Cantor's Blog

As commonly experienced, cruising at sea for an extended period often results in the loss of markers of time. Each hour, each day blends into the next without distinction. Aboard a cruise ship, one is never fully sure what day it is, and subsequently, time passes without notice.

A recent study on the perceived notion that time progresses more quickly with age, suggested that the phenomena is the result of the lack of those very markers of time. In our youth, everything is new, novel experiences and special events abound. Absent, those notable moments, as life becomes more routine, time passes for too quickly (certainly for my liking).

In the psalm for Shabbat (Psalm 92), recited both Friday evening and Saturday morning, we read: “How great are your deeds, o Lord; exceedingly profound are your thoughts.”  Indeed, how deeply are our lives impacted by the idea of stepping out of the routine to appreciate life!

The possibility of a day of rest, one in seven, was denigrated by the upper classes within Greek and Roman societies, claimed evidence of the laziness of the lower classes. But this divine gift shared by the Jewish people with the world, one following the Genesis story in the Bible, has functioned as a powerful institution within Jewish life. As expressed by Ahad Ha’Am (Asher Ginzburg) in the early 20th century, “More than Jews have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept the Jews.” [All the more powerful coming from the founder of cultural Zionism!]

I once again turn to Abraham Joshua Heschel in a search for meaning. He wrote: “The meaning of the Shabbat is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week, we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Shabbat, we try to become attuned to the holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation, to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation, to the creation of the world.”

One might anticipate that after concluding the creation of the world, God would have designed cathedrals, places of holiness, in which to experience the sublime within God’s works. But instead, God. “ created Shabbat” and blessed it, as expressed in the Biblical verses chanted every Friday evening: Vayechulu. Or as Heschel eloquently stated: “The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals, the Jewish equivalent of secret architecture.”

So, as Shabbat approaches the waters between Malta and Athens (and seven hours later in Houston), may it be God’s will that we temporary early halt our attempt to conquer the world, to win our battles with society, and with ourselves, so that we may note the beauty of the marker of Shabbat - a breathtaking time of personal peace and potential holiness. If only we would embrace it. Slow time down and live.

Shabbat shalom um’vorach.