In a "secular" life, Friday comes around, and the excitement builds. As sundown approaches, all rules are gone, all structures come apart, time spreads out limitlessly, making no demands, dangling the promise of raucous adventures and indulgence. The goal is dissipation, letting go, forgetting the struggles of life. The whole world becomes a playground.
If you're into Shabbes, the sinking of the Friday sun imposes an inescapable structure on Time. suddenly existence has a framework far more complex than that of the week. The day demands even more focus- focus on God, focus on prayer, focus on what can and can't be done. Friday night is a time of spiritual electricity, the whole world is transformed into a palace of God.
Yes, the command is to eat amply, and to enjoy and to forget the struggles of the week, but in a way (or at least in the wanderingstu way), you are more aware of Life's challenges. Maybe the workaday is stressful, but sometimes having to face God, armed with nothing but a third helping of cholent can be rather daunting. Or at least intense. (Cholent- a meaty Shabbat stew made in a crock pot. If anyone calls me "Meaty Shabbat Stu," I will frown in their general direction.)
I didn't mean this to be a complaint about Shabbat (does it sound that way?). Not at all. I just wanted to riff on the difference between the significance of Friday evening in the different frameworks of living. Kinda like a secular bachelor party involves hookers, blow and a lot of cussing, while a frum Shabbat Chatan (the religious version of the bachelor party) involves bearded guys, cheap vodka and a lot of blessings.
Shabbat Shalom
If you're into Shabbes, the sinking of the Friday sun imposes an inescapable structure on Time. suddenly existence has a framework far more complex than that of the week. The day demands even more focus- focus on God, focus on prayer, focus on what can and can't be done. Friday night is a time of spiritual electricity, the whole world is transformed into a palace of God.
Yes, the command is to eat amply, and to enjoy and to forget the struggles of the week, but in a way (or at least in the wanderingstu way), you are more aware of Life's challenges. Maybe the workaday is stressful, but sometimes having to face God, armed with nothing but a third helping of cholent can be rather daunting. Or at least intense. (Cholent- a meaty Shabbat stew made in a crock pot. If anyone calls me "Meaty Shabbat Stu," I will frown in their general direction.)
I didn't mean this to be a complaint about Shabbat (does it sound that way?). Not at all. I just wanted to riff on the difference between the significance of Friday evening in the different frameworks of living. Kinda like a secular bachelor party involves hookers, blow and a lot of cussing, while a frum Shabbat Chatan (the religious version of the bachelor party) involves bearded guys, cheap vodka and a lot of blessings.
Shabbat Shalom
2 comments:
please use words that ALL of your readers understand - what is "blow"?
hey, hopefully i'll get to have both a real bachelor party (in america, with my secular friends) and a shabbat chatan (in israel, probably bat ayin, with the chevre). you're probably the only person i know who could handle both!
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