THE IMPORTANCE OF SABBATH

                A couple of weeks ago when I was preparing a homily I came across a story by Rabbi Naomi Levy she wrote about in her book Hope Will Find You. It tells the story of a family and the significance of the Sabbath in the lives of people of faith.

                It talks about a family that has slowly lost contact with one another. The mother of a 15 year-old boy noticed that her son was withdrawn from her and her husband. He spent all of his time in his room alone. When he’d come home from school, he’d grunt a hello and head straight to his room. He’d come grab some food from the refrigerator and return to his room. His mother wouldn’t see him again until he left for school the next morning.

                When the rabbi asked what the boy was like at the dinner table she replied, “We don’t eat together.” Her husband often worked long hours so ate dinner over meetings. The mother ordered a lot of takeout and ate alone at the kitchen table. The boy always ate in front of his computer in his room.

                The rabbi responded to the distraught mother, “Shabbat. Shabbat is your opportunity to do it all differently.” The rabbi went on to explain “people think of the Sabbath as a day of prohibition—you can’t do this and you can’t do that. But it’s actually a day of permission, a day when we give ourselves permission to leave the workweek and all its demands behind so that we can breathe again, dream again, connect again.” The rabbi talked to the mother who had come to her “about turning off the electronics and what a challenge that would be but what a relief it would be. They talked about a home-cooked meal, about a return to the family table set with a white table cloth and flowers and candles. They talked about having conversations at the table and time. Time passes much more slowly when you have nowhere to go and nothing to turn on…”

                After three weeks the mother returned to the rabbi to thank her because they were becoming a family again. They were making time for one another.