By Barrett Holman Leak
I began the day with a 12-point task list, and I was almost midway through it when the phone rang. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was getting a phone call from a friend I do not see too often. Our last encounter was in late April at a Shabbat dinner event that brought us (both Jews of Color) into contact with several other Jews of Color and non-Jewish San Diegans. The evening was wonderful, from the food and the film we screened to the dialogue we had together.
We started building some bridges between us Jews and non-Jews and talked about issues facing us as People of Color. But anyway, I was just glad she called. It was to ask me to attend the RUTH event happening at the La Jolla neighborhood branch of the San Diego Public Library, because she is one of the children of Holocaust survivors sharing something her mother left to her.
I am in the midst of several projects, so it is not quite convenient, but I wanted to show up for her. I realized that I needed a break from my busyness. I could attend, then come home and rest my body, spirit and mind.
In our modern “always-on” culture, we often mistake rest for simple inactivity—sitting on the sofa or scrolling through a phone. However, the Jewish concept of menuchah is far deeper. While the word is often translated as “rest,” the sages describe it as a positive creation. Just as the universe was incomplete until the Sabbath arrived, our lives are incomplete without the deliberate soul-rest that menuchah provides.
The Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 10:9) asks, “What was the world lacking? It lacked menuchah. When Shabbat came, menuchah came.” This suggests that rest isn’t just the “ending” of work; it is a spiritual entity we must actively invite into our homes. For the woman who feels she must be the “anchor” for everyone else, this can feel like a daunting task. You might feel that if you stop, the vessel will drift. But take heart: even the Creator of the Universe deemed rest a necessity for completion.
Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller, a contemporary scholar of Jewish femininity, teaches that menuchah is found when we stop trying to “conquer” our environment and instead start “living” within it. It is a compassionate release of the need to control. Psychologically, this is the transition from “doing” to “being.” It is the cessation of the internal drive to produce, compete, or fix. When we embrace menuchah, we signal to our nervous system that we are safe and that the world will continue to spin without our constant intervention. This week, try to find five minutes where you don’t just stop working, but you stop planning. Sit in the stillness and recognize that your value is inherent, not earned through your output. You are a human being, not a human doing, and your soul deserves the “shelter of peace” that only true menuchah can offer.
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Barrett Holman Leak is a San Diego-based freelance writer.