Napping in the Jewish Tradition 5
May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life
As we’ve demonstrated here and there, we occasionally violate our/my self-imposed mandate of posting daily, quickly/wisely/necessarily rolled back (also by me) to six-days-a-week. Good thing I missed yesterday’s post as we were heading into Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement — one more thing to add to my (already long) list of things to atone for.
Many associate Yom Kippur with fasting, though fasting is less the end goal and more a vehicle for reflection and repentance for our sins. Judaism often speaks of “sin” in the negative, as straying from “the path” provided in halakha, Jewish law. As an intermittently-observant overthinker, my inclination is to take the Supreme Court view of sin — I know it when I see it —1 and I feel like I’ve seen plenty of missteps in my own life of late (to the Wife: don’t worry, I’m not talking Ten Commandments stuff here).
When I reflect on my actions and inactions, which I do often, I frequently find myself thinking, “I could have done better there,” and as a dyed-in-the-wool optimizer, that’s bittersweet — while I’m bummed that I feel like I messed up, I use this “bummed-ness” to inspire future positive action.
With that, I legitimately believe that napping often helps me be something approximating my best self — better rested, better energized, benefiting from a little “me” time. So as we exit this, one of four Jewish new years, here’s to doing our best in 5784 and beyond!
See Jacobellis v. Ohio, an oft-quoted 1964 Supreme Court case. In my experience, Justice Potter Stewart doesn’t get his personal due for this wholly memorable quote.