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I’ve been skimming a book, “The Sabbath,” by Abraham Joshua Heschel. I am surprised at how different some of his thinking is, or Jewish thinking is, if he’s accurately representing it. A couple of quotes that I have severely edited for brevity: Quote:Unlike the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath is not dedicated exclusively to spiritual goals. It is a day of the soul as well as of the body; comfort and pleasure are an integral part of Sabbath observance. Man in his entirety, all his faculties must share its blessing….The soul cannot celebrate alone, so the body must be invited to partake in the rejoicing of the Sabbath
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Quote:The Sabbath is no time for personal anxiety or care, for any activity that might dampen the spirit of joy. The Sabbath is no time to remember sins, to confess, to repent or even to pray for relief of anything we might need. It is a day for praise, not a day for petition.
Quote:The words, “On the seventh day God finished His work” (Genesis 2:2), seem to be a puzzle. It is not said, “He rested on the seventh day.”…The rabbis concluded there was an act of creation on the seventh day. Just as heaven and earth were created in six days,
menuhawas created on the Sabbath…tranquility, serenity, peace and repose. Quote:The seventh day is the armistice in man’s cruel struggle for existence, a truce in all conflicts, personal and social, peace between man and man, man and nature, peace within man….The seventh day is an exodus from tension, the liberation of man from his own muddiness, the installation of man as a sovereign in the world of time…. In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where man may enter a harbor and reclaim his dignity.
I like the quotes. Very interesting. And thank you. A couple more: Quote:The Sabbath is entirely independent of the month and unrelated to the moon. Its date is not determined by any event in nature, such as the new moon, but by an act of creation. Thus the essence of the Sabbath is completely detached from the world of space.
Quote:Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar? … “And God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy”, There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness. This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place – a holy mountain or a holy spring – whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in
time, the Sabbath, which comes first. Pharisaical rules aside, I absolutely love the Jewish concept of the Sabbath. I appreciate the quotes, thanks for sharing Ann. I may try to incorporate one or two in to my upcoming talk. I’m glad you like them. :thumbup: My favorite book on the subject so far is “The Sabbath World,” by Judith Shulevitz. She’s a great writer, and she covers the waterfront in this book.Edited to add a little sampling. She covers so many interesting aspects of the Sabbath and from every point of view.
Quote:Whenever people begin reading the Book, they start keeping the Sabbath. And when they keep the Sabbath they read the Book. It is no accident that religions centered on the Word of God and the texts in which it is written have set aside a day for absorbing them. If there hadn’t been a Fourth Commandment, the people of the Book would have had to invent one. The ties that bind the Sabbath to the Book are also a closed loop. Driving it is the conviction…that reading is a sacred act.
Quote:Among all the other things that it is, the Sabbath is a scene of instruction. In Josephus’s histories and in the Gospels, we already find tales of scribes reading the Torah aloud to Jews in synagogues on Saturdays. But that’s just the most obvious way in which the Sabbath educates. The Sabbath is not just a purveyor of books (or the Book), thought it’s that, too. It’s an all-encompassing educational technology, involving the body, the mind, and the soul. A religion, like any cultural artifact…needs a way to pass its beliefs and practices from one generation to the next. The Sabbath – daylong, regular, putting entire families in physical contact with figures of authority who can both speak about and personally embody the religious way of life – is that kind of mechanism. In fact, it may be the most effective machine for the reproduction of values anyone has ever come up with.
Quote:Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church– Emily Dickinson Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-I keep it staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And an Orchard for a Dome –
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I, just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So, instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.
One last quote, and then I’ll hush up about this book: Quote:Whether I see it scattered down among tangled woods, or beaming broad across the fields, or hemmed in between brick buildings, or tracing out the figure of the casement on my chamber floor, still I recognize the Sabbath sun-shine. –And ever let me recognize it! Some illusions, and this among them, are the shadows of great truths.– Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Sunday at Home
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