The Importance of Pausing

There is a saying among musicians that music is made in the space between the notes. Without the pause, the music would just be one long sound. Many educators believe that most people need a 5-10 minute break every hour to be able to remain focused. And the importance of pausing is the foundation of the Sabbath: one whole day of pausing from the toils of the week so that we can reconnect, reenergize, and renew ourselves so that we are prepared properly for the upcoming week.

It seems that this powerful lesson of pausing is being lost at a time in the world when it is needed most.

Look at all the damage caused in the last few days through people immediately reacting as opposed to pausing. We now know without doubt that Hamas knew from the first moment that it was a misfired Hamas rocket that hit a parking lot behind a hospital; but as a publicity campaign, Hamas blamed Israel.

The world, led by the media and governments, immediately accepted Hamas’ statement and published it as truth without any of the pausing that should come with journalism and critical thinking. From the BBC to Justin Trudeau, the world condemned Israel without even pausing long enough to consider the question as to how Hamas would so quickly be able to calculate numbers of casualties or details. Hamas, as is its wont, lied and produced propaganda, and the world rushed to judgment against Israel without even thinking. What did the refusal to pause cause?

Synagogues around the world were attacked, including an ancient sacred temple in Tunisia being burned to the ground.  American and Israeli embassies around the world were the sites of riots. The Abraham Accords, one of the great miracles of the last 50 years, are now in jeopardy. This war is now quickly escalating as the north of Israel is being attacked and hundreds of millions of dollars were raised to support Hamas and its evil.

There was a riot in the Capitol as it was taken over by hundreds of protestors led by Rashid Tlaib, including some who claimed to be Jewish, who demonstrated for the U.S. to stop supporting Israel, and for the modern Amalek of Hamas to be protected. All because people didn’t pause prior to reacting.

But that is only one half of the reason that we need to give ourselves pause as this war continues and we strive to destroy (not defeat) Hamas for the sake of Israel, the United States, freedom, and the world.

The Sabbath is a gift to us from God and a reminder that we must take time off of the work of the world to rejuvenate ourselves. The original Hebrew of the command to rest (found in Exodus 31:17) gives us another understanding of the importance of pausing. Without going into the odd and unique grammar of the Hebrew, it can be translated as “On the seventh day, God rested and got a soul (or “soul-ed”). It is a teaching that like God, we must pause in order to retain our own souls. Conscious rest is not a privilege, it is a requirement.

Never is the command to rest for the sake of our souls more important than in times of war against evil.

This war will continue for at least days or weeks if not longer. It will be easy to let the intensity of this war exhaust us. The rapid news cycle will replace this war against the evil of Hamas with the politics in Washington, any other disasters that occur, and other more “exciting” news. It will be all too easy for us to forget the images of Hamas’ evil on October 7, the kidnapping, rape, and murders, their conscious intention to attack the weak, young, and civilians. Supporting causes in Israel, sending supplies and funds to displaced Israeli families living in shelters, and donating to Israeli hospitals so that they can get medical supplies can easily be forgotten as we get exhausted and focus on other news. We cannot let that happen, or the evil of Hamas and its allies will prevail, God forbid.

On the one hand, we must stay vigilant and active in this war against evil. On the other, we human beings are easily exhausted and quit when we get too tired.  What can we do to stay energized?

We must pause. We must disconnect from the issues of the physical world for one to two hours per day so that we can be focused the rest of the time. With the intensity of this war on evil, we must take personal time for a daily “Sabbath” of an hour or two. In order to excel the rest of the time, and as important or more importantly, for the sake of our own souls.

Take an hour or two a day and give yourself permission to disconnect from your phone, computer, television, and news source. Go outside and appreciate the beauty of life. Listen to your favorite music, work out, play a silly video game or board game with a friend, share a cigar or glass of wine with a loved one, or do whatever you need to in order to emotionally and spiritually disconnect from the horrors of this war and all news. And don’t feel guilty about it, but rather recognize that this pause is important so that you can excel at a peak performance level during the rest of the day.

If we do not take pauses in the day, each day, we will ultimately be unable to maintain the intensity that is needed during this war against evil.

The Rabbinic prescription for the day: pause. This will lead each of us to excellence, to triumphing over the evil of Hamas and in the world, and to creating a lasting peace.

And if you don’t want to accept that the small pauses will help you succeed in the long-term goal of winning this war and strengthening your soul, then remember the words of an old friend of mine: “When angry, count to ten. You aim better.”

Another way to stay focused is to make a small daily donation to a cause such as the Bnai Zion Hospital or Magen David Adom. Don’t let it be “automatic,” but each day we must take the minute to go online and make a small donation in order to keep ourselves aware of the horrors of this war.