Below is an excerpt from the Introduction to Abraham Joshua Heschel’s book, “The Sabbath.” It is written by Heschel’s daughter, Susannah. Heschel was one of the greatest Jewish theologians of the 20th century. He escaped Poland shortly before Hitler’s invasion in 1940 and became the professor of Ethics and Mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He was a social justice activist; he was a spiritual advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., he participated in the Civil Rights movement, and opposed to the war in Vietnam.
“When my father raised his kiddish cup on Friday evenings, closed his eyes, and chanted the prayer sanctifying the wine, I always felt a rush of emotion. As he chanted with an old, sacred family melody, he blessed the wine and the Sabbath with his prayer, and I also felt he was blessing my life and that of everyone at the table. I treasured those moments.
Friday evenings in my home were the climax of the week, as they are for every religious Jewish family. My mother and I kindled the lights for the Sabbath, and all of a sudden I felt transformed, emotionally and even physically. After lighting the candles in the dining room, we would walk into the living room, which had windows overlooking the Hudson River, facing west and we would marvel at the sunset that soon arrived.
The sense of peace that came upon us as we kindled the lights was created, in part, by the hectic tension of Fridays. Preparation for a holy day, my father often said, was as important as the day itself. During the busy morning my mother shopped for groceries, and in the afternoons the atmosphere grew increasingly nervous as she cooked. My father came home from his office an hour or two before sunset to take care of his own preparations, and as the last minutes of the workweek came close, both of my parents were in the kitchen, frantically trying to remember what they might have forgotten to prepare—Had the kettle boiled? Was the blech covering the stove? What the oven turned on?
Then, suddenly, it was time: twenty minutes before sunset. Whatever hadn’t been finished in the kitchen was simply left behind as we lit the candles and blessed the arrival of the Sabbath. My father writes, ‘The Sabbath comes like a caress, wiping away fear, sorrow and somber memories.’”
* Susannah Heschel, Introduction to “The Sabbath” by Abraham Joshua Heschel. 2005. Farrah, Straus and Giroux.
Very few of us have any experience with or appreciation for the Sabbath. We read Jesus critiquing the ways that the religious elite of his day practiced the Sabbath. We also read Paul’s dismissal of the Law (including the Sabbath) as central to following Jesus. But, to be sure, Jesus observed the Sabbath; as did all his disciples. Paul kept the Sabbath along with all the Jewish Christians of his day. Most of Paul’s recorded sermons took place at Sabbath services. Is it possible that we miss something of God by ignoring the Sabbath? Perhaps it isn’t that observing the Sabbath results in us becoming the people of God; rather in becoming the people of God we discover the spiritual power of the Sabbath.
