“Brain Rot,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
December 6, 2024 | 5 Kislev 5785
Welcome to Shabbat Awakening as we move into Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here.
In the same year that Henry David Thoreau published his reflections on his experience of making his home in the Walden woods in 1854, Temple Israel established itself as the synagogue of Boston. Each sought to navigate a path to cultivate lives of meaning. For Thoreau, he retreated in order to “advance in the direction of his dreams and endeavored to live the life he imagined” (pg. 215) as a steward of the earth and as one who contemplated deeply the circumstances in which he lived.
For the founders of Temple Israel, they charted a course in community on the foundation of Judaism and Jewish life on which to grow and prosper. They planted seeds to ensure the presence of the Jewish community in their city and harvested hope for a bright, strong future.
Thoreau also planted seeds, literally and metaphorically:
“This further experience also I gained: I said to myself, I will not plant beans and corn with so much industry another summer, but such seeds, if the seed is not lost, as sincerity, truth, simplicity, faith, innocence, and the like, and see if they will not grow in this soil, even with less toil…and sustain me…” (Walden, page 113.)
While at Walden, he wrote in his journal this assessment:
“Direct your eye right inward, and you’ll find
A thousand regions in your mind yet undiscovered.
Travel them, and be
Expert in home cosmography.”
With all of the physical challenges to sow seeds, it was the cultivation of the mind’s intellectual and moral journey that captivated him. A mind engaged in reflection and awareness ensured his mental health.
I imagine that the early founders of Temple Israel sought to cultivate lives of intellectual and moral fortitude as well. To bring Temple Israel to life meant that those involved could actively engage and pursue learning and justice on higher levels and find meaning in the process.
Thoreau wanted to escape what he called “brain rot” as the intellectual and spiritual decay of the world he had left. In Walden, he critically exclaimed:
“While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?” (pg. 216)
We have heard much about brain rot this week as Oxford declared it the 2024 word of the year defined as: (n.) Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.
Neither Thoreau or the early founders of Temple Israel could have imagined the rotten result upon our brains brought about by the overconsumption of online content, but their actions then provided us with relief from its negative effect now. Thoreau’s notes in his journal speak to us in our pursuit of community in synagogue life. Instead of mental stagnation and cognitive burnout, we can (with thanks to Thoreau’s beautiful image):
“Direct our eyes right inward toward ourselves and one another at Temple Israel,
And cultivate
A thousand regions of learning, spiritual experiences,
and acts of justice and kindness
in our communal congregational life still being discovered.
And together, travel them, and be
Expert in our home synagogue cosmography.”
Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום
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What do you think of brain rot and the antidotes in communal engagement? I welcome your responses and reflections. Share with me what you think here. Your email goes directly to me!
We join together tonight for Qabbalat Shabbat at 6:00 p.m. to sing, to pray, and welcome Shabbat in community. Register here to join on Zoom.
On Shabbat morning, we gather at 9:00 a.m. in the library for a short Shabbat service and Torah reading followed by a lively discussion of this week’s Torah portion. All levels and abilities are welcomed. Register here to join on Zoom.
Thank Goodness it’s Shabbat gathers at 10:00 a.m. No registration necessary.
The community will come together in song on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. at Cantor Stillman’s Fourth Annual Concert, “From Darkness to Light: A New Shade of Chanukah.” All proceeds benefit the Friends Annual Fund. Register here.
See Temple Israel’s webpage for Livestream options.
Rabbi Elaine Zecher