time positions by employers seeking to avoid paying benefits. Many employees are forced to take two or three part-time jobs to meet their basic needs. In this way under-work forces people to overwork. But political, economic and cultural leaders can create policies that will allow individuals to work fewer hours without reducing their income—for example, by limiting compulsory overtime or allowing paid leave for family and community needs. Why should companies pay executives to serve on university boards and engage in volunteer efforts but not extend this same benefit to all workers?
As Jews we should affirm our religious obligation to change the present patterns of overwork so that all peoples’ work can be worthy and sacred. By reaching out to labor movements, environmentalists, women’s organizations, forward-looking business leaders, neighborhood and community-based organizations and family-oriented groups we can make a difference in our world.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Director, The Shalom Center
Philadelphia, PA
Independent
I apologize but I am much too busy to respond to this question. Work is my breath, my soul, my life force; it drives me daily, even when I am asleep. I have little time for anything else. Except maybe a little Torah study now and then so I can have some material to teach. It all comes back to work again.
Not that I am a workaholic, God forbid! That is a Jewish no-no, like any other addiction except Torah study. “The human was created to toil,” according to an ancient rabbinic teaching. So working all the time is really not such a bad thing. It depends on whether work overtakes us to such a degree that we neglect the most fundamental principle of Judaism: wholesome relationships. If my work engrosses me so much that I cannot turn from my computer to marvel at my child’s artwork or send a loving kiss back to my partner as she passes near, then I am a workaholic in the negative sense. If I can be engaged in my work but still engage emotionally and physically with everyone in my life and with my own precious Self as well, then working like a dog isn’t such a bad thing.
Rabbi Gershon Winkler
The Walking Stick Foundation
Thousand Oaks, CA
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