Recharging the Spiritual Batteries During Summer

Thegood old nursery rhyme that goes “No more pencils, no more books, no moreteacher’s dirty looks” marks the beginning of summer.

As the rhyme evokes a sense of freedom and independence, many of us look at summer as downtime — vacations, “staycations,” weekends away. It’s a time to indulge a bit in what may be called self-care or, dare I say, self-indulgence.

Meanwhile, others are“stuck at work,” trying to make a living to pay the bills or earn some“extra money” to be able to take a nice vacation at the end of thesummer.

Summertime has a wholedifferent vibe than the rest of the year, one of a more laid-back time and atmosphere.However, the goal and feeling of summer relaxation should not be one that isself-indulgent.

A lesson in thismatter is offered to us by Mark Douglas, the CEO of the Los Angeles-baseddigital marketing and advertising company SteelHouse. He requires his employees to go on two weeks of vacation every year. Theyget reimbursed for up to $2,000 of expenses for their vacations.

As always, there is acatch. They cannot take the money instead of going on vacation! They must takethe time off and do whatever they want, just as long as it is not illegal. The resultis that the company has found that people who come back to work tend to be rechargedand more productive.

Hence, the goal ofsummer vacation is to recharge one’s batteries to be ready for the fall andwinter. As we return to what’s known as “regular life,” we want to beinvigorated and renewed, ready for the next chapter in our journey.

But if you do not takecare of yourself throughout the summer and don’t eat well, sleep well, getexercise, etc., instead of coming back invigorated, you come back worn out“like a shmatte.” As we have allheard or said at some point, “I needa vacation to recover from my vacation.”
Similarly, Torah study and commitment to our Jewish values are not work, G-dforbid. As we say in the daily prayers, כיהם חיינו — for they are our life.

When we relax over the summer, we need to ensure that we breathe, take care of our physical health and take care of our spiritual health as well.
There are many ways to study remotely these days. Go to your shul’s website and see if they have any recorded classes. Or you can visit Chabad.org, Jewish.tv and many other sites as well.

Our Wednesday evening class at our shul is livestreamed at Facebook.com/HarfordChabad.

Take a vacation from work, but do not forget to live life! Happy vacationing! And make it, as they say across the water, a holiday “a HOLY day.”

Rabbi Kushi Schusterman is spiritual leader ofHarford Chabad in Bel Air.