The Sabbath as Law, as Philosophy, and as Model for a Theory of Leisure (1968)

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Sabbath Rest (1968)

The central precept of Shabbat is the refraining from indulging in melakhah, in creative changes in nature, which is the halakhic definition of "work." A corollary, however, is rest or menuhah. The Bible (in the second version of the Ten Commandments), says that we must observe the Sabbath "that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou" (Deut. 5:14). This means that on Shabbat we should not work in the ordinary lay sense of the term. We should not go to our offices or our schools or our factories or our stores.Apparently, this is a purely negative act. It is a vacation, a day off. But is it really so? The significance of *menuhah* is emphasized throughout the Sabbath liturgy. Three times we pray, "Our God and God of our fathers, be pleased with our rest (*menuhah*)..." as though our *menuhah* were a form of *avodat ha-Shem* as are sacrifices. Obviously we are not dealing with a mere self-indulgent vacation, anthropomorphically invoking God's maternal approval of our concern with our health. The *minhah* prayer, which celebrates the qualities of *menuhah*, concludes its central portion on this note: "...and by means of (Israel's) *menuhah*, they sanctify Thy Name." Sabbath rest is thus nothing less than a vehicle for the observance of Judaism’s most illustrious precept, *kiddush ha-Shem*, "the sanctification of the divine Name." But to "sanctify the Name" means to act in such a manner, generally before Gentiles, that glory will redound to Judaism and enhance the Name (i.e., reputation) of the God of Israel in the world.Obviously we are dealing with something far more fundamental than just taking a day off from work every week. There lies within *menuhah* a concept that Jews must teach to all mankind (unlike the halakhic observance of the prohibition of *melakhah* which was covenanted just for Israel) and the appreciation of which will add to the glory of God and Torah. We are dealing, in other words, with a Jewish ideal of universal import and r…

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The Meaning of the Sabbath, Part 1: How Jewish Law Defines It (1956)

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The Meaning of the Sabbath, Part 2: What the Prophets and Mystics Saw in It (1956)

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