Our lives are so busy today.  We run from appointment to appointment; we have scheduled our children’s lives to fill each day with activity; we work constantly and consistently with little chance to relax.  What does Jewish tradition have to say about us in the 21st century?

In his essay on the great Jewish scholar Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen Kremer (the Vilna Gaon), Professor Louis Ginzburg wrote that the Gaon “declared it to be a religious duty and inviolable obligation of every person to fix a certain time of the day for reflection and meditation.” Ginzburg, a great scholar himself, and the Gaon agree on one central point.  Both insist there comes a time to put the books away, the form of learning and communication in their respective days.

For us, in the early 21st century, in our day, there comes a time as well to put away the iPod, the BlackBerry, the television and the computer. Every innovation tempts us — or better, robs us — of the space and silence needed for reflection. A person who cannot put his feet up on a desk and stare out a window, or warm her hands on a cup of tea while thoughts wander, is a slave. Not a slave in the classical sense, but a slave to distraction, to lure of multi-tasking, to the flash and dazzle of the screen, to the glitter of life that erodes quiet contemplation. The Gaon reminds us that such contemplation is not merely a luxury, but a “religious duty.”

Pirkei Avot records that “Moses received the Torah from Mount Sinai.” What did Sinai contribute? According to the commentator Abravanel, the experience of being on Sinai — the solitude and meditation — prepared Moses to receive the Torah. We all need such mountaintop moments each day.  All we need to do is to stop, so that we can apprehend and receive transformative moments daily.