Us
dll
h
I
A number of years ago, I gave a sermon on Shabbat Vayakhel' In it, I explored notions of work and rest, asking whether we can find ways to choose not to work. One congregant heard it as a personal challenge. Recently, she wrote me this account:
So, as a Reform Jew(and one who came to my involvement as a Jew very late in life), I never really thought of how I would observe Shabbat . Sure, I went to services every Friday night that I could(and sometimes on Saturday mornings) and we lit candles every Friday night but that was the extent of my observation of Shabbat . Until, one Friday night about five years ago, when[you] suggested during a sermon that we just stop doing one thing on Saturdays to observe the Sabbath .
Because I tend to work all the time, I had to think a bit about this; finally though, I decided to stop e-mailing. This was difficult in the beginning but not for long. Observing Shabbat in this way has allowed me to spend more time really relaxing and thinking about my blessings which are many...It has made a very big difference in my life.”
This congregant’s experience led me to take this paper as an opportunity to explore Reform Judaism’s teachings on Shabbat , as they have been written’ for congregants looking to observe it. Specifically, her experience with email led me to a study of how these teachings might relate to our own modern issues of connectivity, work and rest. How might a committed lay person— or member of the clergy— approach Shabbat , guided by our movement’s writings? For the purposes of this paper, I focus on the sixty years of the post-WWII period. 1 will begin with a discussion of significant statements about Shabbat observance over