Celebrating Humanist Shabbat

As a Jewish humanist, why is Shabbat meaningful? For traditional-leaning Jews, Shabbat is a commemoration of the story of creation – God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh.  But this origin story is not essential. Much more important is the lesson implicit in Shabbat – people need to rest, reflect and enjoy one another. One of the greatest gifts that the Jewish people gave to the world is the concept of the Sabbath.   We spend six days creating, doing, and rushing.  Resting gives us the energy to refuel ourselves.   The creation story is a legend.  Our weekly work is reality.  Reality is also our need for time to breath and reconnect. 

An important element of Shabbat is coming together with people we care about – whether it be our family, friends or community.   Beth Chai holds Shabbat services for precisely this reason.   All week, members of our community do their work separately – in schools, home offices, labs, hospitals, volunteer settings, newsrooms, and government buildings across our region. We study, volunteer, clearn our homes, cook, do errands and help our families.  But, on Shabbat, we have an opportunity together to eat, sing, talk, reflect and recharge.   How meaningful!

I’d love to see you next Friday night and hear about your week and tell you about mine.