No Rest for the Weary

Friday July 11, 2025/ 15 Tamuz 5785/Parashat Balak

Hevre/Friends,

If you can get past the talking donkey in this week’s portion of Balak, you’ll discover it contains one of the most familiar verses of the Torah that opens daily morning prayers: 

מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

How fair are your tents, Jacob; Your dwelling places, Israel!

Among the many commentaries on this verse is one that speaks to this season in our personal Jewish lives.

As we settle into summer, we relax into “down time”. We’re free of school-year responsibilities and gala-season commitments, and we eagerly embrace  industry-wide breaks. Even the religion business winds down: attendance at services is lighter, fewer classes and programs are scheduled, and most clergy take at least a month off. But hang on, do we really ever get a vacation from our Judaism? 

The Hasidic teacher Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk offered a new interpretation of these words, saying, “Why do you think the tents of Jacob are better than [mi-shkinotecha] the dwelling places of Israel? In fact, “The spiritual level of Jacob is the lower level and Israel is the higher level. For an ohel/tent is a temporary structure; a mishkan/dwelling place is a permanent structure.”

“And so this is what the verse means”, he continued, “What good are your tents, Jacob, that is, what good is it when people dedicate themselves to Torah only from time to time, like an ohel, a tent, which is only temporary, compared to the dwelling places of Israel, that is, the righteous person who commits themselves continually to the service of God like a mishkan, a dwelling place.”

While it’s tempting to take a summer break from Jewish life, for Reb Elimelechthat would be like living in a vulnerable, temporary tent, rooting ourselves in a lower spiritual mentality. Our challenge is to inhabit a more permanent spiritual space, to live each and every day - no matter the season - aligned with the rhythm of Jewish time (Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, fast days and festivals), engaged in the study of Torah, and immersed in our beautiful rituals.

It’s the dayliness of doing mitzvot and connecting to our tradition that are the bricks and mortar out of which synagogues, JCCs, day schools, camps, and Jewish organizations of all kinds, as well as our own private spiritual sanctuaries are built – ongoing, continuous dwelling places for us to encounter and embrace the holy One in an enduring, compelling and meaningful way.

During the summer, for many of us the forms of our engagement change: instead of shul, we go to Shabbat on the lake; instead of a formal class, we visit each other’s home for weekly Torah study; instead of going to institutions and buildings, we immerse in nature to seek spiritual connection and belonging - to each other and to the world around us. But the message is this: vacations from stress are critical, but there is no vacation from responding to the call to live lives of holiness, meaning, and love. 

With continued prayers for our ability to bring home all the hostages, protect the soldiers, heal the injured, comfort the bereaved, and build a lasting peace in Israel and around the world, and with blessings for a Shabbat Shalom,

Dini

Photo Courtesy of Ronen Avisror