Stravinsky’s Le Sacre: 100 Years Old and Still All Rite

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1913...
One hundred years ago at the
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
with guest blogger Waldemar Hepstein

Guest contributor:  Waldemar Hepstein is an artist for No Comprendo Press, a publisher of alternative comics.  Hepstein’s work has appeared in the magazine Fidus and is collected in albums like 'Snork.’

Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) is a thing of beauty, terror, and wonder. Those who were present at the notorious premiere performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, probably would not have predicted a long life for what many may have perceived as barbaric noise.  One hundred years later, the Rite is still very much with us, and indeed has become one of the most frequently performed and recorded 20th century classical compositions.  And in this case, the cliché holds true:  It sounds as fresh today as when it was first heard.

The original ballet was performed only a handful of times, in both Paris and London.  The important contributions of Stravinsky’s collaborators, Vaslav Nijinsky (choreography) and Nicholas Roerich (scenery, costume designs and co-scenarist) appeared to be lost to history for many years.  Then, in the 1980s, researchers Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer pieced together a magnificent reconstruction, first staged by the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago in 1987.  It’s highly recommended for all admirers of the piece, for even if Rite of Spring may be slight on “plot” (its subtitle is simply “Tableaux of Pagan Life in Ancient Russia”), the visuals and choreography greatly enhance appreciation of the music.

In addition to various alternative choreographies, the drama-packed music of the Rite has inspired other visuals.  Undoubtedly the most famous example is Disney’s Fantasia (1940), in which the music is accompanied by a look at Earth’s prehistory.  A sort of crash course in evolution is followed by a visit with our planet’s early inhabitants, memorably including the most exciting dinosaur fight since King Kong (1933).  Purists have reviled Leopold Stokowski’s arrangement for Fantasia, which heavily shortens and takes other signficant liberties with Stravinsky’s score.  On the other hand, there’s little doubt that Fantasia helped introduce Le Sacre du Printemps to many people, including myself.  Needless to say, the Disney animation is impeccable.

A more recent visualization is a digital animation piece by Jay Bacal and Stephen Malikowski—a beautifully done, colorful presentation somewhat reminiscent of Fantasia’s interlude with the “visual soundtrack.”

Once considered strange, avant-garde and highbrow, the Rite of Spring is now part of the “establishment,” with a secure place among the great compositions. The 100th anniversary is currently being honored with a slew of performances, articles, seminars, re-issued recordings and other tributes.  Ol’ Igor would nod his head in appreciation—and would probably take it as no more than his due!  Long may the Rite continue to thunder.

Waldemar Hepstein

© 2013 Lee Price

Abraham Joshua Heschel and The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 9 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“For where shall the

likeness of God be found?”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 1:  “A Palace in Time”

Last night, Pastor Jessica Brendler Naulty and I concluded our five-week “Ancient Spiritual Practices” class with a small, intimate communion service.  Here at 21 Essays, this nine-part series on The Sabbath:  Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel has been a sort of complement to the course.  As we explored a variety of spiritual practices (including Sabbath observance) in our weekly evening classes at church, I blogged here on my personal Sabbath experiences, reflecting on Heschel’s poetic wisdom.  This is my final entry in the series.

Illustration of a man creating an eruv (Shabbat fence)
from Decisions of Isaiah of Trani the Younger,
published in central Italy in 1374.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

The third-floor room that we were in last night was a completely ordinary space, set up in a standard classroom style with rows of chairs and a table at the front for me to perch on.  The space was not special.  But our communion service was.  It was a special moment in time.

Heschel’s most soul-stirring metaphor in The Sabbath is his conception of the Sabbath as a palace in time.  The image serves as the title of the book’s first chapter, “A Palace in Time,” and is supported by an evocative cosmology that Heschel eloquently spins as he describes a unified “theory of everything,” encompassing space, time, humanity, and God.

In Heschel’s model, space is the inferior element:

“There is no quality that space has in common with the essence of God.  There is not enough freedom on the top of the mountain; there is not enough glory in the silence of the sea.”

… and time is the superior element, closer to the heart of God:

“Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.”

Heschel associates space with the first six days of the week—the world of labor and personal ambition.  He stresses that humanity is meant to actively participate in this world and acknowledges that space can be as sublime as the Grand Canyon.  Nevertheless, in Heschel’s view, even the Grand Canyon pales in comparison to the sublimity of the Sabbath, the day set aside by God as a free gift to man.  Heschel writes:

“This is the task of men:  to conquer space and sanctify time.”

Today, Heschel is remembered for the work he accomplished during his six-day work weeks, conquering space through the books he wrote and his social justice work with leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It was important work but, for Heschel, secondary to the primary task of life:  the sanctification of time.  As an observant Orthodox Jew, Heschel sanctified time by observing the Sabbath, the festivals, and the Day of Atonement.

“The seventh day is a palace in time which we build.  It is made of soul, of joy and reticence.”

Note the verb.  We build the palace.  That’s interesting…

Like all the great mystics, Heschel was unafraid of paradox.  Did you catch the one he slipped in here?  By not working on the Sabbath, we build the most beautiful palace of them all.

I think we were palace building last night during our communion service.  Not that you’ll find a palace on the third floor of our church.  Go there now and you’ll see an ordinary classroom space, appropriate for meetings or Sunday School.  The palace we built is in time, not space.

“For where shall the likeness of God be found?  There is no quality that space has in common with the essence of God.  There is not enough freedom on the top of the mountain; there is not enough glory in the silence of the sea.  Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 1:  “A Palace in Time”

Fanciful illustration of the mnemonic device YaKeNHaZ, used to
recall the sequence of ritual acts to perform at the close of
the Sabbath, from the Haggadah for Passover,
published in southern Germany, circa 1460.
From the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn

A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price

The Sabbath is a Queen

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 8 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“What we are depends on what

the Sabbath is to us.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 10:  “Thou Shalt Covet”

“What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us.”  What does this mean?

Miniature of a young man roasting the
Passover Lamb, from the Haggadah,
Sephardic rite, published in
Barcelona, Spain, circa 1340.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

Perhaps Abraham Joshua Heschel, writing his first book and intending it for philosophical-minded Orthodox Jewish readers, meant this as a narrow statement for a narrow audience.  But that’s hard for me to believe for Heschel’s vision of the Sabbath is cosmic in scope—as it defines the very nature of space and time, I would think it accommodates all of us who live in space and time.  And therefore, I hope it’s okay to interpret this little sentence as a universal statement, not just for Jews but also applicable to Sabbath-practicing Christians, and even to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, agnostics, and atheists.  Ultimately, we’re all in this space-time boat together.

As Heschel presents in The Sabbath, for six days our identities are strongly shaped, pulled, and informed by the standards of the world:  the work that we do, the money that we make, the reputation that we build.  And then the Sabbath arrives.  On the seventh day, we are asked to abandon all thought of our worldly identity.  We simply are—with that italicized are that Heschel employs to stress his point.

In a famous blog essay, palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware shared about five things people regret when dying.  According to Ware, the dying often regret spending too much time focused on the values of the work week.  They wish they spent more time being true to their inner selves.  Who are we in that final deathbed moment?  Heschel might answer, “What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us.”  The Sabbath prepares us by a weekly stripping of our professional identity, the masks that we wear at work.  The Sabbath locates our real value elsewhere.

I don’t think we need to faithfully observe the Sabbath to grasp the truth of this.  Exposed before the sum total of the universe, the infinity of time and space, our personal ambitions, successes, and failures are nothing but dust.  If we look at life only from the perspective of the six days, we might be tempted to despair.  It’s easy to see only insignificance.  But Heschel challenges us to adopt a seventh-day perspective.  The Sabbath is a visiting Queen and we are the host, welcoming the Sabbath into our homes.  There is no place for money or personal ambition when the Sabbath is at the door.  Heschel responds with joy and celebration.

That’s the attitude I want in my Sabbath!

As I’ve attempted to begin observing a weekly Sabbath, my main rule has been to exclude all activities connected with personal ambition (and, among other things, that means no blogging on the Sabbath!).  My Sabbath will never be the Orthodox Sabbath that Heschel describes, but I think it shows promise of becoming a meaningful time for me.

There are four books listed as references on the bottom of each of these Sabbath essays.  Compared to Heschel’s profound book of Jewish philosophy, the other three are lightweight fare.  They’re more like “how-to” books, each of them promoting the development of individualized Sabbaths for Christians.  All three of the books share a common approach to cobbling together a Christian Sabbath:  Embrace the core Sabbath ideas (rest, worship, celebrate, feast) but don’t get hung up on the details.

My hope is to find that freedom—that inner liberty—that Heschel loved in the Sabbath.  There is royalty waiting at the door.

“What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us…  Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness.  Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 10:  “Thou Shalt Covet”

A miniature depicting a family at the Seder table
from the Haggadah, Sephardic rite, published in
Barcelona, Spain, circa 1340.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn
A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price

The Sabbath is a Bride

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 7 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The Sabbath

is a bride,

and its celebration

is like a wedding.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 5:  “Thou Art One”

Sure, I think sunsets are beautiful.  But the truth is I rarely notice them.  Within the past year, there have been a few times when I’ve looked up from my book while traveling home on the train, and I’ve seen the sun setting on the Delaware River.  And I’ve thought:  That really is pretty.  Hard to believe it happens every day!

However, most days I don’t look up.  To quote from a Jewish Sabbath prayer:

“Days pass,

Years vanish,

And we walk sightless among miracles.”

Miniature of the Shabbat kallah
(Sabbath bride or queen) from a
festival prayer book (mahzor).
From northern Italy, 1466.
From the British Library Catalogue
of Illuminated Manuscripts.

I hope things are changing in my life.  I’ve been noticing—and appreciating—sunsets more as I attempt to observe a Sabbath that begins on Friday at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset.  (Note:  According to traditional Jewish protocol, I should light the candles at least 18 minutes before sunset on Friday and conclude on Saturday evening after sunset when the first three stars become visible in the sky.  This sounds like a very poetic protocol to follow.)

Lately, many people have written about the Celtic concept of special thin places on earth, like a mountaintop where we feel that earth is almost touching heaven. Making a distinction between space and time, Abraham Joshua Heschel might have countered that a mountaintop may be a thin place in space but the Sabbath is even more special because it is a thin place in time.  And, if that’s the case, wouldn’t sunsets be like gateways opening into heaven?

Most days, with my head buried in a book, I travel sightless among miracles.

In The Sabbath, Heschel writes about the ancient Jewish conception of the Sabbath as the bride and Israel as the groom.  He quotes Israel ben Joseph Alnaqua, a 14th century rabbi:

“Just as a bride when she comes to her groom is lovely, bedecked and perfumed, so the Sabbath comes to Israel lovely and perfumed…  just as a groom is dressed in his finest garments, so is a man on the Sabbath day dressed in his finest garments;  just as a man rejoices all the days of the wedding feast, so does man rejoice on the Sabbath;  just as the groom does not work on his wedding day, so does man abstain from work on the Sabbath day;  and therefore the Sages and ancient Saints called the Sabbath a bride.”

Lisa on our wedding day,
October 17, 1987.

For my observance of the Sabbath, I haven’t started dressing in my finest garments yet—I have that 21st century American love for t-shirt comfort that’s hard to override.  But I can embrace the beautiful metaphor of the bride, instantly recalling that moment more than 25 years ago when I saw Lisa in her wedding gown coming down the aisle at Salford Mennonite Church, “just as a bride when she comes to her groom is lovely...”  The Sabbath would be very special indeed to be like that.

Afterwards at the reception, Lisa danced with her father to one of her favorite songs.  It always makes her cry.

I’ll share it here:

Is this the little girl I carried,
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty,
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears.

“Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Music by Jerry Bock

“The Sabbath is a bride, and its celebration is like a wedding.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 5:  “Thou Art One”

Detail of a miniature of the Shabbat bride under the huppah
(wedding canopy) and surrounded by her entourage.
From a festival prayer book (mahzor), from northern Italy, 1466.
From the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn

A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price

Painting on the Canvas of Time

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 6 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The art of keeping the seventh day

is the art of painting on the canvas of time

the mysterious grandeur of the

climax of creation:

as He sanctified the seventh day,

so shall we.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 1:  “A Palace in Time”

The sun set on Friday night at 7:50.  I lit a candle and said this prayer:

“Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has set us apart by his commandments and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights.”

 (Prayer found in Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab.)

Each week, I’ve been introducing new elements into play as I attempt to observe the Sabbath.  This was my first time lighting a candle for the occasion.

Initial-word panel with gold letters
and inhabited by dragons at the
beginning of Numbers in the
"Coburg Pentateuch," from
Central Germany (Coburg),
1390-1396.
From the British Library Catalogue
of Illuminated Manuscripts.

On Saturday morning I slept in, waking naturally at 8:30.  I showered, dressed, and headed out for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I had a loose idea of an itinerary, but sought to keep any plans as flexible as possible.  I didn’t want to feel hostage to the clock on my Sabbath.

On my first reading of The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel, I was surprised to discover that I had observed Sabbaths at various times in my life—I just hadn’t realized they were Sabbaths!  For instance, when my son served as a volunteer at the Academy of Natural Sciences, I fell into a routine of accompanying him into the city then splitting off to spend time at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  For me, that time spent alone in the galleries with great art was prime Sabbath time.  I’d leave the museum refreshed, relaxed, recharged—spiritually energized.

It’s always fun to walk up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art with its iconic Rocky steps.  At the entrance, I picked up the museum’s daily events flyer and discovered they had a special exhibition on “Hans Memling and the Iconic Image of Christ.”  This was an unexpected treat for me!  I love the early Netherlandish art of the 15th and 16th centuries (artists like Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, and Gerard David, as well as Memling), even once leading an adult Sunday School class on the subject.

Occupying a modest room in a remote corner of the museum, the Hans Memling exhibit centers on Blessing Christ, a small painting on temporary loan to the museum.  As the label explains, the painting neatly combines the medieval-style icon traditions with the more realistic face modeling of the Renaissance.  To interpret the little painting, the one-room exhibit surrounded it with complementary examples of religious art of the time.

My attention was drawn to a painting of the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin by Hans Memling, Netherlandish
(active Bruges), late 15th century, oil on panel,
11 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches.
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Also by Hans Memling, this image of Mary was another very small work, perhaps the only surviving fragment of a larger altarpiece.  Mary demurely looks down, as she often does in paintings of the Annunciation as she ponders the message of the Angel Gabriel.  It’s an unusually serene image, ideal for contemplation.

I spent some time with it.  I think it was a gift to me on my Sabbath.  

According to the story in Genesis, God created the world in six days.  On that sixth day, He created man and woman in His image.  Therefore, isn’t it part of the very built-in nature of man to create in turn?  In the image of God, we create for six days and then rest on the seventh, filling that seventh day with appreciation for God, for the creation, and for the work that we accomplish as God’s image in the world.

Over 500 years ago, Hans Memling added to the sum total of beauty on the earth.  On the seventh day, I appreciated his sublime work.

“The art of keeping the seventh day is the art of painting on the canvas of time the mysterious grandeur of the climax of creation:  as He sanctified the seventh day, so shall we.  The love of the Sabbath is the love of man for what he and God have in common.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 1:  “A Palace in Time”

Detail of the illuminated manuscript above.  Initial-word panel with
gold letters and inhabited by dragons at the beginning of Numbers
in the "Coburg Pentateuch," from Central Germany (Coburg),
1390-1396.
From the British Library Catalogue
of Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn
A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price

The Sabbath: An Affirmation of Labor

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 5 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The Sabbath as a

day of abstaining from work

is not a depreciation

but an affirmation of labor,

a divine exaltation of its dignity.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 2:  “Beyond Civilization”

Yesterday, I looked through the work of one of my favorite Christian bloggers, Richard Beck of Experimental Theology, to see if he had ever weighed in on the Sabbath.  It turns out that he has—but his main blog entry on the subject was somewhat disheartening.  In “Time and the Sabbath,” Beck speaks highly of Abraham Joshua Heschel and respects Heschel’s poetic conception of time, but nevertheless remains skeptical of Christian Sabbath-dabblers.  He writes:

“(I)t seems that many Christians are using the notion of Sabbath to provide spiritual cover for a period of self-focus. It’s horribly judgmental of me to say this, but much of what passes for ‘Sabbath’ in Christian circles seems to be (a) case of self-indulgence. A means, for example, to get a little peace and quiet away from the family, to justify time set aside for the self…”

Richard Beck, “Time and the Sabbath”

Experimental Theology

End of Deuteronomy framed
by micrographical design,
from a Pentateuch with
masorah magna and parva,
from Spain, circa 1400.
From the British Library
Catalogue of Illuminated
Manuscripts.

I hope I’m avoiding that in my approach, which is very based on the idea that Heschel expresses in the quote at the top of this entry.  Observance of the Sabbath isn’t just about that single day at the end of the week.  Sabbath requires the establishment of a different beat of ongoing rhythm to the entire week.  If I’m going to accept that single day of relaxation, self-focus, and maybe even self-indulgence, I feel a duty to counterbalance that with six days of work.  In the paragraph that follows the quote, Heschel writes, “The duty to work for six days is just as much a part of God’s covenant with man as the duty to abstain from work on the seventh day.”

As a Christian, I include the tasks of Kingdom-building within the work of those six days.  And it’s probably wrong of me to restrict that thought to Christianity because I think Heschel—like a Jewish prophet of old—was fully engaged with the work of Kingdom-building himself, as notably demonstrated when he walked side-by-side with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Selma Civil Rights March.  Heschel dedicated his six working days to creating a better world through his actions, his teaching, and his writing.  On the Sabbath, he graciously accepted and acknowledged the gift of a day where a little self-indulgence can be winked at.

My own sense of responsibility for accomplishing work within a six-day time frame has increased during this period of Sabbath experimentation.  I’m extremely fortunate that my day job—raising funds for a nonprofit dedicated to preserving mankind’s cultural heritage—feels like authentic service to me.  In addition, I’m co-teaching a series on “Ancient Spiritual Practices” at my church on Wednesday nights.  On the first day of the week (following my Sabbath), I attend worship and participate in an adult Sunday School class.  Plus, there are the never-ending tasks (laundry, dishes, etc.) that may not contribute to world peace but are essential for maintaining domestic harmony.  And, of course, I blog, too—and I’d prefer to believe that my blogging is a contribution to the world’s culture rather than pure self-indulgence (please indulge me in my conceit!).

In early March, I found myself unable to face writing another Tour America’s Treasures blog entry.  I was burnt out, desperately needing a break.  So I posted on Tour America’s Treasures that I was going to take a two-week sabbatical.  At that point, I was writing about the Creature from the Black Lagoon on 21 Essays, with only an occasional thought about the upcoming series that I hoped to do on the Sabbath.  I was thinking in academic terms when I wrote the word “Sabbatical,” not making the connection that its linguistic roots go back to the Hebrew Shabbat.  As it turned out, I needed that sabbatical.  One can’t be creating all the time, seven days a week, month after month;  I like that God gives us permission to take a break.  Afterwards, I returned to the blog refreshed, ready to celebrate our nation’s treasures again.

My conclusion?  The Sabbath as a day of abstaining from blogging is not a depreciation but an affirmation of blogging, a divine exaltation of its dignity.

“The Sabbath as a day of abstaining from work is not a depreciation but an affirmation of labor, a divine exaltation of its dignity.  Thou shalt abstain from labor on the seventh day is a sequel to the command:  Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 2:  “Beyond Civilization”

Full-page image of a menorah,
from Commentary on the Pentateuch
by Levi ben Gershon,
from France (Avignon), 1429.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn

A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price

A Pilgrimage to the Seventh Day

Celebrating cultural highlights of 1951...
Sabbath-blogging, essay 4 of 9 on

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“All our life should be

a pilgrimage to

the seventh day…”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 10:  “Thou Shalt Covet”

I’ve chosen Saturday for my Sabbath.  Here’s my reasoning…

Image of the seder table, an initial-word
panel at the beginning of the Haggadah,
liturgical poems and biblical readings
for Passover.  From Spain, circa 1340.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

Abraham Joshua Heschel would began his Sabbaths at sunset on Friday evening and conclude twenty-four hours later at sunset on Saturday.  For him, it wasn’t a matter of choice.  This was how his ancestors celebrated the Sabbath and it was how his contemporary faith community celebrated.  He knew he was part of a vast chorus of Sabbath praise, extending through space and time.  All celebrated Sabbath with him on the seventh day.

I, on the other hand, have a choice.

While I want to nurture the poetry that Heschel found in the Sabbath in my own life, I’m necessarily approaching from a different path.  I’m a Christian, worshipping on Sundays at a Methodist church.  While we Christians give lip service to the Ten Commandments (even sometimes expressing outrage when they’re removed from public buildings), we have a problematic relationship with the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath.”  Some Christian theologians even say that Jesus negated the need for a Sabbath.  Jesus is our Sabbath, available every day.

Frankly, Heschel’s Sabbath is more appealing.  The idea of every day being Sabbath reminds me of Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004):

Mother:  “Everyone’s special, Dash.” 

Dash (muttering):  “Which is another way of saying no one is.” 

The Incredibles (2004).

Given that I set an alarm clock for work five days a week, I think I’ll join with Heschel on that pilgrimage to a special day.

Heschel observed the Sabbath in the Jewish context of his family and his synagogue.  I don’t have that.  I go to church with my family on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, but it feels very different from the Sabbath as Heschel describes it:  “…the Sabbath was given to us by God for joy, for delight, for rest, and should not be marred by worry or grief.”

Where is this day of joy and delight?  I used to think that American Christians in the Norman Rockwell days observed Sunday as the Sabbath, but a day of blue laws and prohibitions from conventionally fun activities is antithetical to Heschel’s description of Sabbath.  Heschel is not a Jewish Puritan.  For him, the Sabbath is a time for joyful feasting.  The Sabbath is a time for sex.

Here’s the crux of my problem, embedded in a seeming paradox:  Sunday doesn’t work for my Sabbath because I go to church on Sunday.  A meditative service might work fine for me on the Sabbath, but we tend to have services that conclude with a benediction that challenges us to go out into the world and make it better.  That’s a fine benediction in my mind, and I’m not complaining.  I like it.  But that’s a benediction to launch me into my six days of work.  It’s simply not appropriate for the middle of my day of rest!  It’s what I want to hear after the batteries have been recharged.

So, after long thought, I’ve chosen to commit to the Jewish tradition of Sabbath from sunset to sunset, Friday to Saturday evening.  I know I need to make a firm commitment because the rhythmic nature of the Sabbath is important.  I can’t allow it to be shifted by mundane demands.  The world can wait as I take my Sabbath.  I’ll answer the phone calls and emails on Sunday. I’ll go out and change the world after church.

“But the Sabbath as experienced by man cannot survive in exile, a lonely stranger among days of profanity.  It needs the companionship of all other days.  All days of the week must be spiritually consistent with the Day of Days.  All our life should be a pilgrimage to the seventh day;  the thought and appreciation of what this day may bring to us should be ever present in our minds.  For the Sabbath is the counterpoint of living;  the melody sustained throughout all agitations and vicissitudes which menace our conscience;  our awareness of God’s presence in the world.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 10:  “Thou Shalt Covet”

Two initial-word panels, with the lower one depicting
the Havdalah ceremony, from the Haggadah,
liturgical poems and biblical readings for Passover.
From Spain, circa 1340.
From the British Library Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn
A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price