Recently in individual shabbat Category

Dr. Carol Ochs, Professor of Jewish Thought at HUC-JIR in New York shares her thoughts about Shabbat and the individual:


Shabbat has two major aspects: communal and personal. There have been very instructive remarks about the communal aspect of Shabbat, so I'd like to focus on the personal.  Once a week we are told we belong to ourselves and to God. In a society focused on nonstop communication, connection, obligation, it comes almost as a revelation to turn off all the noise. For twenty-five hours we take off our wrist watches, turn off our cell phones, close the lid on our laptops, and enter into silence and peace, giving us a chance to meet our own deepest nature. When the only requirement is that we not do anything that is required, what do we find ourselves drawn to? When we stop worrying the past or planning for the future, how do we experience the present? We won't live here all the time, but weekly we are reminded that we are more than all the roles we play. We are valuable before we are contributory. And we are told that we are worth getting to know. How little we realized that we were only on nodding acquaintance with ourselves.