| The Gift Of Shabbat |
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Thursday, 19 January 2012 17:34
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There’s a lovely Jewish song for children, written by a famous Israeli songwriter, which speaks of the Jewish love of Shabbat. Translated, the words say: Who loves Shabbat? Mum and Dad Who loves Shabbat? Grandma and Granddad Who loves Shabbat? Me, you and you The whole world, pretty much! Why isn’t it Shabbat every day? Every day, shabbat? Sunday, Monday and Tuesday All seem to go on for a year Wednesday gives a gift to Thursday The days go by so slowly Sunday till Thursday And tomorrow, tomorrow is Shabbat Because here comes friday already! When I moved to Israel I was really struck by the rhythm of the Jewish week - and the joy of a truly restful Shabbat. You can’t feel guilty for enjoying total and luxurious relaxation because you can’t really do anything anyway; everything shuts down from friday afternoon until saturday evening - the Jewish day of Shabbat. There’s no transport, no shops, no nothing. Just peace and quiet. After a busy week racing through things to do lists that never seem to end, I could see why a forced stop and rest at the end of the week is so well-loved. Does your pet know what day it is? A rabbi taught me that the concept of a seven day week is one of the strongest arguments there is for the truth of Scripture. Where did that come from if not from God? It makes sense that we would instinctively know about the yearly cycle - the seasons come and go - a year. Leaves come and go, harvests come and go, even animals know when it’s winter and hibernate or migrate. Months too - the moon waxes and wanes, the tides and our bodies respond accordingly, dogs howl at the full moon - nature knows that a month has gone by. Day and night are also clearly defined by the course of nature - sun rising and falling... morning, noon and night. Birds, flowers, and all of creation responds. But a week? Does your dog know whether it’s wednesday or thursday? How can it? How can any created being - apart from humanity - know where we are in the week? But we know because God told us. That is the only reason anyone knows. And that is why we, priviledged above all creation, know about Shabbat. It is like a secret treasure between friends - between God and mankind.
In Exodus 31:13, God tells Moses: “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say,‘
Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths,
for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.” Above all, he said... a sign between us, and throughout your generations... God intended this essential command to stick around for good. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. You will find these three verses at the beginning of the second chapter of Genesis, but it actually belongs at the end of the first chapter, according to Jewish tradition (the chapters and verses were added much later) because Shabbat was also part of the creation story. God created the universe, then created Shabbat and rested, giving us an example to follow. The Ten Commandments appear not once but twice in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). The first time is more widely known, and found in Exodus 20:1-17, and the other is in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The two lists of commandments are almost identical, but in Exodus, God says we must remember the Shabbat, and keep it holy, because of the example he himself gave in the creation story - working six days and resting on the seventh.
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