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And On the Seventh Day, He Rested

By Contributing Author 6 Comments - The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited April 8, 2019.

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This one line in the Bible has influenced much of my life. In Hebrew, the seventh day is called “Shabbat” or “Shabbas“.  It starts at sundown on Friday night and ends when you can see three stars in the sky on Saturday evening.  Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest.

Growing up in a fairly religious home, it seemed like there were a million and ten things I wasn’t allowed to do on Shabbat. It is a day when everyone and everything should be at rest; in essence, you are not allowed to change the state of anything. Fire can’t be started, and fire can’t be put out. In today’s world, this does not mean you should leave a burning house to burn. It means you should not turn on or off your electronics, as this would produce a spark. No television, no radios, no computers, no cars, no microwaves, and if you’re very observant – no turning lights on and off.

This obviously caused countless fights with my parents when I was little, especially because most of my friends weren’t Jewish. I would go play at other friends’ houses on Saturdays so that I could secretly watch movies or play on the computer with them.

“The Jewish Thing”

Another aspect of Shabbat is that you cannot earn or spend money.  When I was younger, this meant no trips to the mall on Friday nights with my friends. Now that I’m older, it means that I can’t work on Friday nights or Saturdays. Throughout college, this always made for awkward conversation when working at restaurants or bars.

“Mark, you put me on the schedule again on Saturday morning”.” I would say to the manager.

“So””

“Uhh” remember” I can”t really work Saturdays””

“Oh. Right,” he would say, “the Jewish thing” I thought it was Saturday night you can”t work” Did I mess that up again””

“Yeah” it”s Friday nights, and Saturday” but I can work Saturday nights.”

“Right, well, see if you can get someone to switch shifts with you!”

Then I would get to make more awkward conversation by asking my coworkers to switch shifts with me cause of  “that Jewish thing”.

I know that this seemed like a get-out-of-work-free card to many of my co-workers. Guaranteed Friday nights off! But it was actually rather annoying not to have the option to work on a Friday night. It meant I had to work Saturday night unless I asked for the entire weekend off (a ballsy thing to do in a bar chock-full of gossipy waitresses, always trying to get that ideal schedule). It meant I could rarely visit my boyfriend for the weekend (who lived two hours away). It meant that if a friend was in town on a Saturday night, or if there was a party on a Saturday night, I couldn’t ever go because I couldn’t work the Friday night shift instead. These truly are relatively minor annoyances in the scheme of things, but the point here is that I wasn’t glad that I couldn’t work when I wanted to.

The Upside

Now that I live on my own, I’m finding my own balance. There are some things I do on Shabbat that my parents would not allow. I listen to music, and I drive my car. I typically get a lot of school work done on Saturdays (I’m in graduate school), whereas my parents always encouraged me to do work before or after Shabbat so that I could completely relax. However, I still don’t feel comfortable working on Friday nights, or going shopping on a Friday night.

Sometimes I find myself wishing that I observed Shabbat more closely. The notion of a day of rest, of complete relaxation, is a soothing idea. A lack of technology, of ringing phones and incoming e-mails could be a wonderful thing for 25 hours a week. A break from incessant research papers and dry, reading on educational philosophy would be nice as well.

A day of rest might do our society good as a whole. It would be a day when all of those businessmen who work 80-hour weeks go home to their families. It would be a day when over-achieving students spend time going out with friends to play football in the park. It would be a day to catch up with friends, visit family, go to the beach or the park, or to read that book you’ve been dying to read but never had a moment to.  A day of rest might make everyone slow down a bit and just relax.

People might ask, “Who would run the pizza shops” or “Who would keep the bars open”? And if you live in New Jersey, you might ask, “Who will pump my gas”?  The answer to all of those questions would be “no one.”  Shabbat would become a time to spend with your friends and family, and sometimes just with yourself. When I’ve been in Israel during Shabbat, almost all of the shops close down for the day, and it’s a much quieter, altogether different experience. There just isn’t any rushing around.

I’m Trying to Stop and Smell the Roses

As much as I love the idea of Shabbat, I haven’t been able to observe it as much as I’d like to. I worry too much about getting papers done on time, and I can’t picture not answering my phone on a Friday night. I imagine it would take a large shift in my mindset for me to be able to do so. I can’t really blame this on “American society” either, because my parents, my more religious friends, and many other observant Jews out there do it every week.

Shabbat is one of the amazing things that I think Judaism has to offer but fortunately, you don’t have to be Jewish or any religion at all to take a stab at “slowing down.”   It’s something that I’m working on, and I hope that one day I can get to the point in my life when I can force myself to slow down more, take a deep breath, and smell the roses.

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Last Edited: 8th April 2019 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.

This article is about: Commentary

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Comments

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  1. David Leonhardt says

    Not that easy to stop and smell the roses. Our world is geared toward 24/7 work.

    Reply
  2. MLR says

    David —

    The decision to not slow down is very much a personal one, in my opinion.

    Our world may be geared towards “24/7” work… but that doesn’t mean you need to partake in it!

    People often times tell me they work “x” hours per day. If you actually look at their day… they work “.5x” hours per day and the other “.5x” is spent doing meaningless fluff and whatnot. Part of slowing down may force you to also streamline your activities!

    Thanks for the comment!

    Reply
  3. Jason says

    As a Christian, I do believe in taking a good 24 hours off to rest every week. (I know some Christians don’t believe in this, and most fail to practice this.) It is one of the Ten Commandments, as well as a biblical pattern (God rested on the seventh day, farm land was to be left fallow for a period every few years, etc.). We need a weekly rest.

    Individuals and religions may differ on what proper application of this is, and how to achieve it. I have neither figured out, so practically, I am not much help, and my actions may indeed conflict with what I hold to be theoretically true. :(

    Reply
  4. Beth Kimber says

    Great post! I really enjoyed reading your perspective. It was engaging and down to earth.

    Reply
  5. Nancy Moore says

    Great post, thank you! It reminded me of when I was young, being raised Seventh Day Adventist. Chores, dinner, dishes, baths, hair washing, everything had to be done before sundown Friday. So while our friends were still outside playing on Friday evenings, my siblings and I were already inside getting ready for Sabbath. Then the same after church on Saturday. No playing, having to lay down “to rest” is very hard for some (me) young ones to understand. By Saturday evening when we could play, all our friends had to be home to be ready for their church on Sunday morning. Although I no longer follow most of the SDA teachings, I am a Christian and do believe we should have a day of rest just as He did. I think it would be a great idea if our country would take 24 hours a week and just rest

    Reply
  6. HLR says

    David-

    Sometimes I do feel that the society I’m part of is geared towards 24/7 work, and I find myself blaming my cramped schedule on that feeling at times. However, I can look at my parents and my other religious friends/relatives and I realize that they’ve given higher priority to their religion than to working seven days a week, and thus, have given priority to taking a day of rest. For instance, my Dad is a work-a-holic, but he is also really into Judaism, and diligently puts all work away and turns off all computers/phones/etc. for 24 hours. And obviously believing in religion is not a prerequisite for a valued day of rest! :) I’m not there yet, but working on it!

    Jason – I think a lot of our actions conflict with our beliefs, and not just in regards to a day of rest. But, I think it’s great that you see the value in rest. In my opinion, it’s one thing that religion really got right! (As you mentioned, a cycle of work and rest is common in various religions).

    Beth – Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I had fun writing it :)

    Reply
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