Post-Jewish Holidays Fatigue

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.