Retaking the Gift of Shabbat

Parshat VAYAKHEL

by Rabbi Avi Billet

When we read the parshas surrounding the building of the Mishkan, we are reminded of the fealty we, the Jewish people, are to have to Shabbat. The laws of Shabbat are derived from the proximity of the actual construction of the vessels and structures of the Mishkan to a reminder about Shabbat – both of which appear in Shmot chapter 35. Shabbat was also mentioned in last week’s Torah portion at the conclusion of the initial instructions for the Mishkan, in the “V’shamru” passage which is most famous because it is part of our liturgy as well (31:13-17)

 It’s not only that Shabbat is a day the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are meant to rest to imitate God who “rested” on the seventh day after Creating. Shabbat is considered in the Talmud to be a gift that God gave to the Jewish people (Talmud Shabbat 10b). One who keeps or observes the Shabbat is considered to be attesting to God’s role in the creation of the world.

 Hillel Halkin, a secular Jewish writer who lives in Israel, wrote an article several years ago entitled, “You don't have to be Orthodox to cherish the Sabbath,” which can be easily found through a Google search. The title almost says it all, though Halkin does a good job of explaining why he, as a secular Jew, cherishes the Shabbat and wishes (at least when he wrote the article) that other Jews could appreciate Shabbat more.

 Former Senator Joseph Lieberman also wrote a book to this effect, offering Shabbat as a needed respite for all of humanity.

 The Chofetz Chaim, whose rare image was recently uncovered in an old film reel from the 1920s, would describe the Talmudic sentiment of the gift given to the Jewish people like a groom giving his bride a present. If the bride returns the gift, it is a good indication that she does not want the groom and the match is as good as over.

 His message was the same about Shabbat. If the Jewish people do not keep the Shabbat properly, they are essentially returning the gift to God, indicating they have no interest in the bond that unites the Jews to God.

 It is a sad state of affairs for the Jewish people when the attitude to Shabbat outside of the religious Jewish community (however people define “religious”) is the way it is today. Halkin, for example, at least respects the Shabbat, even if he does not observe.

 Some statistics from national polls of the last few years bear out the dire circumstances we face in terms of appreciation of this gift. A December 2012 Gallup poll said 41% of Jews say religion is important to them, while 65% said they attend religious services seldom or never. 22% of Jews have no religion at all. According to the Pew poll of 2013, 28% of Jews don’t believe in God, while 73% think being Jewish means remembering the Holocaust. 

Those of us who love the Torah and cherish the Shabbat have a very big job ahead of us. So many Jews identify as Jewish for cultural reasons and on account of the ancestral heritage, without knowledge of a Torah, mitzvot, or any of the wisdom contained therein. Show an ignorant-of-Judaism Jew a Jewish library or Beit Midrash, and the eyes open up and the jaw drops at how much specifically Jewish knowledge and scholarship is out there. Sure they know that many Jews of the past were smart people. But the breadth of knowledge of rabbinic sages is what they hear about, if at all, from PJ library story books, which do not exactly come from a wellspring of Jewish tradition that goes back centuries or millennia. We have so much to offer, but despite all the efforts that are being made by those who reach out to lost or searching Jews, there is still a very long way to go in bringing Shabbat to the masses in a palatable way.

 We need the connection with God more than ever. We have to earn back His trust through our retaking His gift of Shabbat.