“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
(Genesis 2:2-3)“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six
days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)“The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:16-17)
I
After a long week of hard physical labor in the orchards or factories of a kibbutz or any other working place in Israel, after six long days of work, the day of Shabbat comes to your rescue, as a relief. It is a refuge for both body and soul. “Shabbat shalom” is the greeting on Yom Shishi, on the sixth day, Friday, as every body is aching for entering this shalom, this peace and rest, and every soul longing to delight in it. After finishing work on Yom Shishi you can already feel: something is about to change now… The week is over, all is done. You take a shower that is longer than usual and wash off the week’s dirt, bruises and pain. You put off your worker’s clothes and dress up in your best fresh clothing for the Shabbat dinner that starts the day of joyful rest off with delicious food. Shabbat is many things: It is eating together, it is food, but food beyond the usual – savoring every bit and piece of it. Enjoying pieces of the challah, the special bread for Shabbat, by slowly chewing all the slightly sweet taste out of them. Bread not for every day, but for a special day… Shabbat can be sleeping in for once and then brunching into the day with some homemade shakshuka. It can be sitting on a bench with a cup of Turkish coffee or lemongrass tea and enjoying whatever view is before you, or reading a book for hours – and all week long you were looking forward to opening up that book again and continuing your reading journey. It can be playing matkot with friends on the beach and then running into the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. It surely always is about community, about reconnecting with God and people – and ultimately also with yourself, your nephesh (your inmost being). It is about being together with family, relatives, friends – or even strangers. About conversations of all kinds, yet beyond the daily chitchat, or simply sharing time together in silence.
II
Time stands still, time feels different on this day, time feels endless. Shabbat starts on Friday evening, with sunset, and ends with the sunset of the next day, but actually kind of lasts, in its afterglow, till Sunday morning when you return back to your work, to whatever your hands and mind have been given to do. Shabbat starts with food and then a long night of sleep, the restoration of your body. Then it continues with whatever lifts up your soul. Shabbat is never too short. It always is as long and as deep as it needs to be – if you are aware of this special day, if you tune in to the rhythm of the seventh day following the other six, closing, climaxing, completing the week.
An almost musical rhythm of work and rest was built into creation, a symphony of laboring for fruits and delighting in the free gifts of God’s grace, just as God finally delighted in all that He had made – all that He had made for humans to breathe, to walk, to live and flourish in, following Him… So simply move and then finally, on the seventh day, dance along to it – and your body and soul will rejoice in true health. Humans need work, tasks, missions – daily work, and they need this day of rest, the other day.
III
The day of Shabbat echoes, every week, in so many ways the great redemption of the past and the future, as remembered year after year during Pesach in spring time, and therefore is like a little exodus relived, brought back to mind and heart by doing it, by – body and soul all in – leaving the Egypt of a labor’s week under the rod and staff of a Shepherd who truly loves and cares for his people: “The LORD said: ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:7-8). Shabbat: a good and spacious day of milk and honey… A signpost in time hinting at all that is yet to come.
And in such a way it also reminds us of and testifies to God’s true character – that there is a faithful Creator and Giver of all things, and that we can let go and stop fighting so hard to get some more of what we think we want and need… because even in the presence of our enemies, and even in the desert, a table would be set before us due to his unfailing love… Shabbat is abundance, having enough of everything – receiving it all out of God’s gracious hands, and sharing it gladly and generously with everyone alongside of you – friend or stranger, yet to become a friend.