Vayak'hel, 5768

What I really dig is that you can read the Torah year after year and every year, you hear the parshat in a different way. It's lovely, really. The way the right words find your ears, the way there's something in there that resonates every year. I find that incredibly comforting, I have to admit.

This week, I'm thinking about burn out and workaholism. Okay, I've been thinking about that before this week, but it's sort of reached a thing recently. Generally speaking, I'm very pleased with how things are in my life. I have a lot to appreciate, and I do just that. But, there's also been this nagging feeling for a while lately that I want to simplify things, remove a few busywork things, and focus more on the really important and fulfilling things.

So, it was with great interest that I read this post on Chabad's site tonight. More than "great interest", actually. I read it and had a good realization. Exodus 35:1 is about Shabbes and translates like "Six days work shall be done... and the seventh day shall be holy, total relaxation". As the Chabad post points out, "shall be done" is in the passive voice. And, like other small but often terribly significant Torah details, there's maybe an idea here.

Hard work is good for us. I believe that with every fiber. Sitting for a little wine and a nice meal on Friday night after a busy week feels good. But, hard work isn't good only for the payoff--- it's good on its own. (This is why I feel sorry for celebutantes and such--- they're missing something lovely in not working for anything.) I think there's something to be said for a taking pride int he work we do and in a job well done, not to mention the self-awareness, confidence and sense of self-reliance that comes with ability and experience.

I think there's something that's happened, though, and a lot of us, myself included, have gotten away from the "be done" part. Do the work. Meet your goals. Focus and accomplish. But, preoccupation and obsession and constant fretting, stressing and over-working? Isn't that sub-standard living? We all have periods of busyness, yes, but a lot of us are functioning in fast-mode only anymore, and, honestly, I think it's making us whir around a lot but actually not accomplish a whole lot. Or less anyway.

Becoming so totally devoted to one's job, such that one's work is one's total preoccupation and obsession, is totally unhealthy and an affront to the system. You may have to work, but let it be done. Keep your aspirations and focus on your real purpose.

When all one's cares and aspirations are on money making and business, then, even when resting, the repose is not replete, as one's mind is still whirling with all the worries which rob one of true equanimity. Only the person who can accentuate the result at the expense of the process, who realizes that the successful outcome is the true goal, can truly relax and celebrate, conscious of a job well done and thus, justification for the entire journey.

Options.

I had this thought today:

The trouble (from where I'm sitting) with Reform Judaism is that the perception within Reform Judaism is that Reform Judaism is about less. Less rules, less to follow, less to whatever. When really, imagine if the focus within Reform Judaism was about options.

Two things led me to having this thought:

1) Conservative Judaism, seems to have more focus on options, whereas Reform seems to focus more on paring down. I met a couple recently who attend a conservative shul because they love that congregation, he wears tzitzit because he finds it meaningful, the do not keep particularly kosher, etc. They base their observance on what feels meaningful to them rather than level of properness within their community, what others are doing or not, etc. Ayway, I liked them.

2) I heard a woman say to her son at an event this weekend, "No, honey, you don't get to wear tzitzi, we're Reform." I find this problematic because the implication is that Reform Judaism is lazy, apathetic Judaism.

What if Reform Jews aimed their focus on options rather than this stripped-down Orthodoxy? Like maybe in such a Reform shul, it wouldn't be "weird" for a girl to dress frum, but say, not keep Shabbes to the letter? I see inherent flaws with this thought I'm having, but it seems like it might also be individually empowering, which is sort of our thing as Jews anyway.