(א) וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ וְכָל־צְבָאָֽם׃ (ב) וַיְכַ֤ל אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה׃ (ג) וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ (פ)
(ג) במדרש ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי מה הי' העולם חסר מנוחה באתה שבת נגמרה המלאכה כמ"ש רש"י ז"ל.
A midrash on "on the seventh day God finished..." What was missing from the world? Rest. And on the seventh day Shabbat came and the work ended. (Rashi)
...
The very lack of a recovery period is dramatically holding back our collective ability to be resilient and successful. Research has found that there is a direct correlation between lack of recovery and increased incidence of health and safety problems. And lack of recovery — whether by disrupting sleep with thoughts of work or having continuous cognitive arousal by watching our phones — is costing our companies $62 billion a year (that’s billion, not million) in lost productivity.
And just because work stops, it doesn’t mean we are recovering. We “stop” work sometimes at 5PM, but then we spend the night wrestling with solutions to work problems, talking about our work over dinner, and falling asleep thinking about how much work we’ll do tomorrow...
The key to resilience is trying really hard, then stopping, recovering, and then trying again...
So how do we recover and build resilience? Most people assume that if you stop doing a task like answering emails or writing a paper, that your brain will naturally recover, such that when you start again later in the day or the next morning, you’ll have your energy back. But surely everyone reading this has had times where you lie in bed for hours, unable to fall asleep because your brain is thinking about work. If you lie in bed for eight hours, you may have rested, but you can still feel exhausted the next day. That’s because rest and recovery are not the same thing. Stopping does not equal recovering...
(13) If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, From pursuing your affairs on My holy day; If you call the sabbath “delight,” The LORD’s holy day “honored”; And if you honor it and go not your ways Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains— (14) Then you can seek the favor of the LORD. I will set you astride the heights of the earth, And let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob— For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
(ג) ר׳ יוחנן בן דהבאי אומר האומר אין הלכה זאת נבראת אין לו חלק לעוה״ב. הוא היה אומר אל תרחק עצמך ממדה שאין לה קצבה וממלאכה שאין לה גמירא. משל למה הדבר דומה לאחד שהיה נוטל מי הים ומטיל ליבשה ים אינו חסר ויבשה אינה מתמלאה היה מקצר בדעתו אמר לו ריקה מפני מה אתה מקצר בדעתך בכל יום טול שכרך דינר של זהב:
(3) Rabbi Yohanan ben Dahabai would say: Anyone who says, This law is unreasonable, has no share in the World to Come.
He would also say: Do not keep away from a measurement without boundaries, or from work without end. A parable: To what can this be compared? [It can be compared] to someone who is supposed to take water from the sea and put it on dry land. The sea gets no smaller and the land is not filled up with water. So he becomes frustrated. Say to such a person, Empty one! Why are you so frustrated? Every day you are paid a golden dinar!
(טו) רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק:
(טז) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. אִם לָמַדְתָּ תוֹרָה הַרְבֵּה, נוֹתְנִים לְךָ שָׂכָר הַרְבֵּה. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֵּם לְךָ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתֶךָ. וְדַע מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא:
(15) Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.
(16) He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it; If you have studied much Torah, you shall be given much reward. Faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor; And know that the grant of reward unto the righteous is in the age to come.
https://twitter.com/rabbijilljacobs/status/1144029098924109825
1) It's a completely brilliant (IMHO) innovation on the part of Judaism/Torah/God to suggest that for 25 hrs/week we put aside our everyday work & take a break. 1/11
2)"Day of rest" doesn't exactly capture what Shabbat is about. I prefer to think of it as one day to enjoy the world as it is/not to create or destroy. It's not that the world was complete after day 6 of creation-- but it was time to take a break from trying to perfect it. 2/11
(anyone who has ever entertained children, hosted huge meals, or shlepped up many flights of stairs on Shabbat knows that "rest" is not the operative term) 3/11
3) Shabbat is also reminder that working harder won't fix everything. The hubris of activists is thinking "if I just stay up later, work longer, we'll win." More often, we burn out. Shabbat is a check against narcissism that one more day of my working will change everything. 4/11
4)And Shabbat is מעין עולם הבא a glimpse of the world to come-- we experience a bit of the perfected world and remind ourselves that it's possible. That's a hard lesson in a world where everything feels terrible-- but we have to believe in a better future. 5/11
5)Not all Shabbat practices are alike! Some of us spend time praying and follow traditional laws of what can/can't be done on Shabbat. Others find other ways to renew our souls and to gather strength for the week. 6/11
6)For some, protest fits into this observance, perhaps through adding a ritual moment or taking some quiet time. Some with traditional practice go to protests, but go to great lengths to avoid melacha (practices forbidden on Shabbat), for example by walking there 7/11
7) Everyone can find what works for them. I personally don't protest on Shabbat because of what I said in 2-4. 8/11
8) Side note: when Heschel talked about his legs praying, he didn't mean that his protest was *instead* of prayer--it was in addition to (& contra many urban legends, he didn't march on Shabbat) 9/11
9) Most importantly, whether you protest on Shabbat or not, question isn't just about what you'll do 1 day/ week. "For 6 days you shall labor" is also part of the commandment. There's a lot of work to do! In interfaith movements, we can take turns working & renewing selves. 10/11
So make the right choice for you. And remember no matter what, to take time to remind ourselves that none of us can change the world alone, no matter how hard we work; to take turns working & renewing ourselves; and to glimpse & believe in the world to come. 11/