Shabbat is being in the present

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Be the Architect of Your Time (2018)

Shabbat as the architectural plan for self development: Buchdahl speaks about personal “perfection” – being able to build a life that is meaningful and purposeful. Such a life does not happen automatically: one needs a plan for it. Shabbat, according to Buchdahl, is that architectural plan, allowing one to focus not on what is outside of oneself, but on what is inside. 

Active rest that creates a positive attitude: What is more, just as God had to actively create the concept of rest, the rest that Shabbat offers is not a passive one. Like Buchdahl says, “rest requires purposeful action.” Shabbat is not just experienced passively by not engaging in ordinary work activities, but actively by creating a positive attitude in oneself to appreciate that which a person has. This rest is linked with feeling “satisfied with who and what you are,” an idea reflected in that summer Shabbat reading, Tractate Avot (4:1) – “Who is rich? One who is happy with their lot.”

Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, The Gift of Shabbat Is Tuning In (2018)

The clear signal of shabbat among the static noise of the week: The imagery of static noise and clear signals made by Moses is very helpful in conveying an imagery for Shabbat. When one is focused on one’s daily activities – the static in one’s life – it is difficult to hear what is truly important. Six days are spent surrounded by such static, while on Shabbat one has the chance to silence those noises and to allow a clear sound to come through.

Shabbat as a personal day off: Moses does see the Shabbat in more universal terms, thinking about it as “the greatest gift of the ancient Jewish people to human civilization.” In one way or another, Shabbat, or the Sabbath, the idea of taking one day off each week from work for personal time, has become widespread in the Western world. Even in modern Israel, the Druze community did not have such a concept of having a day off for personal time until coming under the influence of the modern State of Israel. Unlike Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that all have a concept of a sabbath, or a day for prayer and devotion to God, the Druze community in Israel are only now coming to adopt such an idea. This universal aspect of the Shabbat may be reflected in the verses of the Torah in Shemot (20:8–11 and 31:12–17) and Devarim (5:12–15) .

Some of the themes explored in this source can also be found in the final source, from Rabbi Micah Goodman. If time is short, then you can choose to only include one of them.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, The Power of Now

Three versions of shabbat: There are three main accounts of shabbat in the Torah. The first is found in the first description of the Ten Commandments in the Book of Shemot (Shemot 20:8-11). In this version of the command to observe shabbat, shabbat is a reminder of creation (see the block “Shabbat and Creation”). Because God rested on the seventh day of creation, so we rest on the seventh day of the week. In the second telling of the Ten Commandments in the Book of Devarim (Devarim 5:11-15) there is no reference to creation. Instead the Torah speaks about a historical event: the Exodus. We keep Shabbat because God took our ancestors out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom. Therefore, Shabbat is a day of freedom. One day in seven, no one is a slave (see the block “Shabbat and the Exodus”).

There is a third account of Shabbat, in the Book of Vayikra, which mainly deals with the laws of the cohanim (priests). There ( Vayikra 23:1-3) shabbat is described as a “mo’ed” and a “mikra kodesh”. Mo’ed means an appointed time with a fixed date on the calendar and  Mikra kodesh means either a sacred assembly, a time at which the nation gathered at the central Sanctuary, or a day made holy by proclamation through the human court’s determination of the calendar. Shabbat is none of these things. It has no fixed date on the calendar. It is not a time of national assembly. And it is not a day made holy by the proclamation of the human court. Shabbat was the day made holy by God Himself at the beginning of time.

Shabbat is a call to pause and be holy and connect to God’s holiness: Rabbi Sacks explains in this text that the meaning of mikra kodesh in the context of shabbat is a call to holiness (this is the meaning of the word “vayikra”) and moed is a call to meeting God. The shabbat of Vayikra is a call to us to stop and connect to God in His holiness and in our potential holiness.

Shabbat is being in the present: Creation, revelation, and redemption represent the three basic relationships within which Judaism and human life are set. Creation is God’s relationship to the world. Revelation is God’s relationship with us. When we apply revelation to creation, the result is redemption: the world in which God’s will and ours coincide. The shabbat of the Book of Shemot looks back to creation. The Shabbat of the book of Devarim looks forward to an age of redemption (a utopian age of freedom for all). The Shabbat of Vayikra encourages us to be present in the moment and to search for God in the here and now. 

Notes on the text:

• This text ends with a reference to a well known book and system of thought entitled “The Power of Now”, authored by Eckhart Tolle. This is an approach to achieving enlightenment through meditation and mindfulness, in order to focus and fully be present in the now.

Micah Goodman, Shabbat as a Digital Detox

Shabbat is an antidote to unhealthy technology habits: In the appendix to his book which explores the phenomenon of secular Israelis reconnecting to Jewish traditions on their own terms (without the traditional absolute commitment to halacha and faith in God) Goodman describes how some secular Israelis are realizing that the experience of a digital-free shabbat is an antidote to our generations unhealthy technology habits. These include screen addiction, low emotional aptitude due to the new form of human communications created by a technology saturated existence, the inability to be present in the moment and unstimulated,  and the desperate need for external validation due to immersion in social media.

Shabbat as a technology-free zone ‘island of time’: Quoting Professor Sherry Turkle, an expert on the impact of technology on society, Goodman describes a culture that regulates our relationship with technology would set aside times to be free of digital technology and would mark out “digital technology-free zones” in homes. He terms these “islands of time” for people to disconnect from digital technology and “islands of space” free of digital technology as well. These would give people opportunities to encounter themselves and others, free of screens and technological mediation. Goodman argues that Shabbat provides this for those who observe a digital-free shabbat, and describes the pioneers of a revitalized Israeli shabbat who have already internalized this idea. They are secular Israelis who are not “shabbat observant” in the accepted religious sense of the term, but some of them define themselves as “screen observant”. By announcing a temporary break from digital technology, they liberate themselves from its tyranny. 

Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, The Gift of Shabbat Is Tuning In (2018)