Summer Vacay
There is absolutely no comparison to the power the words “summer vacation” have on my psyche. When the kids were little I used to dread it, because it meant hours and hours of unstructured time, sticky bubbles getting tracked in the house, wet bathing suits taking up residence on the back porch and popsicles melting in the sun.
Now it means I don’t have to set an alarm in the morning.
It means long walks in the afternoon and no homework. It means breathing a sigh of relief; a lighter schedule; the freneticism of the winter coats, boots and schedules gone. It means barbecues outside on the patio and long late Shabbat afternoons chatting with friends out front. It means no school, no Sunday school (not that I don’t love Sunday school, everyone breathe). It means road trips with my kids and fresh watermelon.
I love summer.
But summer means something else. Rosh Hashanah is coming. Yes, Rosh Hashanah is in only 3 ½ months and the reason I mention this is not just because that’s when we start preparing here at JFX but because after summer comes the High Holidays and that’s not something you can just come into unawares. You need to think about it, have it out there in the horizon throughout the summer so you can remember that being on vacation, being chill and not setting alarms, being relaxed, is a means to an end.
“Chofesh” means vacation in modern Hebrew. Chofesh means freedom, even a certain sense of abandon. But in the Torah we call freedom by a different name: cherut. Cherut means liberty. On Pesach we celebrated liberation, and it was liberation for a cause - for a purpose, for an end goal. What was that end goal? Shavuot, the holiday we recently celebrated. We were liberated to be structured by the Torah and mitzvot. We were not liberated to be abandoned or abandon our mission, our cause.
Summer vacation is an incredible gift. The kids gain and grow so much at camp. The teachers get their well-earned break. The parents are free from the duties of homework and carpool and phone calls from the school all day long (theoretically). But let’s remember why we are vacating - to renew our strength, to relax and regroup, to remember. To remember who we really are and what we are really doing here. To give ourselves a big hug and get back in the ring.
To live and to love. To rest and renew. To inhale and exhale. So that on Rosh Hashanah, we are ready - ready to remember who we really are: the majestic, proud Jewish people. And ready to remember what we are really doing here: living a life of structure, of purpose, of meaning. Bringing light into the world and spreading more godliness. Being our best selves and helping others become theirs.
Meanwhile, I’ll sleep a little later and enjoy my popsicles.
Shabbat shalom,
Ruchi
