A Word from Rabbi Schulman - 10/6/17
If you want an antidote to the stress of our times, avail yourself of the life hack that has been around since the beginning of creation, you can be like God and make Shabbos. Notice that phrase, make Shabbos. You don’t observe Shabbat. You make Shabbat.
It takes effort and determination to make Shabbat a day of rest. It is not something that magically happens the moment the sun sets on Friday night. It involves conscious decisions about where you are going to be; who you are going to be with; and what you are going to do from sundown through Saturday night.
If we need a guide to how to keep Shabbat, here are ten key ideas to keep in mind. They come via a Jewish organization called Reboot. They promote what they call The Sabbath Manifesto. It outlines 10 key elements to making Shabbat meaningful. They are:
Avoid Technology
Connect with loved ones
Nurture your health
Get outside
Avoid commerce
Light candles
Drink wine
Eat bread
Find silence
Give back
Use these ten principles for thinking about how you make Shabbat. Maybe next Shabbat you won’t achieve all 10 goals. But start with one, and then build from there two and from two to three and so on. Strive to create a Shabbat that is rich and meaningful, nourishing and soul satisfying. This is what God wants from us. To cease from all the crazy things we do from Sunday through Friday and just be in the world, to appreciate all the blessings that fill our days, to give thanks for what’s truly important.
Excerpt from Yom Kippur Morning Sermon, “A Day of Rest.”