Who Doesn’t Have a Pair of Triangular Shoes in Their Closet ?

There is a story told in the teachings of Rav Shalom Arush, a simple story, almost disarming in its innocence.

A shoemaker, devoted to his craft, spent his days creating shoes—
but not the kind most people would wear.

His shoes were triangular.

Unusual. Impractical. Almost puzzling to anyone who saw them.

And yet, he worked with care. With intention. With joy.
Each stitch placed with the same devotion, each pair completed with a full heart.

When people questioned him, why make something so strange?
he answered with a kind of calm simplicity:

This is what I have been given. This is my work. And it is enough.

Those shoes filled him with happiness and joy, because he saw in them the pure expression of his connection with HaShem, the portion that HaShem had designed for him. He felt as though this work was created with four hands, together with HaShem, and in that sense, it was perfect. It was enough for him.

And so the question gently turns toward us:

Would it be enough for us?

If what we held in our hands did not resemble what others were creating
if our work, our lives, our paths felt… different, even misunderstood

would we still be able to say:
this is mine, and it is enough?

Perhaps, in some way, we all have our own “triangular shoes.”