Shabbat Shalom
The Torah commands us to set one out of every 7 days to rest; to dwell in wholeness and in health. This Shabbat, I hope you set aside your toilsome work, and live right now in the miracle of Life.
“The Sabbath is the day on which we learn the art of surpassing civilization.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, 1951
It is one of our holiest commandments to bear witness to Shabbat. Shabbat reminds us to see completion within the endless cycles of time, to find peace within the eternal turning of the seasons, to seek a sense of wholeness whilst we live in a world utterly broken.
If civilization arises from the common human pursuit of mastery over nature, bound to the constant endeavor of maintaining human life and social order, Shabbat serves as a reminder that everything — from our personal pursuit of our daily bread to the collective progress we have presumed a necessity for society to thrive — must eventually come to rest. As Heschel beautifully writes in the opening of his book of poetry The Sabbath, “Technical civilization is man’s conquest of space. It is a triumph frequently achieved by sacrificing an essential ingredient of existence, namely, time… But time is the heart of existence.” Shabbat reminds us that we find holiness when we make time to dwell wholly in the present — to relax in the splendid community within which we otherwise ceaselessly toil to survive.
This week, I have been working hard to prepare a few exciting articles that will begin our foray into the depths of Jewish history: from myth, and cosmology, to Truth and Life. These articles are not yet finished. Let us take some time to rest, to reconnect with ourselves, our loved ones, our homes, and the beautiful Natural World in which we dwell.
Writing is an active process, not toilsome, but still an act which takes time and care. Time to be inspired and time to reflect; care to compose and care to think about each word I inscribe on the page. I hope you can be present this Shabbat; present in all the relationships that connect us, connecting self to others, and all to the World. I hope you can find a sense of completion and wholeness, that you can find the perfect existence — that feeling we all aim for before we share our creation with the world. In these times of alienation and division, I hope you find community and love for All. Take this Sabbath to breathe deeply, and to share in this present Sabbath as it moves across the Earth.