Newsletter - 18th July 2021
The Meaning of the Sabbath
Following the meditation of last week about the rest of the summer, here is a beautiful meditation of the Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel on the Shabbat day:
“The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world. The seventh day is like a palace in time with a kingdom for all. It is not a date but an atmosphere.
Menuha which we usually render with ‘rest’ means here much more than withdrawal from labor and exertion, more than freedom from toil and strain or activity of any kind. Menuha is not a negative concept but something real and intrinsically positive…‘What was created on the seventh day? Tranquility, serenity, peace, and repose.’ (Genesis) To the biblical mind menuha is the same as happiness and stillness, as peace and harmony. In later times menuha became a synonym for the life in the world to come, for eternal life.
To set apart one day a week for freedom, a day on which we would not use the instruments which have been so easily turned into weapons of destruction, a day for being with ourselves, a day of detachment from the vulgar, of independence of external obligations, a day on which we stop worshipping the idols of technical civilization, a day on which we use no money, a day of armistice in the economic struggle with our fellow [humans] and the forces of nature—is there any institution that holds out a greater hope for [humanity’s] progress than the Sabbath? It is a day in which we abandon our plebeian pursuits and reclaim our authentic state, in which we may partake of a blessedness in which we are what we are, regardless of whether we are learned or not, of whether our career is a success or a failure; it is a day of independence of social conditions.
What is the Sabbath? Spirit in the form of time. With our bodies we belong to space; our spirit, our souls, soar to eternity, aspire to the holy. The Sabbath is an ascent to the summit.”
Extracts from Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath
Focus of the week
Parish Celebration & Giulia’s Farewell
Saturday 18th September 2021
This will be an opportunity for all those who have known Giulia over the years to come along and wish her well. Save the date!