{"id":43,"date":"2008-08-04T22:25:31","date_gmt":"2008-08-04T22:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2008\/08\/reading-heschel-on-the-sabbath.html"},"modified":"2008-08-04T22:25:31","modified_gmt":"2008-08-04T22:25:31","slug":"reading-heschel-on-the-sabbath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/08\/reading-heschel-on-the-sabbath.html","title":{"rendered":"Reading Heschel on the Sabbath"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, after
\nputting my children down for a nap, I took the opportunity to reread selections
\nfrom Abraham Joshua Hesche<\/a>l’s The Sabbath<\/a><\/i><\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>First published in 1951,
\nthis poetic gem has been read by countless spiritual seekers–Jewish and
\nnon-Jewish–throughout the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I flipped through the
\npages of the book, I was struck again by Heschel’s remarkable ability to cull
\nfrom the vast storehouse of classical Jewish teachings and to present these
\ngleanings to a diverse modern readership with elegance and force.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Heschel’s mind, the
\ngreatest challenge facing the modern Western world is the loss of a sense for
\nthe sacred.\u00a0 <\/span>He argues that in our
\nattempts to master our physical surroundings through technological advancement,
\nwe have become desensitized to the grandeur and beauty of life, both in the
\nnatural world and in the faces of other people.\u00a0 <\/span>In our rush to industrialize we have become so focused on
\ngaining economic and political power that we have forgotten our ultimate
\npurpose: to serve as co-creators with the Divine in the establishment of a just
\nand compassionate world.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For Heschel, a refugee from
\nEastern Europe, the Holocaust is the most dramatic example of the shadow side
\nof modernity.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, it was in
\nGermany–arguably the great center of modern culture–that the most effective and
\ndevastating killing machines in human history were created.\u00a0 <\/span>But Heschel is also critical of popular
\nAmerican culture with its seemingly insatiable consumerist cravings, symbolized
\nin his mind by the excesses of affluent suburban life in cities across the
\ncountry.<\/span><\/p>\n

In The<\/i><\/span> Sabbath<\/i><\/span>,
\nHeschel attempts to offer a corrective to the imbalance he experienced in
\nEurope and the United States.\u00a0 <\/span>In
\nso doing, he explores two basic, and intersecting, dimensions of human
\nexistence: space and time.\u00a0 <\/span>Heschel
\nargues that modern Western life is dominated by an obsession with space–with
\nbuilding, mastering, and conquering things of space.\u00a0 <\/span>But life turns dim, says Heschel, “when the control of
\nspace, the acquisition of things in space, becomes our sole concern” (p.
\nix).\u00a0 <\/span>He calls on us to reconsider
\nour priorities and relax our attachment to “thinghood,” shifting our attention
\nto the “thingless and insubstantial” reality of time.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is in this context that
\nHeschel introduces the importance of the Sabbath to modern life.\u00a0 <\/span>For Shabbat<\/i><\/span> offers us the opportunity to retreat temporarily
\nfrom our work-a-day routine, from the world of space consciousness, and to
\nenjoy the manifold gifts of creation provided for us by the Master of the
\nUniverse.\u00a0 <\/span>Heschel describes the
\nSabbath as a “palace in time,” whose architecture is built through a
\ncombination of intentional abstentions (refraining from business dealings,
\nlong-distance travel, etc.) and acts of prayer, study, joyous meals, and
\ninteraction with loved ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, perhaps,
\nHeschel explains that Shabbat<\/i><\/span> not
\nonly offers us an opportunity for weekly spiritual communion, but it also has
\nthe potential to help shape the way we live the other six days of the
\nweek.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Will our time with friends
\nand family make us more sensitive to the needs of other human beings?\u00a0 <\/span>Will our time celebrating the grandeur
\nand beauty of nature make us more sensitive to the needs of the earth?\u00a0 <\/span>Will we be able to hold in our hearts
\nand minds the realization that God is the supreme author of life and that we
\nare called upon by the Divine to serve as co-creators of a just and
\ncompassionate world?\u00a0 <\/span>In brief, can
\nwe carry with us something of the Sabbath consciousness through the rest of the
\nweek?<\/span><\/p>\n

More than fifty years after Abraham Joshua Heschel
\npublished The<\/span> Sabbath<\/i><\/span>, and thousands of
\nyears after this great religious institution was first recorded in the Hebrew
\nBible, Shabbat<\/i><\/span> remains both a spiritual
\noasis and a bold challenge to all of us who seek to live both productive and
\nreflective lives.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday afternoon, after putting my children down for a nap, I took the opportunity to reread selections from Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath.\u00a0 First published in 1951, this poetic gem has been read by countless spiritual seekers–Jewish and non-Jewish–throughout the world. As I flipped through the pages of the book, I was struck again…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[46,47],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jews","tag-heschel","tag-sabbath"],"yoast_head":"\nReading Heschel on the Sabbath - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/08\/reading-heschel-on-the-sabbath.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reading Heschel on the Sabbath - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Saturday afternoon, after putting my children down for a nap, I took the opportunity to reread selections from Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath.\u00a0 First published in 1951, this poetic gem has been read by countless spiritual seekers–Jewish and non-Jewish–throughout the world. 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