What Happened When This Man Decided to Keep Shabbos?

When a Montreal Jew working in a large company decided to approach his boss and ask for an accommodation in order to start keeping Shabbos, he received a pleasant surprise.

Jason Issley works for a large company in Montreal and several years ago started attending classes on Judaism with Rabbi Yisroel Bernath of Chabad of NDG. Gradually, he started getting closer to Rabbi Bernath and began regularly attending Shabbos services in the Synagogue.

A couple of months ago, Issley decided that it was time to stop going to work on Shabbos. “I started getting more involved with Chabad and becoming more observant than I was before, and it felt right to be resting on Saturday,” explained Issley.

However, Issley had one problem. His job often necessitated weekend hours and his weekend hours were increasing. He started showing up less often for services at Chabad of NDG.

One day Issley bumped into Rabbi Bernath. “Jason is actively part of our community,” said Rabbi Bernath. “He often volunteers and is a Shabbos regular. I hadn’t seen him in a while so I asked him what was going on and he told me he had to work on Shabbos. He had no choice. That started the conversation which continued over a few weeks.”

Issley mentioned that there was another observant Jew in the company who worked around it and was able to take off on Shabbos, making up the missed hours on Sundays and during the week. “Rabbi Bernath motivated me to inquire and tell management that my religious beliefs are such, and ask if there is any way to accommodate me,” said Issley.

“At the same time there was a position that came up that week in my company, so I applied and interviewed for it,” recalled Issley. “The post’s hours are 8:00 to 4:00, Monday to Friday. Part of the reason I had applied to the post was because of the hours, but it was a fifty fifty chance I would get it.”

“The day I was going to speak to my direct boss, I got an answer accepting me for the post,” said Issley. “It was Beshert!”

Instead of requesting accommodation from his boss, they spoke about his promotion.

The new job comes with a higher salary and more responsibility. However, it’s possible that the hours might change and Issley might have to start coming in again on the weekend. “I hope the new hours are permanent,” noted Issley. “You never know in a big company like mine. But I feel that now that I’m working this way, it’s much easier for me to approach management if it comes to a point where the job starts to include weekends.”

Issley credits his grandfather, Herbert Issley, with inspiring him to start keeping Shabbos. “Shabbos is a day to take my son Max to Synagogue,” he said. “It’s what I used to do with my grandfather, who never worked Saturdays under any circumstances. He was my role model, inspiring me to go to Synagogue. I always thought this was a good way to separate the week from the weekend. Shabbos is a day of peace that gives you the ability to step back for a day and reflect.”