Judith Shulevitz

enter into his imaginative world and play a game with him, or even I'm going to take pleasure in just cleaning these dishes, which sounds nutty, but I actually have found a way to meditate while cleaning dishes, and you fill it with something active rather than something negative, then I think it becomes more possible.

enter into his imaginative world and play a game with him, or even I'm going to take pleasure in just cleaning these dishes, which sounds nutty, but I actually have found a way to meditate while cleaning dishes, and you fill it with something active rather than something negative, then I think it becomes more possible.

Right now, in our moment in history, stopping our technological addiction is probably the hardest thing that we can do. And it is the biggest obstacle to living your life according to the lessons of Sabbath.

Right now, in our moment in history, stopping our technological addiction is probably the hardest thing that we can do. And it is the biggest obstacle to living your life according to the lessons of Sabbath.

So I don't have a problem with people coming to this notion of the Sabbath in a secular way. I think that once you do it, though, you begin in a way to replicate what the religion meant for you to do. My experience with the sort of secular Sabbath experiments has been they happen around a dinner. They happen around some kind of social event. So you're doing the gathering. You are

So I don't have a problem with people coming to this notion of the Sabbath in a secular way. I think that once you do it, though, you begin in a way to replicate what the religion meant for you to do. My experience with the sort of secular Sabbath experiments has been they happen around a dinner. They happen around some kind of social event. So you're doing the gathering. You are

doing what in part Shabbat meant you to do or the Christian Sabbath meant you to do, which is to be together. And that might lead somewhere or it might not. But if you become what I call a Sabbatarian, you're going to wind up finding your way to a community that makes it part of their life. And that's probably going to be a religious community. It doesn't have to be.

doing what in part Shabbat meant you to do or the Christian Sabbath meant you to do, which is to be together. And that might lead somewhere or it might not. But if you become what I call a Sabbatarian, you're going to wind up finding your way to a community that makes it part of their life. And that's probably going to be a religious community. It doesn't have to be.

But if you want that rich textured experience, it's going to wind up heading in that general direction.

But if you want that rich textured experience, it's going to wind up heading in that general direction.

One thing I would say about holiness is it means setting apart and perceiving as special. Certainly in the Jewish tradition, it is literally conceived as that which is set apart. So we've already talked about creating these boundaries around time and setting it apart.

One thing I would say about holiness is it means setting apart and perceiving as special. Certainly in the Jewish tradition, it is literally conceived as that which is set apart. So we've already talked about creating these boundaries around time and setting it apart.

One of the things that fascinates me, and in a way it's why I called the book The Sabbath World, is that it's a sort of enclosed world that we can never reach. And holiness is a little bit like that. It's this thing that's sort of beyond us. It partakes of a different order of being. It's God's order of being. We're never going to get there.

One of the things that fascinates me, and in a way it's why I called the book The Sabbath World, is that it's a sort of enclosed world that we can never reach. And holiness is a little bit like that. It's this thing that's sort of beyond us. It partakes of a different order of being. It's God's order of being. We're never going to get there.

The Sabbath sort of has nostalgia for the pure Sabbath we can never achieve built into it. And this is constant throughout the rabbinical legends. There's a wonderful legend about a Sabbath river that lies beyond our world. It's always going to be just beyond our reach, the perfect Shabbat, the perfect Sabbath. We're never going to attain it.

The Sabbath sort of has nostalgia for the pure Sabbath we can never achieve built into it. And this is constant throughout the rabbinical legends. There's a wonderful legend about a Sabbath river that lies beyond our world. It's always going to be just beyond our reach, the perfect Shabbat, the perfect Sabbath. We're never going to attain it.

So, yes, I started going back to synagogue and the words felt meaningless to me. I struggle with prayer. I still struggle with prayer. When I go to services, really the only thing I really like is the Torah service because I love reading texts and sitting there and reading the portion of the Torah we're reading and thinking about it in a new way.

So, yes, I started going back to synagogue and the words felt meaningless to me. I struggle with prayer. I still struggle with prayer. When I go to services, really the only thing I really like is the Torah service because I love reading texts and sitting there and reading the portion of the Torah we're reading and thinking about it in a new way.

What can I do? That's who I am. And I mean, for me, the words start to have meaning when I realize where they come from in the Jewish tradition, what text they come from. But a ritual is something you inherit. It sort of comes upon you from the past and dictates what you do. And you don't necessarily know what it means.

What can I do? That's who I am. And I mean, for me, the words start to have meaning when I realize where they come from in the Jewish tradition, what text they come from. But a ritual is something you inherit. It sort of comes upon you from the past and dictates what you do. And you don't necessarily know what it means.