by Rabbi Gayle Pomerantz. founding director
This is my first Miami summer with a dog. It’s hot when I walk him at 7:00 am, and it’s hot when I walk him at 7:00 pm. It’s just hot. But the heat isn’t all bad. It forces me to slow down from my usual frenetic fast paced day of appointments, work, calls, carpools, e-mails, cooking and more, and pause, stretch and breathe.
Fast is at a premium today. We respond to e-mails instantly, eat fast food and multi-task. Even writing a blog is a quick communication device. Instead of sitting down and really considering my thoughts and putting them down in a critical, orderly fashion, I’m thinking, writing, and eating a sandwich all at the same time.
My oldest daughter who just finished her Freshman year of college was home recently. She sat on the couch watching TV, with her computer open in front of her bouncing from website to facebook, and her cell phone vibrating on her lap with multiple text messages. The stimulation is endless.
My cousin just shared a story with me. She was driving with her 6 year old son in the backseat. He kept pestering her to look at something, and she kept telling him that she couldn’t, that she was driving. “Can’t you ‘pause’ the road?” he cried to her? Our children are being conditioned to get everything they want the instant they desire it.
Thank goodness for summer. Let’s let the heat slow us down. Let’s disconnect from technology, go to the beach and maybe even leave our cell phones at home. Let’s do one thing at a time. Let’s sip instead of gulp. Stroll instead of dash. Let’s pause the road. Let’s do Shabbat.
