Sabbath

Social Media For The Observant Jew

Daniel Vahab | Posted 05.09.2012

Daniel Vahab

On a Friday evening, I tweeted three times and posted three Facebook updates at three separate times -- and I wasn't even online.

WATCH: Table Top Rhythms for Jewish Singing

Joey Weisenberg | Posted 05.03.2012

Joey Weisenberg

In traditional synagogues, many Jews refrain from playing instruments on the Sabbath. I treat this instrumental limitation as an opportunity to creatively explore the musical and spiritual possibilities that exist outside of instruments.

I Was Raised Orthodox, Yet I Am Not Considered 'Jewish Enough' To Keep The Sabbath

Rivka T. Cohen | Posted 05.03.2012

Rivka T. Cohen

I cannot describe the pain I felt that day. It was like being deeply in love for 18 years, only to learn suddenly that the relationship was "maybe" over.

Reduce, Reuse, Repent: Earth Day Revival Amuses And Transforms

Will Braun | Posted 04.26.2012

Will Braun

So what does a postmodern Earth Day altar call look like? People pledged to learn to live in smaller circles -- to bike less and walk more, to eat locally, to plant gardens. Many pledged to take a digital sabbath -- "no screens on Sunday."

Passover's Freedom Is Control Over Time

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks | Posted 04.14.2012

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Religious ritual is a way of structuring time so that we, not employers, the market or the media, are in control. Life needs its pauses, its chapter breaks, if the soul is to have space to breathe. Otherwise, we may not be in Egypt, but we can still be slaves.

Religious But Not Observant

Noah Baron | Posted 05.31.2012

Noah Baron

The idea that external indicators of faith -- whether that is manifested as wearing a yarmulke or a cross -- are stand-ins for actual religiosity -- that is, the degree of one's faith -- is fraught with problems.

Thou Shall Unplug: A National Day of Tech Detox, Nurturing And Community

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein | Posted 05.21.2012

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein

While Sabbath observance is often dismissed as archaic, attitudes are changing as the pace of information and methods of delivery are unrelenting.

Come For The Kugel

S.R. Hewitt | Posted 04.29.2012

S.R. Hewitt

What is there to love about Shabbat? It's a day to rest? It's a day to sleep? Or perhaps, like thousands of of men and women profess after their first full Shabbat experience, it's the food.

What Lack Of Sleep Does To Your Spirit

Lynn Casteel Harper | Posted 04.12.2012

Lynn Casteel Harper

Depriving someone of sleep is used as a torture tactic. How strangely sadistic that we inflict this violence on our own bodies by denying ourselves sufficient sleep.

Managing The Clock: What Sports Can Teach Us About Life

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater | Posted 04.06.2012

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater

Ten seconds left in a basketball game is an eternity, even 5 seconds or less if you are only down by one. Two minutes left in a football game, if the score is close, is an eternity.

Black Friday And The Importance Of Sabbath Rest

Danielle Tumminio | Posted 01.21.2012

Danielle Tumminio

The Sabbath is a cornerstone of Judaism and Christianity. But, as American culture becomes increasingly consumerist, a new worldview has overtaken the one that honors the Sabbath.

15 Ways To Keep The Sabbath In The Time Famine

Donna Schaper | Posted 12.03.2011

Donna Schaper

If you can keep a full day on Saturday or Sunday for nothing but worship and quiet, please do. But if you can't keep Sabbath the way your ancestors did, figure out something new.

Thou Shalt Not Use The Computer One Day A Week

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen | Posted 11.24.2011

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen

While the 39 categories tell us what not to do on Shabbat, they also inform us what we should do the other six days of the week. And what is that? Build a dwelling place for God in the world.

Can You Pray What You Don't Believe?

Rabbi David Wolpe | Posted 05.25.2011

Rabbi David Wolpe

Many people treat prayer like a treatise, picking through the book for doctrinal points. While we should not assert things we do not believe, prayer is not philosophy. Prayer is poetry.

The Jewish Sabbath: An Oasis In Time

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald | Posted 05.25.2011

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald

So what does one do when unplugged? Whatever your religion, faith or practice, there is much to be learned from the notion of a Sabbath or Shabbat.

Preachers of the Future: Three Sermons From Young Christians

Posted 05.25.2011

One hundred and thirty young preachers from across the country gathered in Louisville, Ky. on January 8th and 9th for the second National Festival of ...

Celebrating the Children's Sabbath

Marian Wright Edelman | Posted 05.25.2011

Marian Wright Edelman

Each religious tradition recognizes the sacred charge to defend children and those in poverty. Now is the time to put our faith into action.

Power Off = Less Power?

Tanya Schevitz | Posted 11.17.2011

Tanya Schevitz

Frank Aldorf, executive creative director of Hubble Innovations, was the most recent person to take our Sabbath Manifesto "Unplug Challenge," shutting off his cell phone and computer for 24 hours last weekend.

Lebanon's Jews: Loyalty to Whom? BBC Documentary Tracks Vanished Community

Magda Abu-Fadil | Posted 05.25.2011

Magda Abu-Fadil

First came the book, then the documentary, on Lebanon's Jews who pine for their birthplace, singers Fairouz, Sabah and Wadih El Safi, and recall their...

Our Blackberries, I-Phones, Droids And Souls

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

Is that screen and keyboard often in your hand the greatest personal and professional tool ever, or is it the devil's device, insidiously sucking the time out of your life and the life out of your soul?

The Sabbath Unplugged

Rabbi Naomi Levy | Posted 05.25.2011

Rabbi Naomi Levy

The greatest way I know to restore boundaries is to take a Sabbath day of rest. You don't have to be Jewish to have a Sabbath. Just celebrate your faith's day of rest and unplug yourself from your cell, your smartphone and your computer.

The Sabbath: Making Something New

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB | Posted 05.25.2011

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB

To become something new we must consciously do something different than we have been doing. That's why we have the Sabbath and rest and leisure.

What Really Matters?

Eliezer Sobel | Posted 11.17.2011

Eliezer Sobel

Which weighs more on the What Really Matters scale, a life of selfless, loving service to loved ones, or a couple of published books? How do we measure the value of our time?

We All Need a Sabbath

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater | Posted 11.17.2011

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater

While this talk was given to a Jewish audience, and I use the Hebrew word "Shabbat" for Sabbath, I believe that all of us are in deep need of the mess...

Joel Stein Gets "Off the Grid" in Time

Tanya Schevitz | Posted 11.17.2011

Tanya Schevitz

Time magazine columnist Joel Stein was the first person to take our Sabbath Manifesto "Unplug Challenge," going "off the grid" for 24 hours last weekend.