Shabbat.com gets people together for Sabbath meals

Shabbat.com, a Facebook-styled site where collecting ‘invites’ is key - NY Daily News:

Shabbat.com is an online global community with 25,000 members swapping requests to join each other’s Sabbath meals — a Jewish tradition honoring a break from the work week over wine, challah bread and at a four-course meal.

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An Interview with Shabbat - Fiction

An Interview with Shabbat - Fiction:

Leonard: My next guest is known throughout the world as the Holy Sabbath. He’s written a new book called Shabbat: Make My Day, and I’m very pleased that it brings Shabbat back to our show. Hello.

Shabbat: It’s great to be here, Leonard.

Leonard: Your first book was a memoir, My Days of Rest. This book is also about Shabbat. How is it different?

Shabbat: My new book tells you what you can do to maximize your enjoyment of Shabbat, the meaning behind some of the more popular Shabbat customs, and I give my recipe for gefilte fish.

Judaism and modernity

http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Judaism/Article.aspx?id=251448
By REUVEN HAMMER
In a recent article, Yoni Goldstein of Toronto wrote that modern Orthodoxy is the only brand of Judaism that encourages people to (a) keep Shabbat according to the letter of the law and (b) check e-mail or turn on the TV once three stars appear. Haredi Orthodoxy is only concerned with “a” – the law – while “Reform and Conservative don’t see a particular need to do ‘a.’” 

The writer thus lumps Conservative and Reform together, as do many people who see no difference between movements that are considered “non-Orthodox.” Without intending to deprecate my Reform colleagues, I must insist that there are differences and that the main difference still consists of the attitude toward Jewish law: Reform officially considers it non-binding, while Conservative/ Masorti considers it binding.

The American Shabbat

The American Shabbat

It’s time to ask: at what cost? When does commercialism without borders or restraints go beyond a momentary boost to quarterly profits and damage the national soul? We may be perilously close to that point if the unspoken agreement to keep Thanksgiving as the American Shabbat is broken.

There was a time when most colonial Americans were forced to honor the Puritan Sabbath — under the so-called “blue laws” of the 1700s, severe punishment could be rendered for even a simple misdeed. Sunday restrictions lasted well into the 20th century, and especially hurt Jewish shopkeepers who observed their own Sabbath on Saturday, and had to forego a weekend’s worth of commerce or risk heavy fines for opening on a Sunday. Bit by bit, states dropped their prohibitions, to increase tax revenues more than anything else, although there still are places where one cannot purchase alcohol on a Sunday (Mississippi), buy a car (Illinois), or hunt (most of West Virginia).

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/146836/#ixzz1fWxzLGB0

Why Not Grasp Great Gift That Comes Each Week With Shabbat?

Why are some people able to accept a gift gracefully and others do not know how?

What is it about human beings that we are unable to see the beauty, the necessity, the awesomeness of this natural cycle? What is it about what happens in our lives for six days that cannot benefit from this lovely rest, to be resumed with a restored spirit?

Think of the number of things we seek out in our lives to manufacture a change, a shift, a getaway from it all: recess, vacation, weekend, holiday, TGIF, dress-down day, summer reading.

Opinion: Why Not Grasp Great Gift That Comes Each Week With Shabbat? | The Jewish Exponent:

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Angels at the Table: a Practical Guide to Celebrating Shabbat

This ambitious and unusual work combines a step-by-step guide to Shabbat observance, with recipes, song-lyrics and ideas for 'fostering meaningful conversations'. Harvard-graduate Miller's work dispels myths about the value and practicalities of Shabbat observance for modern suburban families.

Angels at the Table: a Practical Guide to Celebrating Shabbat | The Jewish Chronicle:

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Unplugging and Sharing

Unplugging and Sharing Jewish Traditions | The Sag Harbor Express:

By Emily J. Weitz

Built in to many religions is the opportunity to stop and pause. Whether this means a slow and easy Saturday or six weeks without meat, in some form or another it’s a reminder to take a break from our routines, and to give thanks. In the Jewish tradition, Shabbat is a weekly observation that begins at sundown on Friday and lasts 25 hours. The purpose is to unplug, to kick back, and to remember the bigger picture.

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