Judith Shulevitz

They wanted to create these cities on a hill, these ideal communities. And this theology, this attitude towards Sabbath really dominated for a couple hundred years. And only in the 20th century have we lost it. We have stores open on Sunday. We Everything is open. A lot of people are working. Now, I don't want to say that I want to go back to the Sunday closing laws or the blue laws.

They wanted to create these cities on a hill, these ideal communities. And this theology, this attitude towards Sabbath really dominated for a couple hundred years. And only in the 20th century have we lost it. We have stores open on Sunday. We Everything is open. A lot of people are working. Now, I don't want to say that I want to go back to the Sunday closing laws or the blue laws.

But I do think that we have lost something important socially. So now it's even harder to create the space in our lives because everyone around us is working. So it just feels very odd. So...

But I do think that we have lost something important socially. So now it's even harder to create the space in our lives because everyone around us is working. So it just feels very odd. So...

One of the great writers on the Sabbath is not someone you would have expected to be a big defender of the Sabbath, and he is a Jew, Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice, who was defending not Saturday, but Sunday, the American Sunday, in a famous 1961 case called McGowan v. Maryland, in which the majority of the court was upholding the legitimacy of Sunday closing laws against a First Amendment challenge.

One of the great writers on the Sabbath is not someone you would have expected to be a big defender of the Sabbath, and he is a Jew, Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice, who was defending not Saturday, but Sunday, the American Sunday, in a famous 1961 case called McGowan v. Maryland, in which the majority of the court was upholding the legitimacy of Sunday closing laws against a First Amendment challenge.

And Frankfurter wrote a concurring decision, which is really one of the great Sabbatarian texts, in my opinion. And he talked about Sunday and Sunday quietness on the streets, near the stores. He talked about it as a cultural asset of importance, a release from the daily grind, a preserve of mental peace, an opportunity for self-disposition.

And Frankfurter wrote a concurring decision, which is really one of the great Sabbatarian texts, in my opinion. And he talked about Sunday and Sunday quietness on the streets, near the stores. He talked about it as a cultural asset of importance, a release from the daily grind, a preserve of mental peace, an opportunity for self-disposition.

And he was saying this because he wanted to make the argument that it may have started as a religious institution, but it became a civic institution. And it made our civitas a better society.

And he was saying this because he wanted to make the argument that it may have started as a religious institution, but it became a civic institution. And it made our civitas a better society.

Yes. But note that I was also saying that it's a spatial escape. It is easier to stop shopping and the time in which you are shopping if it is not available to you immediately and if it can't come into your home.

Yes. But note that I was also saying that it's a spatial escape. It is easier to stop shopping and the time in which you are shopping if it is not available to you immediately and if it can't come into your home.

Right. And if there's these social norms, right, that you want to uphold because you perceive yourself as a member of a community. So, yes, that's true. But I do think That one of the things that's happened is the idea of these firm boundaries around time has become an anachronism. It feels old fashioned. It feels really weird.

Right. And if there's these social norms, right, that you want to uphold because you perceive yourself as a member of a community. So, yes, that's true. But I do think That one of the things that's happened is the idea of these firm boundaries around time has become an anachronism. It feels old fashioned. It feels really weird.

The idea that you could only buy your books Monday through Saturday, nine to five or whatever it was, that to you would just feel absurd. And it does to me too. Increasingly, the idea of a boundary around time as a boundary around consumption, a boundary around communication, right, outside the home, they just feel bizarre.

The idea that you could only buy your books Monday through Saturday, nine to five or whatever it was, that to you would just feel absurd. And it does to me too. Increasingly, the idea of a boundary around time as a boundary around consumption, a boundary around communication, right, outside the home, they just feel bizarre.

The internet, but especially the phone, is softening the boundaries around time. We can constantly... refine our plan to get together. There's nothing hard and fixed about it. And you know what? If I'm going to show up late, I can text you and say, I'm going to be late. Don't worry. I'm going to show up, but I'm going to be late.

The internet, but especially the phone, is softening the boundaries around time. We can constantly... refine our plan to get together. There's nothing hard and fixed about it. And you know what? If I'm going to show up late, I can text you and say, I'm going to be late. Don't worry. I'm going to show up, but I'm going to be late.

Whereas I'm old enough to remember a time when you had to make the plan And unless you could get to a payphone, if you weren't going to make it on time, you were going to suffer the social sanction of being the person who was really late. There was a hard and fixed time when you were supposed to get together.

Whereas I'm old enough to remember a time when you had to make the plan And unless you could get to a payphone, if you weren't going to make it on time, you were going to suffer the social sanction of being the person who was really late. There was a hard and fixed time when you were supposed to get together.