You must always remember that you are performing mitzvot. It is not a question of“how you feel about it” at any given time. You may not be“in the mood.” But being a Jew is not always convenient or easy. The performance of mitzvot ought to be the pattern of one’s life. The more deep-rooted such a pattern, the more intense and regular one’s performance of mitzvot, the richer and truer will be one’s life as a Jew.’
Plaut includes a list of positive and negative commandments for liberal Jews related to Shabbat . The mitzvot lo ta’aseh, negative commandments, are listed with the caveat that“experience and personal circumstance” will indicate whether certain specific activities are appropriate for any given individual: not engaging in gainful work; not performing housework; not shopping; not participating in social events or public events during worship hours; and avoiding all public activity which violates or gives the appearance of violating Shemirat Shabbat .” Notably, whereas Bettan , in his responsum, cites Yoma 85b to insist“[t]hat the Sabbath has been placed in our control, and that we are not under the control of the Sabbath, ” Plaut cites the words of Ahad HaAm : “More than Israel has kept the Sabbath , the Sabbath has kept [srael.”"
The next Reform publication which addressed Shabbat observance in a significant way was Peter Knobel’s Gates of the Seasons, published twenty years after Plaut’s manual. Knobel frames his discussion of Shabbat by noting the importance of two Shabbat commandments, as found in the two different versions of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy : one is connected with creation and the other with redemption; one uses the word zachor, which he defines as spiritual rest and sanctification, and the other uses the word shamor, which he defines as physical rest and the avoidance of labor. Knobel then states: