CLAL Rabbinic Community On Line

"Kavannah for Living" - Unit 5

While Commuting or Traveling

(If you miss a study unit along the way, you can access the materials in the Kavannah for Living Archive: archive.)

B’rucheem haba’im, chevrah. Welcome to the conversation!

Prelude:

In the past thirty years in American life, commuting to work by car has become the dominant mode of travel. Over the last three decades, walking to work is down 30%, public transport is down 22% and driving, most often driving alone, is up 62%.

Other than the serious environmental effects of this shift, this has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, we enjoy the luxury of being in a vehicle which is comfortable and climate-controlled. We listen to the music or news we want to hear, we can even sing along if we feel like it. On the other hand, we are faced with the road rage and collisions that happen in transit. Driving is nothing like the endless images of "excitement" deployed to sell cars. It is often a frustrating series of traffic pile-ups, in which the car horn becomes an indirect scream.

If the spiritual guides to commuting life are the talk radio hosts and shock jocks then it would seem that our only venue to express our frustrations with commuting would be anger. This also goes for those who commute in crowded conditions on public transportation.

In the time of the Talmud, journeys were often dangerous. Roads were not safe, and the traveler was often at the mercy of those whose territory they crossed. It’s no joke that the same prayer used for a woman giving birth was used for anyone crossing a bridge!

While we don’t want to stir up memories of driver’s education films, forgetting that the journey is dangerous leads us to rather tragic ends. The goal of a spiritual approach to commuting is to hold the two truths at the same time – 1) I want to reach my destination and 2) I want reduce the stress level of the journey for myself, and everyone else who is traveling.

THE RITUAL:

Tefillat Haderech

There is a tradition from the Talmud (Berachot 29b) that if you are planning to travel more than three miles, you should recite a prayer. The prayer is said once you have gone 140 feet from the town or city limit that you began in.

May it be your will, God and God of our ancestors to lead us toward peace, to make our footsteps in peace and make our path a path of peace. Help us to reach our desired destination for life, joy, and peace. Rescue us from the hands of any danger, ambush, criminal, or wild animal on the road, and from all emotional ordeals that are in this world. And make a blessing on all the work of our hands, and give us favor, kindness and mercy in your eyes and in all eyes that may look upon us. May you hear the sound of our heart’s cry, for you are a listener, a God who hears cries and prayers. Blessed are you, who listens to words from the heart.

Commentary by Reb Zalman:

"When someone cuts you off in traffic because they are rushing to get somewhere, your first reaction might be to curse them. Whenever I have a distraction like that I try to offer a bracha to that person that whatever it is that is troubling them will be resolved."

"Turning on the radio is something one must be mindful of. Especially when listening to the news, or to an interview, which I often do. This is not something to be taken lightly – there are times when one should refrain from listening to the news. When you hear some injustice in the world, you have got to react right there with a tefilla. And the news is a time when I commit myself to giving some tzedakah. I have a little pad on my dashboard so that, when I hear of something, at the next stoplight I will jot a note to myself to give."

To Post a Comment or Question to the Ongoing Discussion, Click here: post.

To Browse the Ongoing Discussion, Click here: ongoing.

To Access Prior Study Units, Click here: archives.

Send mail to Clal Webmaster with questions or comments about this website.