Working in a Perfume Store: Your Environment Rubs Off on You
Our environment has an effect on us.
For example, if you work in a perfume store, you come home smelling amazing, like the perfume. It rubs off on you. And if you're a bin man (a garbage man, in America), you come home smelly, like rubbish, because that's what you're around.
That has an effect. You didn't choose to be affected by it. It's just a natural thing; that's what happens.
So too with the people around us
The people we hang out with, the language they use, affects us. We learn it. The morals they have affect us, and we start to act that way. Whether they're honest or not, whether they're upright, charitable, generous and kind: these attributes rub off, and we learn from them.
And therefore, being in a good place is so important. Being around good people is so important. Choose a good environment, and stay away from the negative.
More on the same theme: Neighbors Can Change Your Life · Living It vs. Learning It.
From the Pizza & Parsha on Parshas Lech Lecha, 2026.
Questions people ask
Does our environment really affect us?
Yes. Rabbi Fuchs compares it to working in a perfume store: you come home smelling of perfume without choosing to. In the same way, the people we spend time with rub off on us naturally.
What do we pick up from the people around us?
Their language, their morals, and their character: whether they are honest, upright, charitable, generous and kind. We learn from them and start to act that way.
What is the takeaway?
Being in a good place and around good people is so important. Choose a good environment and stay away from the negative.
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