To be silent the whole day, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.
~Henry Miller
I went on vacation recently. A quick getaway to a place I know well, to relax, renew, and get away from all obligations for a bit. All that needed to be, were made aware I would be gone and loose ends were tied up. I quickly learned that as long as I had my phone with me, there really is no such thing as a vacation. Messages came in regularly with demands, needs, and wants. Important things that must be attended to now, or so the sender believed.
I, you, we, any of us with a smartphone, are on-call 24/7. You can’t leave the phone behind because it might be needed for emergency purposes, it contains all kinds of valuable information, and it’s probably your main way of taking photos. It’s an important tool. It’s also an oppressive burden. No rest for the weary, indeed.
Many religions have a tradition of a day of rest. A time to reflect and relax. For Judaism, Shabbat is considered a holy time. In Genesis we read that for six days G-d created skies and earth, day and night, earth and seas, animals and plants, and called them good, but it is the seventh day, a day of ceasing from labor, that G-d blessed and deemed holy, a day set apart from all others. An acknowledgement that beings need to rest and recharge to live. This day of rest has been there since the very beginning; a divine gift of leisure. How have we drifted so far away from this gift?
Life moves more quickly with each passing year. Technology meant to give us free time instead has allowed us to isolate from each other, to work at our offices and away, to partake solo in entertainment that was formerly communal. We want the newest, latest things so that we don’t get left behind with progress. It’s a battle of time versus stuff. We have cultivated an attitude of achievement; if we are not constantly doing and achieving we are wasting time. Who has ever achieved more than G-d in the first six day of creation? And G-d took a day of rest.
In Judaism, depending on how literally and strictly you follow the Torah, Shabbat comes with many restrictions, many Do Nots. On Shabbat do not turn on lights, light a fire, cook food, write, sew, do not spend money — and in our modern world do not use the phone, car, computer, internet, television, and on and on. Shabbat became a long list of don’ts. So many don’ts that many people felt were unrealistic and impossible to follow they turned away from Shabbat completely. Many others still light the Shabbat candles and say the blessings over the challah and wine, but then life, Shabbat, goes on like any other day. I am one of those people.
How do I/we reclaim the gift of Shabbat that G-d gave us? I don’t dwell in or function well under a set of don’ts. So perhaps a better way to reclaim Shabbat is to have a list of Dos. Whatever your faith or beliefs, set aside a time in your week to try one or more of the following:
• Do spend quality time with family and friends.
• Do share a meal, a coffee, a walk with others.
• Do read something that will challenge or enlighten you.
• Do take time to check in with yourself, to review your week.
• Do leave work behind.
• Do turn off the computer and phone, for an hour, at least.
In the words of Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth, “Shabbat was and is the time when we stop making a living and instead simply live.”
We are in very stressful, tumultuous times where it is imperative for our physical and mental health to step away from all the noise, the distraction, the vitriol. We must allow ourselves an hour, a morning, a day of rest, of relief, of reconnecting with family and friends.
I wish for all of us that we give ourselves the grace to slow down and to embrace the gift of life that is Shabbat.
Shabbat shalom.
• Patricia Turner Custard is a Congregation Sukkat Shalom board member. ”Living and Growing” is a weekly column written by different authors and submitted by local clergy and spiritual leaders. It appears every Friday on the Juneau Empire’s Faith page.
