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| Shabbat HaMalkah: The Jewel of Creation By Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb Shabbat is the hidden spring of Jewish life restoring the soul of creation. Shabbat is guardian to the most beloved values of Jewish existence. Yet, in our own time, Shabbat is a neglected institution. In an age when war and poverty threaten future generations, when the stress of our frantic consumer schedules degrade our inner well-being and the health of the earth, Shabbat remains an oasis for healing and renewing our lives. Shabbat, according to our tradition, is the jewel of creation and intrinsic to its very nature. We humans are co-partners in creation, and Shabbat is our spouse in the work of becoming human. Our ancestors recognized the need to ordain a period of rest not related to celebrating seedtime or harvest, but as a necessary pause to refresh and reconstitute the meaning of existence from a human perspective. Without pause to honor our relationships and our human essence, we lose our dignity. The rest of Shabbat is not about lying in front of the TV and watching sports, or writing our next novel or even enjoying classical music from the radio. Shabbat is a time to come together in feast and celebration, in song and dance of our own creation, in study and prayer, in napping and strolling, in simply being together. Shabbat requires boundaries that separate us from weekday work. Work (melachah) is defined as “the execution of an intelligent purpose by a practical skill. This involves production, creation or transforming an object for human purposes, but not physical exertion.” (Samson Rafael Hirsch in Horeb). Abstaining from work allows all people, animals and the earth itself to be free of exploitation and use and simply to enjoy existence as free creatures. Shabbat is thus the first human institution to honor created being without reference to its utilitarian function. Rabbinical tradition defined 39 forbidden categories of work that were adapted from the work used to create the Mishkan. Work categories include sowing, plowing, cutting corn, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting sifting, grinding, kneading, baking, shearing, bleaching, carding, dyeing, spinning, setting up the warp, tying knots, sewing together, tearing, catching game, slaughtering, flaying, treatment of skin for leather, scraping, cutting, writing, erasing for the purpose of rewriting, building, demolishing for purpose of rebuilding, kindling, beating with a hammer, carrying from the private to the public domain. Using or even touching money was also forbidden. In the modern context, how do these laws apply? This will be the beginning of our communal discussion of how to keep the Sabbath in a meaningful way at Nahalat Shalom and in our own homes. Certainly this would mean not buying and selling or employing labor on Shabbat and not engaging in consumerism one day a week. The measure of difficulty involved in abstaining from consumerism one day a week reflects on the nature of our servitude to the American way of life. Shabbat is called Oneg, or a time of pleasure. To fully enjoy the pleasure of one day free from toil, people work during the week to prepare for Shabbat. Cooking and cleaning are done in advance so that food is warmed up but not boiled or baked. This allows for the maximum enjoyment of all members of the family. Guests are invited, flowers are placed on the table, special clothes are worn, and time unfolds like a gentle stream. People sing Sabbath songs, dance and joke, tell stories, and spouses and lovers consecrate their love through physical merry making. Children are blessed, the earth rests, quiet descends and we gather in community to lift up our spirits. Sabbath morning is a time for prayer and reflection, for reading Torah and deepening our thoughts about compassion, justice, peace and blessings. Napping and strolling follows the second meal. I especially cherish the memories of Sabbath afternoons in Eretz Yisrael. Everyone was out in the streets, playing in parks, and strolling the promenades as shadows lengthened into evening. The third meal, Shabbat Hamalcha, offered yet another time for eating and storytelling, dancing and singing as we light the Havdalah candle and get ready for the revelry of Saturday night. May the coming year, 5763, become a time devoted to honoring Shabbat in our community and thus enriching our lives with the beauty of rest and joy. May we come to deepen our ties to each other through the gift of Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace. | ||||||||
