MTV or VH1 used to showcase an artist “unplugged.” He or she was generally a rock artist that would sit down in front of a small audience, field questions, and play acoustic versions of songs that were traditionally played with electric guitars, drums, etc. Invariably, people loved the acoustic versions of these classic songs, sometimes enough to propel the songs to the top of the charts.
Since before my conversion, I’ve applied the same concept to my observance of Shabbat. For starters, I attend services on Friday night. I unplug from the week by declining invitations for Friday night parties, gatherings, or dinners out. Services have become an important part of my life – not because I have to go to shul, but because I want to go to shul. The Shabbat service offers me the unique opportunity to take in a deep breath and release all the week’s stress, upsets, resentments, worries, and hassles and breath in a “second soul,” (neshamah yetairah) just for Shabbat (this is an awesome concept and one of my favorites in Judaism!). My “second soul” allows me to celebrate Shabbat fully and releases me from the trappings (figuratively and literally) of my day-to-day life. I love the way Rabbi Harold Kushner put it: ” I would like to think that Sabbath observance, like virtue, is its own reward, that it is worth doing not because it makes you a better worker, but because it makes you a better human being in those parts of your life that have nothing to do with work.”
Although I’m still getting used to it, I unplug from the computer on Shabbat – no Facebook, e-mail, or blogging. Don’t get me wrong… I’m the first one to admit that I love all the technological ways to connect with people in this day and age but Shabbat is a time for me to relax and connect with G-d and for me, the best way to do this is through study. Sometimes I re-read the Torah portion for the week and read through the Haftorah, then read the commentaries on both to see what scholars and our Sages have to say about each. Shabbat offers me the time to do this without feeling pressured by tasks that need to get done or messages to answer. Even if it’s just reading through the Siddur at a leisurely pace, I’m connecting with G-d in a way that I don’t often get the chance to do – deliberately and purposefully.
I try to unplug from worry on Shabbat. This is a big one for me because I spend a lot of wasted time worrying; worrying about how we’ll pay the mortgage this month, worrying about the hundreds of drivers I share the road with each day and wondering if one of them has been drinking and could run into me with their car, worrying about my job, worrying about my relationships. On Shabbat, I look in the mirror and say out loud, STOP! For the remainder of Friday night/Saturday I try to quiet my mind and stop worrying. Things generally have a way of working out and Shabbat allows me to spend a day free from worry and to discover that everything comes out the way it should whether I worry about it or not.
For now, I try to focus on these three things each Shabbat; attending services, refraining from social media, and ceasing the endless cycle of worry. For now, this is my way of unplugging for Shabbat. I’m sure with time I’ll get better at finding different ways to observe this most important Jewish observance and I look forward with much anticipation and excitement to discovering additional ways to make this day sacred and special.
Shabbat Shalom!
How do you explain this (again, no disrespect intended–this is the product of the research that you recommended I conduct):
“With universalistic ethics on one end of the scale, key reform thinkers rejected the halakhah with a radical antinomism.”
And this: “Working through the Wissenschaft des Judentums, German reformers were deeply engaged in the historical-critical study of the Bible and rabbinic literature. They argued that the Mishna and Talmud often contradicts the literal meaning of the Torah, and that these Rabbinic texts also contained outdated ritual practices and values that were contrary to Enlightenment ideals of reason. Based on these and other arguments, early Reformers felt that Halakhah (traditional Jewish law), which they regarded as merely exegetical interpretation of the Torah by the Pharisaic rabbis of the Mishna and the later Talmudic Rabbis, as well as the aforementioned parts of the Torah, were never normative and should not be taken as such.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_beliefs_and_practices_in_the_reform_movement
I’m sorry, I honestly don’t mean to be disrespectful. I know Jews who identify and who have identified as Reform personally, and they certainly don’t say this. The claim that Reform don’t discard rabbinic law is definitely new to me. Even the most cursory research on wikipedia appears to contradict this: “Many branches of Reform Judaism hold that Jewish law should be interpreted as a set of general guidelines rather than as a list of restrictions whose literal observance is required of all Jews.” I.e., they say that instead of Jewish law being binding and prohibitions being divine and absolute, as it always was, you can choose to do what what you want or not do what you don’t want. Or is this quote incorrect?
Is it true then that Reform teaches that it is forbidden to use electricity on Shabbat? I wasn’t aware that this was the case, but please correct me.
I didn’t know that reform teaches that one is obligated to abstain from all these things on Shabbat, being that many of these prohibitions are rabbinic, and reform have dismissed the authority of rabbinic law. Also, you write G-d and not G-d. Are you aware that this is an Orthodox custom based on the rabbinic law that the Reform have discarded?
sadfa,
1. Please study Reform Judaism and have your facts straight before you judge the movement.
2. My choice to show respect to G-d by writing “G-d” is my own. I am aware of how the custom began and I am aware that not all Reform Jews agree with or engage in the custom. Again, I invite you to research the Reform movement. If you do, I think you’ll be surprised to learn that Reform Jews do not “discard” Rabbinc law.
3. Any future attempt by you to post a disrespectful response to something I’ve written will NOT be engaged. I will automatically block your e-mail. This is a place to celebrate Judaism and share my experience with other like-minded individuals. You are certainly entitled to disagree, however, you are not entitled to be disrespectful.