Does the World Need Me to Observe Shabbat?
My last two blog postings were based on questions people had asked me. Now I am asking myself a question: How can I keep writing and speaking about Shabbat when there are such important and urgent issues facing our world?
I am as concerned as anyone about the egotistical autocracy that has taken shape in Washington. And as a Canadian, the repeated threats to our sovereignty need to be taken as real because once raw power becomes the primary tool of diplomacy, the unthinkable becomes possible. ICE, the murder of American citizens followed by regime apologetics, rolling back all social justice and environmental initiatives.
I read recently that the granting organizations in Washington have been so diligent in weeding out projects that contain any mention of “diversity” that some research proposals on insects that contain that word have been targeted.
In my younger years, I worked in the World Health Organization campaign to eradicate smallpox. I watched children die and villages be decimated by a virus that had plagued humanity for millennia. And it was within my two years with that program that smallpox was eradicated in India and soon after, in the rest of the world. And that incredible achievement was done by means of vaccination. So, you can imagine how I feel about Robert Kennedy laying waste to the vaccination infrastructure at CDC. There is no doubt that infectious diseases we thought had been consigned to the past will return and wreak devastation that will dwarf the worst we saw from Covid.
And I have not yet mentioned Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, Ukraine, Uyghurs, Rohingas, the Congo, Sudan, Greenland, ….
I seriously ask myself, how can I keep writing and speaking about Shabbat when the world is teetering on the edge of global catastrophe?
And my learning and experience have taught me that it is precisely under circumstances like this that I need Shabbat. I feel deeply and hold my responsibility to make my contribution to alleviating those issues – six days a week. And I give one day over to bringing a different mission into focus in my life, which is the Torah’s directive to pursue holiness.
In fact, there is no contradiction between being involved in community and social actions and the pursuit of holiness. There is nowhere in life that we should consider devoid of the potential to elevate in the direction of holiness.
Rav Yerucham Levovitz identifies that “in everything you need, from financial matters to household management and body maintenance,” all are opportunities to refine and purify our inner beings, as is our mission.
That’s true, but what of Shabbat, when we withdraw from worldly life?
My friend, Rabbi Micha Berger, wrote a wonderful book called Widen Your Tent that unpacks and comments on the introduction written by Rabbi Shimon Shkop to his own book, Shaarei Yosher. Rabbi Shkop wrote (Micha translated and I tweaked):
All of our work and effort should constantly be sanctified to doing good for the community. We should not use any act, movement, or get benefit or enjoyment that does not have in it some element of helping another. And as understood, all holiness is being set apart for an honorable purpose – which is that a person straightens their path and strives constantly to make their lifestyle dedicated to the community. Then, anything one does even for oneself, for the health of body and soul, one also associates to the mitzvah of being holy, for through this one can also do good for the masses. Through the good one does for oneself, one can do good for the many who rely on him.
Rabbi Shkop is grappling with the fact that the Torah tells us to be holy because the Lord our God is holy, and he raises the question of how we can possibly aspire to such an aspiration, as if our puny virtue could be comparable in any way to God’s attribute. It’s by centering holiness on the intention to benefit others that we can become, in our own small way, comparable to God. As he wrote:
Just as … all God’s actions are sanctified to the good of others, so too is it God’s Will that our actions be constantly sanctified to the good of the community, and not personal benefit.
Rabbi Shkop forges a direct link between observing Shabbat and bearing the responsibility to be active in relieving suffering. I want to highlight what I quoted from him above: “anything one does even for oneself, for the health of body and soul, one also associates to the mitzvah of being holy, for through this one can also do good for the masses. Through the good one does for oneself, one can do good for the many who rely on him.”
The core idea of Shabbat is consecrated time. You might have thought – as so many people say – that a really deep rest on Shabbat restores your energy so you will be better able to engage with worldly affairs, but Rabbi Shkop is pointing in a very different direction.
If Shabbat is just a day to take it easy and rest up, or a time to get some peace by shutting off your phone, or to engage in any other kind of restorative activity, for your own benefit, nothing about those Shabbat-like activities is consecrated. What makes Shabbat holy for you is that you take your rest and enjoy your pleasures with the conscious intent to benefit others through these actions. Mere rest and restoration may feel good, and it may give you renewed energy, but it is not on the path to being holy and to making this world a holier place.
When we strip away the worldly activities that consume us 6 days of the week, we free ourselves to sharpen our awareness and renew our commitment to our purpose in this world: to be holy people who dedicate ourselves to the welfare of our community – to be holy people BECAUSE we dedicate ourselves to the welfare of the community.
So now let me ask, from your perspective: In what way(s) do you think the community needs you to observe Shabbat?
I read in the Chumash commentary on Parsha Yitro, that, "When people are confident that they are ruled justly, they are at peace, free from resentment and frustration, for people can more easily cope with problems and poverty than with the feelings that people who are more powerful or better connected individuals are taking advantage of them." This is a peace that only comes from wise and trustworthy leadership.
What is this leadership? According to the Torah: Men of accomplishment who are already wealthy and would resist the pressure of those who would attempt influence of their judgment. These are G-d-fearing men who will not be swayed by flattery, bribery, or threats.
Shabbat offers one kind of peace, but the peace people long for will not be felt until the Leadership of America has the qualities cited above.
To quote a story a Hillel-Shamai story: "Whatever is hateful and distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary. Go learn." Appointing a DHS secretary who shot her own dog suggests what is happening was not an accident or simply acts of overzealous enforcement. It was planned from the start. This is far from the only example or area of concern.
With that said, the principle applies to all people and we need to recognize that regardless of the side at fault. In Canada, Jewish schools have been shot up (when out of session), there have been arson attacks and multiple threats. Bondi beach in Australia was shot up on the first night of Hanukkah in December. In the US we are being pushed out of the Ivies due to nothing but our ethnicity. Polls suggest around half (often more) of Jews in the UK and France want to emigrate due to antisemitism.
It has also been clear to me on a personal level, which actually ties to acting for the good of the community. When I got my first good job, I lost several close friends. They told me that, because the field was male-dominated, the job should have gone to a woman. I had no place there. I needed to get out. In my first three years I excelled and hit a senior contributor level. Despite sterling performance reviews, all opportunities for promotion or even meaningful work dried up. Instead the good projects were allocated to interns and entry-level team members who couldn't reasonably do them well due to lack of experience, simply due to identity group.
I have no opportunity for change, growth or meaningful work. There is no reasonable way for me to contribute through the place I spend the bulk of my waking hours. When I turn to friends for support, the message is that I was not born in a way that should engender support for growth or meaningful contribution here. That isn't my place. Because many of these people are Jewish it drove me away from the community. Is this really somewhere I want to contribute outside of work?
Reading your blog was my way of looking to see if I might be able to come back, if there was a part of the community where I could be wanted for what I can, and want to, do. Whether stated explicitly or not, supporting social justice with no mention of its issues tells me the answer is a clear "no". Stances like these will increasingly drive younger Jewish men like myself away. If there is no place to be accepted in the community, we will find communities where we are accepted. This hurts us, hurts Judaism and does so breaking one of our most basic moral tenets.