What's Jewish About My Summer Vacation...and yours

Parasailing for the first time-
surprising enough, found myself
 saying a little prayer!

I just got back from my summer family vacation. It was filled with wonderful moments of new adventures, relaxation, and togetherness. And while I still haven't put away the luggage, the suntan lotion, or my emergency travel medicine, I got to thinking how so much of my family's week away was "Jewish". I am sure this thought occurred to me because of who I am and what I do as a Jewish professional, but I know if you thought about it too, you would see some "Jewishness" in YOUR vacation (or staycation) as well.

Did you know that just taking a vacation is a Jewish thing to do? This is told to us in the Jewish value of Shmirat Haguf, taking care of your body. Our body is a holy thing and we need to take care of, to refresh it, becuase our bodies house our soul. This sounds great to me, because, personally, I love a good vacation. But, more than giving my body some needed rest, what else was Jewish about my vacation? Here are some other things I thought of:

First, before we even left on vacation, plans had to be made: who will collect the mail and newspaper in our absence? Who will feed the fish? Who will "lizard-sit" (yes, we have a pet lizard, that's another story for later)? Who will cover for me at the office? So, a neighbor pitches in, a friend takes the lizard (with its 10 gallon habitat and live crickets for food), a co-worker answers your email and voice mail. You know the drill, everyone pitches in so you can go away for a week.  It dawned on me that these people are not just mensches, they are doing mitzvot (acts of goodness). 

Another obvious Jewish thing about my week away was celebrating Shabbat wherever we were. For us, it was an easy thing to do as most cruise ships have a short Jewish Shabbat service in a chapel complete with delicious challah and wine (no candles though, it's a safety thing).  This sparked a wonderful conversation with my children. Was it still Shabbat if we didn't light the candles?

Even if you don't take a vacation, I think Shabbat is the closest thing that Jewish tradition has to vacation. In addition to being a time of cessation of work, Shabbat is a time of refreshment. It offers the opportunity for renewal that we associate with vacations.

Traveling to new and exciting places always lends itself to so many teachable moments for kids. We experienced different cultures, different foods, and enjoyed new music. But it was amazing to me that even with all the "new", we were still able to connect our vacation to our Judaism, the one thing that we take wherever we go.......