Mr. Shabbat

This past weekend was our Shabbaton with the DeLeT program: Lots of prayers and ritual, songs, text study, community-building exercises, and food. Then on Sunday, we all scrambled to finish our readings and homework assignments for Monday.

Would I have normally done some of this work on Friday night or Saturday? Well, I'm not exactly Mr. Shabbat. I use my computer on the sabbath, I drive, I flick lights on and off, and what's more restful than watching TV?

But what I realized at the Shabbaton is that I actually have been keeping Shabbat all these years, in my own way. Two weekends ago, I spent Saturday with my wife and daughter in Vermont at a hot-air balloon festival. It was a complete separation from the workweek, spent with my loved ones in a calming environment, during which I hardly thought about the DeLeT program at all. Now there's a "mishkan built out of time" for you!

But during Shabbaton, I felt stressed and miserable for most of the time. My classmates are all pleasant to be around, but after five intense days of classes we could have all used a break from each other. Instead, Shabbaton with them felt like just another super-long lecture.

Even amidst the prayer services and solemnity, it wasn't Shabbat without my family. They are my peace and tranquility at the end of the week. And if that's my new working definition, I'll be Mr. Shabbat as often as I can.