Shabbos Unplugged

ו' לחודש העשירי תשע"ד

Image Credit: Mid-Continent Public Library

Smart phones, tablets, laptops.

Desk top computers at work and at home.

Even for those who limit, or keep away entirely from, Internet access, there are cell phones and mp3 players.

In one way or another, we are all plugged-in and hooked-up for much of our week.

For those of us who keep Shabbath, we are "unplugged" for just over one seventh of our lives, counting the Yamim Tovim* when such activities are also forbidden.

I should clarify. When I say "Shabbath observance," I mean Shabbath observance according halakhah (Jewish Law).

Every time, we keep Shabbath, that is, every time Jews keep Shabbath, we testify before all, that The Holy One, Blessed Be He, created the world, that He did so in six days, and ceased and rested on the seventh day, Shabbath, as it is written...

בראשית ב

א  וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, וְכָל-צְבָאָם. ב  וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה; וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. ג  וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ:  כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת.

Genesis 2
1 And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.

We keep Shabbath, because He commands it of us.

Nevertheless, the main of this post is to point out the great, side benefits of Shabbath observance, which many of take for granted.

Constant inundation by news media, government attempts at loyalty indoctrination, attempts to convince us just how much we need them all cease when we "unplug."

True, there is always the newspaper. But even those of us who glance at the paper try to take every opportunity to do something even more enjoyable, whether that is learning, schmoozing with friends, taking walks, what have you. Personally, I enjoy escaping into a good novel, and when it is warm, sunbathing is on my the agenda.

Not only are we "unplugged" for at least one-seventh of our lives, but that one-seventh also serves to undoing some of the brainwashing incurred during the week.

Food for thought....

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*Rosh HaShannah, Yom HaKippurim, Sukkoth-first day, Simhath Torah, Pesah-1st and 7th days, and Shavu'oth, adding days for those Jews residing outside of Israel.