Central Conference of American Rabbis
Fifth: We Respond to Mitzvot that Lead Us to the
Holiness of Time
On Shabbat, the culmination
of Creation, we commit ourselves to observe those
mitzvot which let us experience the day as mey-eyn
olam ha-ba, a foretaste of the world to come, a world
redeemed. Shabbat offers us the opportunity to participate
in the sanctity of our synagogue community and to sanctify
our homes through creative interpretations of shamor,
the mitzvot of refraining from many ordinary weekday
acts, as well as zachor, the mitzvot of
welcoming the special Shabbat rituals into our lives.
Standing at the climax of the week, Shabbat inspires us to
bring the highest moral values to our weekday labor and our
interactions with other human beings. Shabbat also liberates
us from the obligations which our work places upon us that
we may focus on our obligations to Torah.
We also commit ourselves to
steer the course of our lives by creative celebrations of
the High Holydays, the seasonal festivals and the other
commemorative days of our calendar, delighting in the
special foods and observing the somber fasts which nourish
our souls. We will celebrate the seasons of our personal
journeys as well, through traditional and creative rites
that sanctify the milestones of our lives. Conscious always
of our mortality, we are committed to filling our days with
the joy of living as Jews.
Bluethread responds: Let us tell you a story:
About 6 years ago the editors of Bluethread led their lives in a typical modern liberal Jewish manner. We celebrated Passover and lit the candles at Hanukkah. Saturday was just another workday to us. The High Holy days were not on our calendar. The only times we entered a synagogue were for the occasional family B'nai Mitzvah.
We did strongly believe in family, and while we were visiting our kin in Vero Beach, Florida, our nephew invited us to attend Friday night services at the local Reform synagogue. The congregation was mostly retired folks from up north, who were also not in the custom of leading particularly Jewish lives. The rabbi had the challenge of making Shabbat relevent to them. This is what he said:
The observance of Shabbat was how we connected with God, but how we observed it was between us and God. As Reform Jews, we did not have to refrain from work on Shabbat, we did not have to have a special dinner, we did not have to stay home, we did not have to go to the synagogue. All that was required of us was to know that Shabbat was there. So he recommended the following: light a candle at the beginning of every Shabbat and light one at the end, and every Shabbat learn one new thing.
His words touched us. As soon as we returned home we did as he suggested. We created the space to listen and our hearts told us who we were and how we should express it in our lives. The rest is history.
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3/18/99
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Principles copyright ©
1998, Central Conference of American Rabbis
Most recent update 11 Dec 1998
Bluethread ©Rosemarie E. Falanga, Cy H. Silver