On Saturday afternoon, after
putting my children down for a nap, I took the opportunity to reread selections
from Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath. First published in 1951,
this poetic gem has been read by countless spiritual seekers–Jewish and
non-Jewish–throughout the world.
As I flipped through the
pages of the book, I was struck again by Heschel’s remarkable ability to cull
from the vast storehouse of classical Jewish teachings and to present these
gleanings to a diverse modern readership with elegance and force.
In Heschel’s mind, the
greatest challenge facing the modern Western world is the loss of a sense for
the sacred. He argues that in our
attempts to master our physical surroundings through technological advancement,
we have become desensitized to the grandeur and beauty of life, both in the
natural world and in the faces of other people. In our rush to industrialize we have become so focused on
gaining economic and political power that we have forgotten our ultimate
purpose: to serve as co-creators with the Divine in the establishment of a just
and compassionate world.
For Heschel, a refugee from
Eastern Europe, the Holocaust is the most dramatic example of the shadow side
of modernity. After all, it was in
Germany–arguably the great center of modern culture–that the most effective and
devastating killing machines in human history were created. But Heschel is also critical of popular
American culture with its seemingly insatiable consumerist cravings, symbolized
in his mind by the excesses of affluent suburban life in cities across the
country.
In The Sabbath,
Heschel attempts to offer a corrective to the imbalance he experienced in
Europe and the United States. In
so doing, he explores two basic, and intersecting, dimensions of human
existence: space and time. Heschel
argues that modern Western life is dominated by an obsession with space–with
building, mastering, and conquering things of space. But life turns dim, says Heschel, “when the control of
space, the acquisition of things in space, becomes our sole concern” (p.
ix). He calls on us to reconsider
our priorities and relax our attachment to “thinghood,” shifting our attention
to the “thingless and insubstantial” reality of time.
It is in this context that
Heschel introduces the importance of the Sabbath to modern life. For Shabbat offers us the opportunity to retreat temporarily
from our work-a-day routine, from the world of space consciousness, and to
enjoy the manifold gifts of creation provided for us by the Master of the
Universe. Heschel describes the
Sabbath as a “palace in time,” whose architecture is built through a
combination of intentional abstentions (refraining from business dealings,
long-distance travel, etc.) and acts of prayer, study, joyous meals, and
interaction with loved ones.
Most importantly, perhaps,
Heschel explains that Shabbat not
only offers us an opportunity for weekly spiritual communion, but it also has
the potential to help shape the way we live the other six days of the
week.
Will our time with friends
and family make us more sensitive to the needs of other human beings? Will our time celebrating the grandeur
and beauty of nature make us more sensitive to the needs of the earth? Will we be able to hold in our hearts
and minds the realization that God is the supreme author of life and that we
are called upon by the Divine to serve as co-creators of a just and
compassionate world? In brief, can
we carry with us something of the Sabbath consciousness through the rest of the
week?
More than fifty years after Abraham Joshua Heschel
published The Sabbath, and thousands of
years after this great religious institution was first recorded in the Hebrew
Bible, Shabbat remains both a spiritual
oasis and a bold challenge to all of us who seek to live both productive and
reflective lives.
posted August 4, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Rabbi Rose,
Many thanks for this post. I am not Jewish, but I find myself quite at home in your thoughts and those of Heschel on the Sabbath, the loss of the sense of the sacred and the “shadow side of modernity.” Thanks for providing a summary and analysis of Heschel’s book. It is a gift to us on this blog and it certainly has whetted my appetite and interest in reading this book and learning more about it’s author.
posted August 6, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I don’t think the Sabbath has lost it’s magic for all of us.What has been lost is the sense of knowing the Almighty is with us all the time. G_d in His wisdom wants us to observe the Sabbath and keep it Holy. For the most part we have done this. what we have fgailed to do is to realize all of the time G-d has allotted us is Holy.
posted August 6, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I read Heschel’s remarkable book many years ago, as a teenager. However, what I remember from it is that Heschel talked about two dimensions of time as well as space and time. Linear time is our conventional experience of time as past-present-future, the time sense within which we work and accomplish things in space. Sabbath time is eternal time, the Eternal Now, when we rest from doing and refresh our souls in “just Being.” Within the stillness of non-doing, of just being, we reconnect with the divine, and what it truly means to be a human “being.”
“Remember the Sabbath” in the Ten Commandments is as important as “Don’t murder” and “Don’t Steal.” This was 3000 years before industrialization and the rise of consumer society.
Steve
posted August 6, 2008 at 5:00 pm
a Former rabbi from my congregation actually reccomended this book to me, after hearing that my senior Thesis in College was on “Lights of Penitence” by Rav Kook. I fell in love with the way Heschel brought the idea of finding a Place in Time, rather than a place in space. I enjoyed it to the point I have reccommended it to other friends(and my Mom, who also enjoyed it).
posted August 6, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Periodic refreshment of the mind soul spirit and time with family and friends should not be limited to one day off only no matter how sacred. Our day and nights should be replenished constantly in tiny but significant breaks with music dance reading or quiet time to help us clear focus ourselves to be better for others.
posted August 7, 2008 at 11:24 am
I have no family. What am I supposed to do on Shabbat – sit alone by myself doing nothing? All you people with large families are lucky. You should have a thought at least once in your life for the lonely and unattached instead of preaching to us about how you think we should spend our limited free time.
posted August 7, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hi T. Beck — I so relate. I love my Chabad community, but there is no way I can keep that kind of Shabbos.
I can walk to shull and of course light candles, but its just me and my
developmentally disabled daughter now and I do the best I can to make it day of rest for us. I prepare a meal ahead but use the microwave to heat it up, lol, and its a good day for Beliefnet time, a cooking show on PBS and Book TV, or reading something spiritual.
I can sense my “extra soul” and the day is really special. It’s
supposed to be a day where we do not do our ordinary business. What I do on Shabbos I do not have time for during the week and it really is recreation. The crowning glory of Shabbos for me is davening and going to shull.
A Chabad Rabbi said to me – If you where not raised in our customs, (and our customs become our laws), it is not expected of you . Just do the best you can. You come to shull and that is important.
I get lonely and depressed just doing NOTHING and my daughter gets to bored and is hard to handle and since she does not talk, I have no adult interactions except at shull.
You just have to make peace with it – our relationship with HaShem is more important than forcing an observance that doesn’t work. What kind of a heart can we offer G-d if a strict observed Shabbos makes us miserable? I have often thought how easy it would be surrounded by family.
We still belong – we are still Jewish – and we are still loved, we just might not be able to share what we do or even talk about it with our more observant friends.
I feel the “Spirit” of Shabbat that Heschel and others write about – it is a special island in time. Shalom dear heart – chanalee
posted August 7, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Dear T. Beck,
I think your condemnation was a little harsh. I don’t have a large family, either, nor did I see the preachiness you seem to feel.
It’s sad the you feel isolated the way it appears from your post. And I don’t think anyone is trying to preach or condemn you.
Maybe you need to be reminded that Judaism is not an “all-or-none” religion, and any little step you take is still a step and a good thing. Do what you can and don’t beat yourself about the rest; take joy where you can.
posted August 7, 2008 at 12:32 pm
T. Beck and Chana,
I was very moved by your stories. There should be a way single adults of any age, childless or with children, living within walking distance of each other, could celebrate a Friday night Shabbat meal together…or visit each other on Shabbat to simply engage in human conversation and warmth. Every schul should organize such activity, with voluntary participation, of course.
posted August 7, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Humanity building is far greater than industrial building.
posted August 7, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Well you may get your wish but not because of ethical reasons but practical and certainly not only Jews!!
On the tv they are showing that people are rethinking because of finances where they live, shop and pray among other things.
People are now being encouraged to go back and live in the cities or close to their work if possible. The cities in my area are actually having programs to help people do this.
How it will be done in the smaller cities I do not know. Often you do not work in a city anymore but the business, which MAY once have been in the city, has moved to outer parts much like many people. Now we have problems traveling with or without car pooling.
It is and was the suburbs that started all this. When we lived closer to our neighbors or even in the same house-2 family or appartment house-you saw people every day and nodded and sometimes actually go to know them. Children just went outside to play instead of needing play dates.
Back to the cities people. That will do it.