When we think of a “pause that refreshes,” most modern Jews will think of Shabbat. For sure.
Turns out that a daily “pause that refreshes” is good for the soul, and for work efficiency, and physical health. And it’s very Jewish.
Read on, with a bonus spotlight on R. David’s learning at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
| By Rabbi David Evan Markus P. Hayyei Sarah 2026 (2025) | • Are You Talking to Me? (2023) • When Places Double (2024) |
During the Great Depression, the Coca Cola Company branded its beverage as a source of emotional relief in hard times. Its ad campaign, “The Pause That Refreshes,” turned Coke into a cultural icon. A pause became a product for a weary (and thirsty) nation.
Shabbat was the first “pause that refreshes,” a gift for the weary and thirsty soul – and also a radical-in-its-day pushback against inertia, power and status quo. Our ancestors claimed holy agency to stop and re-charge, both individually and in community. Shabbat kept Jews and Judaism alive. As Aham Ha’Am put it in the early 1900s, “More than the Jews kept Shabbat, Shabbat kept them.”
A weekly Shabbat, though, wasn’t enough. Our ancestors realized that good living also needs a daily pause. And the pause we need is more than a time out: it’s a purposeful shift into mindful awareness and meaning.
Whether it’s meditation, exercise, a mindful walk or tradition’s afternoon prayer (minhah), the daily pause that refreshes traces to this week’s Torah portion. It’s a story is worth telling.
Yitzhak was mourning his mother, Sarah, whom in midrash died at the news that Avraham bound him on an altar. Maybe in his own grief, Avraham sent an agent to find Yitzhak a wife. The agent had an adventure to find Rivkah, who was eager for the match, so off she went. We rejoin Yitzhak (Genesis 24:63-67):
| וַיֵּצֵ֥א יִצְחָ֛ק לָשׂ֥וּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה לִפְנ֣וֹת עָ֑רֶב וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּ֥ה גְמַלִּ֖ים בָּאִֽים׃ וַתִּשָּׂ֤א רִבְקָה֙ אֶת־עֵינֶ֔יהָ וַתֵּ֖רֶא אֶת־יִצְחָ֑ק וַתִּפֹּ֖ל מֵעַ֥ל הַגָּמָֽל׃ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֶל־הָעֶ֗בֶד מִֽי־הָאִ֤ישׁ הַלָּזֶה֙ הַהֹלֵ֤ךְ בַּשָּׂדֶה֙ לִקְרָאתֵ֔נוּ וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הָעֶ֖בֶד ה֣וּא אֲדֹנִ֑י וַתִּקַּ֥ח הַצָּעִ֖יף וַתִּתְכָּֽס׃ וַיְסַפֵּ֥ר הָעֶ֖בֶד לְיִצְחָ֑ק אֵ֥ת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה׃ וַיְבִאֶ֣הָ יִצְחָ֗ק הָאֹ֙הֱלָה֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּקַּ֧ח אֶת־רִבְקָ֛ה וַתְּהִי־ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֖ה וַיֶּאֱהָבֶ֑הָ וַיִּנָּחֵ֥ם יִצְחָ֖ק אַחֲרֵ֥י אִמּֽוֹ׃ | Yitzhak went out “la-suah” in the field toward evening and, lifting his eyes, he saw camels approaching. Rivkah lifted her eyes and saw Yitzhak. She got off the camel and said to the agent, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” The agent said, “That is my master.” She donned her veil and covered herself. The agent told Yitzhak all the things that [happened for him to find Rivkah]. Yitzhak brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rivkah as his wife. Yitzhak loved her, and was comforted after his mother. |
What was Yitzhak doing? “Yitzhak went out לָשׂוּחַ / la-suah” – a word that appears nowhere else in the Bible. Drawing from Syriac, proto-Arabic and other ancient Near East languages, probably the best English approximation of what Yitzhak was doing that late afternoon was an outdoorsy walking / meditating / talking / praying / communing.
Whatever Yitzhak’s spontaneous something was, it was spiritual and it mattered. From it, Yitzhak lifted his eyes – and the rest was history. Jewish legacy happened, and he was ready.
Yitzhak’s experience inspired tradition’s minhah of a daily afternoon physical offering, then a daily ritualized afternoon prayer. In modern days, psychologists and HR experts have come to understand that we need an afternoon pause that refreshes – even (especially) if we imagine otherwise. Study after study shows that a daily refresh can help recharge us, lower stress, enhance physical health, boost productivity, and over time greatly help us flourish.
What form can your daily pause take? Folks are wired differently, so answers will differ. Ask yourself what refreshes you, and how you can make a 15-minute midday space for it. You may be surprised at the boost it gives you, and that the very concept is core “old school” Judaism.
As some of you know, I am honored to participate in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality‘s executive clergy cohort. My colleagues and I are delving deep into Jewish tools and Jewish experiences of this ilk, often finding riches that for centuries have been hiding in plain sight.
They aren’t denominational. They don’t require Hebrew. They don’t require formalism. They don’t require deep education in traditional Judaics. And yes, even so, they are so very Jewish.
Slowly, subtly, I am sharing them with our community in digestible bits. Some are teachings that open heart space in seemingly new ways. Some are approaches to things that perhaps we already know. There will be more.
If you’re potentially interested , there is a totally free, 30-minute midday “pause that refreshes” online, every weekday at 12:30pm (and recorded on IJS social media). Each 30-minute piece offers a tiny teaching, a mindful-meditative experience, and a follow-up. Last Friday, over 200 participated across the U.S.
Whatever form your “pause that refreshes” might take, I hope it nourishes you, and inspires you to lift your eyes and see.
David Evan Markus 