More than two decades ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about the way some New York financial workers and lawyers protect themselves from the brutal schedules and pressures they face: they become Sabbath observers.
Not in the ritual sense, but with an awareness of the Jewish tradition. Some attend shul. Others play tennis. But they make it clear that they don’t engage in commercial activity on Shabbat.
More people are again thinking about Shabbat. Reboot, a secular effort to “re-vision” Judaism, is asking “hyper-connected people of all backgrounds” to unplug their phones, computers and other technology for 24 hours – from sundown on Friday, March 4 to sundown on Saturday, March 5, its second annual National Day of Unplugging.
Shabbat is both a responsibility and an opportunity. We are commanded to cease the activities that usually define our lives and shape the world.
The Torah links Shabbat to two core events – the birth of the cosmos and the formation of the Nation of Israel.
On a universal level, Shabbat is a reminder of the cessation of creative activity by God. It is connected to the environmental ideal of allowing the world to be, enabling us to take the time to turn off the switch, walk, learn and relax.
On a national level, Shabbat recalls the liberation of our ancestors from Egypt, the freedom to control our own lives, and the opportunity to spend time with God.
Delia Lloyd, a writer based in London, England, blogs for the Huffington Post. She writes about her Shabbat experiment:
“A month ago, I committed myself to testing out a new personal resolution: I would no longer work on Saturdays… It encompassed anything electronic (e.g. e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds) as well as conducting interviews and, of course, writing. My attempt to celebrate a secular sabbath was… not only doable, it also gave me a huge happiness boost… There was not a Saturday that I wasn’t tempted to do at least a bit of work. But there also wasn’t a Saturday that I wasn’t glad that I had decided not to. So here are five things I gained from taking Saturdays off:
• I relaxed. My main goal in taking Saturdays off was to bring a few of my favourite things… back into my life: specifically, reading the New Yorker and going to yoga… And now it’s part of my (new and improved!) Saturday routine.
• I was more focused with my children… In the last month or so, I’ve actually sat down and focused on my kids for hours at a clip… One day, my son and I actually took out the chemistry set that he’d gotten for Chanukah… and – gasp – actually used it. And the more I focused on the kids and didn’t try to get 12 other things done simultaneously, the more relaxed I was with them.
• I re-connected… I used to call friends during my daily 45-minute commute home… [But overseas and] over time, I [called] my friends less and less… Now that I’ve given myself leave not to use spare time on Saturdays to jump on the computer, I can usually find 30 minutes… to call a friend back in America.
• I went shopping… I am not a natural shopper… I will always opt to get some work done… In the past month, I’ve purchased some running shoes, a new jacket, some earrings, even a colourful scarf to brighten up this dreary London winter.
• I’m more productive… I think about Saturdays as “my time” – a chance to recharge… When I sit down on Sunday morning to tackle that cluttered in-box, I actually have more energy.” (Sabbath Saturday: 5 Things I Gained By Not Working On Saturdays, Feb. 2, 2010)
From a traditional Jewish perspective, shopping or doing chemistry projects with a child are not within the framework of Shabbat-permitted activities, but Delia Lloyd may be on to something.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway reviewed two books by non-Jews pointing to the neglect of the Sabbath in our culture and the corrosive impact of such neglect on human life.
“Of all the gifts Jews gave the world, that of a weekly day of rest is certainly one to be cherished. And yet the Sabbath is now marked more by its neglect than its keeping…
“The flip side to the prosperity we enjoy is that we have lost our day of rest for another day of consumption. The pace of commerce and technology provide unheard of options for ignoring family, religion and rest – not just on the Sabbath but every day of the week.” (The Decline of the Sabbath: Less praying, more working and playing, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2007)
Shabbat is a blessing that involves an obligation and a responsibility. In traditional Judaism, Shabbat is understood as having two aspects: (1) zachor – remember – a gift and opportunity to grow our souls and our family life; and (2) shamor – observe – a limitation on our activities to create the space needed to develop the first. Think of breathing – in order to inhale fresh air, we must exhale to make space in our lungs for the new breath.
When the people of Israel are instructed to build a wilderness Sanctuary for worship, they are twice told of the importance of the project and twice reminded to – as important as this construction job is – stop working to observe the Shabbat. The activities prohibited on Shabbat are related to 39 types of activity involved in the construction of that wilderness Sanctuary.
Historically, Shabbat was a day when we stepped away from the cruel world and spent time with God. Our world now is not so punishing – at least for us in North America – but it is still demanding. People who have any executive or professional role feel as though they are on call 24/7. The demands of the BlackBerry, smart phones and e-mails never seem to cease.
Last year, Judith Shulevitz published The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time, based on an essay that originally appeared in the New York Times Magazine. In her article, Shulevitz tells her readers:
“Workaholism… has become the norm, and the Sabbath… has become the holiday Americans are most likely never to take.
“Most people mistakenly believe that all you have to do to stop working is not work. The inventors of the Sabbath understood that it was a much more complicated undertaking…
“Religious rituals do not exist simply to promote togetherness. They… convey a certain story about who we are without our even quite noticing that they are doing so… We rest in order to honour the divine in us, to remind ourselves that there is more to us than just what we do during the week…
“The Sabbath provides two things essential to anyone who wishes to lift himself out of the banality of mercantile culture: time to contemplate and distance from everyday demands…
“I began to incorporate into my life the most elemental rudiments of a traditional Jewish Sabbath… Orthodox Jews will scoff when they read of my sub-minimal level of observance; my secular friends think I’ve become a fanatic. Sticking to these few rituals, however, is the hardest and least unconscious thing I’ve ever done…
“Do I think everyone else should observe a Sabbath? I believe it would be good for them, and even better for me, since the more widespread the ritual, the more likely I am to observe it. It is much easier to keep the Sabbath, for instance, when your family does… If the Sabbath you choose to observe isn’t a religious one, you should nonetheless be religiously disciplined in your approach to it, observing it every week, not just when it’s convenient… We have to remember to stop because we have to stop to remember.” (Bring Back the Sabbath, New York Times Magazine, Judith Shulevitz, March 2, 2003)
Perhaps the time has come to try once again to receive the gift of Shabbat along with some of its governing rules. Achad Ha’am once famously remarked, “More than the Jews preserved Shabbat, Shabbat preserved the Jews.” Now the scale is global, universal and very personal. We all need Shabbat. It keeps us human.
Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl is the spiritual leader of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto.