הגומל

Weekly Jewish Wisdom:

The Happy Traveler

by Dr. Erica Brown [Reprinted with permission from leadingwith meaning.com]

“Blessed are You, Lord, King of the Universe, Who bestows goodness even upon those who do not deserve it and Who has bestowed every goodness upon me.”

Traditional Jewish prayerbook

            This summer, many of us will be traveling to places near and far in the hopes of relaxing, seeing new sites and experiencing the world differently. In Hebrew, the word for relaxation, nofesh, is rooted in the same word for soul, nefesh. The ideal vacation invigorates and inspires us. But not everyone does well on the road.

            Alain de Botton, in his book The Art of Travel explores many of the philosophical questions that make traveling, well, an uncomfortable new reality:

If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest - in all its ardour and paradoxes – than our travels. They express, however inarticulately, an understanding of what life might be about, outside of the constraints of work and of the struggle for survival.

Some people always travel with friends, order the same hamburger in another country and keep to their regular habits as closely as possible. They touch the unfamiliar from a distance. They are, perhaps, intimidated by the newness. This behavior triggers de Botton’s questions: Who are we when we take a break from our normal reality? How does the self that emerges from a travel encounter challenge the self of the home and the office?

            The Talmud offers a blessing, presented above, to be recited by those who have returned from a journey (usually one that crosses an ocean) that is generally recited in a synagogue in the presence of a minyan, a prayer quorum. The blessing helps people re-enter their old lives by reflecting on the goodness that God bestowed upon them that enabled them to return in one piece, so to speak. The congregation responds in unison, “May the One who has bestowed goodness upon you, bestow every goodness upon you forever.” This group affirmation is the spiritual way that we welcome people back to their lives.

The same blessing, called Ha-gomel, is mandated in three other situations: release from prison, survival of an accident and deliverance from a natural disaster. Women who give birth also recite this blessing. How odd to put a journey in the same category as prison, an accident, a tsunami or childbirth! On one level, all of these experiences are potentially dangerous, particularly in the ancient world where travelers could easily have met up with robbers, wild animals and intimidating rivers to be navigated. Even today, we are always more vulnerable when we travel.

On another level, each of these experiences challenges our notions of self and identity. An encounter with the other always makes us question ourselves and the assumptions we make about the universe. And that is why traveling is both so thrilling and so risky. When we are not tourists but seekers in the vast, exciting world around us, we are changed by our travels, and we bless God for both allowing us an opportunity for transformation and offering us a soft landing.