Shabbat Braysheet
5773/2012
“Holiday Fatigue”
Rabbi Neil A. Tow ©
Slichot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Intermediate
days of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah
The fall holiday line up is full to overflowing. It is an extraordinary time of
self-reflection, re-connection to nature, family time, singing, praying,
remembering, eating, building – deconstructing…
In all, between the holidays and weekdays in between
required for preparation, some 3 weeks of sacred time that feels like a
non-stop flight of hectic and haimishe holiness all in one.
Doctors and Rabbis in the US and Israel refer to the
post-holiday feeling as ‘holiday fatigue’ – not an official term yet, but
hopefully there will be an article in the American Medical Association journal
soon.
There is a feeling, every year, that once the major fall
holidays have passed that both individuals and Jewish communities feel
exhausted, worn out, and cannot focus on upcoming events for a period of time
until everyone has taken a deep breath and returned to routine.
This holiday fatigue has a mirror image as we pick up with
the beginnings of the Noah story.
God does not have holiday fatigue, rather, humanity fatigue
is the condition. God’s heart is hurting
as God observes that human beings are evil from birth, that there is no good in
them, except in Noach. God regrets
creating human beings and makes a plan to wipe out all humanity --- except for
Noah and his family.
God has watched generations of humanity be born, live, and
die, and we conclude that God’s decision comes as a result of observation, and
our great thinkers like Chizkuni remind us that God did not create people
knowing they would be lifelong sinners, since fear of God is not in the hands
of God as the Talmud teaches, it is in human hands.
God holds off on the decision to wipe out humanity until
fatigue appears to set in, until there appears to be no other choice, and no
one to advocate for humanity either.
Our holiday fatigue is less consequential when compared to
ending one stage of creation and re-creating the world, but we should not
minimize either the positive feelings from the holidays or the holiday fatigue
that we and our community may feel.
The fact that we feel something in the first place is
crucial. Good fatigue comes with
intentional and meaningful activity. We
are not tired of the holidays, we are tired because we have put ourselves and
our souls through a challenging process of review, because we have poured out
our hearts in sincere prayers, because we have remembered and built together,
strained our voices celebrating and made our feet sore carrying and singing
with the Torahs.
The best way to ride the wave of post-holiday feeling is to
not let the cord of energy break – to hang on and continue the journey into the
New Year with everything we gained from the holidays in our spiritual
toolbox. As with muscle, we may strain
muscle, but then it grows stronger. The
same is true for our Jewish lives and spirits – the holidays strain us and ask
us to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zones so that we might have a new
perspective when we look back.
God holds onto the cord of holy energy by linking with Noach
to bridge the generation of the flood with the generations of Abraham. We hold onto the cord of holy energy by
linking with messages, memories, and community.
How will we all navigate the post holiday letdown that makes
us feel that we cannot stand through one more Amidah? First we recognize it and appreciate that we
made it to this point, that the simple truth still holds that worthwhile goals
require effort, and that we need not shut down but keep our good humor and push
off from the holidays from one strength to the next.
Shabbat Shalom.
