A few years ago, congregant Naomi Gal spoke at her Bat Mitzvah about taking walks during COVID. Naomi spoke about the ways in which daily walks gave her a break from COVID’s many challenges.
I connected with Naomi’s speech because Shara and I also started taking walks during COVID. On days when we felt especially overwhelmed by isolation, we would walk a three-mile loop around our neighborhood. It was an important respite from the monotony and the suffocation of the COVID-era.
Walking is a deeply spiritual activity – it grants us the time to be fully present and to focus on the moment. As we establish a rhythm with our legs, as the world passes us by, as our heart rate rises and our breathing grows deeper, we become attuned to our own thoughts. We gain sense of where we are and what matters most. It is for this reason that walking with another person—and yes, also with our dogs—connects us to them in powerful ways.
Walking is a life-affirming activity. After sitting shiva, a grieving family is encouraged to take a walk around the block to remind themselves that there is life left to live, that despite the loss of their loved one, there is a world of living for them to return to. Their walk is essentially a symbol of living in the face of their grief. It is also an opportunity for neighbors to recognize that shiva has ended.
Judaism embraces a good walk. In the Torah, we learn how Enoch and Noah “walked with God’ and how Abraham was told by God to “get up and walk around the land” and to “walk before God and be blameless” In this week’s Torah portion, the Israelites are told to “walk” in God’s paths which will result in God ‘walking in the people’s midst’. Jewish law is known in Hebrew as halachah which literally means the walk. To live a Jewish life, to follow a Jewish code, is to take a walk.
The weather is supposed to be beautiful for the next few days. The sun will be out, and rain clouds will disappear. Take a pause this weekend, get outside and take a walk with loved ones and friends. As Naomi reminded us, it’s a Jewish thing to do.
Shabbat Shalom
