Rabbi Abraham Heschel on Sabbath Rest, A Spiritual Practice
We tend to think of the Sabbath as a time set aside for can'ts. We can't do this and we can't do that.
By this viewing, we see the decalogue as a punishment, not a gift. But in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, properly understood, Sabbath time is the most sacred of divine offerings. The keeping of Sabbath does not refer so much to a day of the week - you may choose any day or time to practice it - but rather to an atmosphere in which everything is delightful. It is a place of numinosity - super saturated sacredness - where everyone wishes the best for the other, where joy is the measure of the day, and all is seen through the eyes of love. And here, we are nobler, more Christ-like than we are ordinarily able to be.
“The essence of the Sabbath is completely detached from the world of space. 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.”
Rabbi Abraham Heschel's seminal book, The Sabbath, defines for us the miracle of this wondrous day. Often quoted, much lauded, this poetic work offers to the Protestant tradition a new understanding of the astonishment that is a 'cathedral in time.'
“Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else.”