Rituals: Our Expression of Shabbat
November 14, 2011 
7 Comments
by Jason Levine
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Shabbat of Adonai Your God; you shall not do any work.”1
With these words, we received Shabbat. But Shabbat is much more than a cessation of work; it is a holy occasion. Shabbat is a brief respite in time, wherein the mundane humdrum of six workdays dissolves into one spectacular day of calm. But what separates this single day from the other six? The sun does not rise any differently, nor do the flowers blossom any brighter on Shabbat. If Shabbat is merely a biblically stated separation in time, then it must be the weekly actions and behaviors that we, as Jews, perform that raise this day to a period of holy and the realm of the sacred.
According to philosopher Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, it is ritual that marks the time differently on Shabbat. He teaches us; “Jewish ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time.”2 It is ritual that sets one day apart and makes Shabbat holy. Ritual is an action done repeatedly with symbolic value; it is the special combination of an emotional intention and the dedicated expression of that intention. The ritual is built on both the feeling and the doing.
This is the same for Shabbat. Shabbat, as given as the Fourth Commandment, is ordained twice in the Torah. In Exodus 20:8, we are commanded to “Zachor/Remember Shabbat.” In Deuteronomy 5:11, we are commanded to “Shamor/Observe Shabbat.” Rabbinic tradition notes the discrepancy in verbs, but nevertheless sees the two as complementary. In the Talmud, the Sages teach that zachor and shamor were pronounced in a single utterance as two halves of a single commandment.3 Zachor is the emotional side, teaching us to remember why we set one day aside and treat it specially. Shamor is the physical way we make Shabbat holy, continually expressing its uniqueness in Jewish time. Just as the ritual is the combination of the emotion and the physical, so is Shabbat. When our rituals reflect this multi-layered understanding, we are then truly valuing Shabbat.
The beauty of rituals is that the many ways we can value Shabbat is virtually limitless. A ritual is not as strict as a minhag (custom) or halacha (law); they can be continually adapted and changed to provide increased meaning. Our Jewish tradition contains a vast array of Shabbat rituals that are enthusiastically practiced. On a given Friday evening, our family Shabbat table may include candles, Kiddush, motzei, blessing the children, reciting aishet hayil,4 singing Shalom Alecheim, ritual hand washing, and z’mirot (songs). Our task is to locate the rituals that most help us value Shabbat, and to personalize them to our family or community.
Professor Vanessa L Ochs, author of “Inventing Jewish Ritual,” teaches that we should not miss the opportunities to add our own rituals to the communal and historical expression of Shabbat and the Jewish home. She writes, “Part of the efficacy of rituals is that we can easily trick ourselves into believing that our invented rituals were never new, re-embraced or remade. But the fact is that all of our rituals were at one point created. They were new and then, because they were embraced, they became real.”
The rituals of Shabbat are real because we love them and wait for them each week, knowing that they are merely six days away. Our expression of Shabbat is only limited by our creativity in embracing old and constructing new rituals. It is as simple as zachor and shamor, the emotional strength and diligent action. We should all celebrate rituals as they draw us closer to each other and closer to Shabbat. Each ritual may be small in effort or time, but its impact can be enormous. So add rituals to your Shabbat and practice them warmly, because through them, we are truly making Shabbat, our communities, and ourselves holy.
Jason Levine is a fourth year rabbinical student Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is currently serving as the student rabbi of the Hillel at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has served congregations in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Bristol, Tennessee, as well as worked as the Assistant Jewish Life and Learning ( a word seems to be missing here) at URJ Camp Harlam and the Rabbinic Intern at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Jason is also serving his second term as president of the Rabbinical Student Association in Cincinnati.
1 Exodus 20:9-10 and Deuteronomy 13-14. These words are used verbatim in both places within the Torah.
2 Abraham Joshua Heschel. “The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Moden Man.” Noonday Press. 1996.
3 Shabuot 20b
4 Aishet hayil is a Jewish hymn based on Proverbs 31:10-31, the final 22 verses of the Book of Proverbs. It is traditionally recited by a husband for his wife at the Shabbat table. While some modern communities find its words difficult from an egalitarian point of view, its symbolic usage to honor your loved one is an endearing theme.
Jason,
I agree with you that Shabbat is what we make of it. However, I think you missed the main point of Shabbat. It is a testimony that G-d created the world and ceased from creative actions on the seventh day. We need to, therefore, tailor Shabbat into what G-d wants, not what we think it should be. Granted, additional rules and regs were added during the Second Temple period, but they were only instituted to enhance the existing Torah rules. They were not enacted to make new “rituals” with no real halachic binding.
I do agree that families need to make Shabbat a personal experience, but under guidelines that guard the sanctity of the day. Otherwise, it is just another vacation day with very little spiritual fortitude. If people don’t believe that Shabbat is an institution arranged for by G-d, why keep it at all? We could just take Wednesdays off, go golfing and call it Shabbat.
Shabbat is more than a day off with some rituals, it’s a way of life.
That depends how you define “arranged for by God”. I would say that the entire Jewish Tradition (or any other religious system) is a human construction that arose from a genuine encounter with the very real, present God. That doesn’t make it any less holy or beautiful, but it does make it less “binding”. I think that anything that honors God and ourselves is a good thing, and if some people can honor God and the Divine Spark within themselves by adhering to a form of Sabbath Rest that departs from halakhic tradition, then I think that choice is at least as authentic as being halakhically “shomer shabbos”. If we are marking the Sabbath in a meaningful way and using it to sanctify and order our lives, then we are truly “keeping Shabbat”, no matter what our specific practices are.
Jordan,
I agree that something is better than nothing, but I feel that if Jews don’t continually connect with the source and believe that G-d is the source of the traditions, then the “meaningful way” of keeping Shabbat can become very subjective with no cohesion amongst the Jewish People. One’s subjective ethics and morals are not the same as another’s. There must be an authoritative way to guard the Sabbath. Otherwise,like I said in my original comment, Shabbat becomes just another vacation day.
What you’re suggesting, that it is only a “human construction”, not only applies to Shabbat, but to the entire Torah & religion. If one doesn’t believe it’s from an authoritative Creator, then why keep the religion at all? I’ll make up my own religion according to what a I like and don’t like and not worry about what anyone else has to say. If the religion didn’t have this Supreme Authority demanding certain behaviors, why would Jews have adhered to it for millenia despite the hardships and persecutions? Drop it and join another religion that’s been persecuting us since, according to you, they had “a genuine encounter with the very real, present God.” What difference does it make?
Shamor v’zachor b’dibur echad tells us that there are two sides to the Shabbat coin — guarding it and remembering it, keeping in mind that remember is not a perfect translation for zachor, since it carries an implication that your keeping something in mind is a prelude to action.
As I see the distinction, shamor puts the emphasis on the things we’re not supposed to do on Shabbat, while zachor puts the emphasis on the things we are supposed to do.
Rabbi Levine (I’m sure he won’t mind if I give him his smicha a little early) and my friend Jordan want to add joy to their Shabbat observance, while Mr. Lindow seems to be stressing the need not to infringe on any of the original rules, nor the rules that were established to make sure we don’t infringe on the rules, nor the rules like the eruv that were established to evade the rules that were established to make sure that we don’t break any of the rules that were established to make sure we didn’t break any of the rules. (An eruv is the legal fiction of a wire strung around an Orthodox neighborhood which mystically makes possible such otherwise forbidden Shabbat activities as pushing the toddler in a stroller or carrying your siddur, a topic previously discussed here on this blog http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2010/03/boundaries.html.)
I’m sure that Mr. Lindow and those who observe Shabbat as he recommends get some kind of joy out of the Shabbat restrictions they place upon themselves. More power to them, as long as they do not delude themselves that theirs is the only way. Someone — it may have been Rabbi Yoffie — recently provided a good Reform guideline for what not to do — refrain from those activities that are directly connected to making a living. Works for me!
Larry,
I totally disagree with you but I love you all the same. You welcome to join me for Shabbat any time. I’m sure we’ll have a great time together.
You make me smile!
Keep the faith.
I really agree with the idea about doing things that you enjoy on the Sabbath, to please yourself. I personally enjoy listening to my guilty pleasure Jon Bon Jovi every friday night, and eating cheese fries. I also really enjoy going out dancing with my girlfriends on friday nights. I understand that this isn’t what works for everyone, but it works for me – so I’ve made it my Sabbath ritual.
Jason,
I agree with you that Shabbat is much more than a cessation of work.thanks for sharing this.