We recently read Leviticus 25, Parshat Behar, about the sabbatical tradition: every seven years we, our workers, our animals, and even the land itself deserve a complete break. After seven sabbatical cycles comes Jubilee, the fifty-year release of debts and end to enslavements. How these were actually practiced in biblical Israel is a scholarly debate, but the values behind sabbatical and jubilee have always loomed large: rest, renewal, equality, sustainability.
Though regular extended periods of rest and reflection are helpful for all of us, only within cloistered pockets of educators and clergy have sabbaticals remained common. Why? Perhaps it’s because while pastors and professors need to constantly generate fresh new material, the extensive daily routine — administration, e-mails and phone calls, management, funding, handling crises, generating reports, and so on — impedes access to the subtleties of spirit and intellect.
We all need to nurture our minds and souls — i.e., we all deserve a break! Though the daily grind can and should be sacred, it still must be minimized every so often, for quality spiritual and intellectual work to re-emerge. In a traditional metaphor, are we a cistern or a spring? Are we sealed containers, where everyone who dips into us draws down our finite stores; or are we connected to the larger aquifer, able to replenish ourselves as we continue to replenish others?
Starting next month, my own sabbatical begins. I am immensely grateful to this community for six remarkable years of service (eight, counting time as student and interim rabbi!); for the renewal and replenishment that begin shortly; and for the many continued years of mutual growth that lie ahead. Answering the many questions about what I’ll be doing next year, it will follow this “law of thirds”: of the time I usually spend in the full-time rabbinate, roughly one-third each will go toward study, service, and self-renewal. To explain:
Speaking of community, do expect to see me around next year! Adat Shalom is still very much my shul, and I look forward to being "just" another member — being at some but not all services, meetings, and programs. I will need your understanding, though, that attendance at any given event is about schedule and other commitments, not my desire to be there! Of course I’ll remain a leader and planner, too — updating the community, staying connected with lay-leadership, and offering whatever mix of support and space will most help next years' staff.
We're in good hands with Cantor Rachel, with Rabbis George and Sid, with erev rav Moti Rieber, and above all with each other. May the year ahead be growthful and renewing for us all.
L’shalom,
Fred Scherlinder Dobb