http://redemptionsbeauty.com/2014/09/17/refuge-in-sabbath-kris-camealy/
Lately, I’ve been wondering how I managed before I began actively embracing the Sabbath. I work hard day after day, juggling kids and schooling, writing, activities, mentoring meetings, cooking, cleaning, and other various typical tasks. For years I did this seven days a week with virtually no real rest. I never thought about what Dr. Matthew Sleeth calls, “building a refuge in the Sabbath.” I knew there was work to be done and so I kept on going, day after day, ignoring the commandment to honor the Sabbath.
In observing God’s commandment to honor the Sabbath, I am discovering a deeper friendship with the Lord. I’ve come to see the time spent in retreat is not wasted, but rather, it enriches my faith and deepens my own love for God. In his book 24/6, Sleeth points out that “you need quality and quantity to make intimacy happen. Fortunately God designed our schedules to accommodate both”. Sabbath presents itself as a designated space in my busy life to move closer to God, apart from the nagging to-do’s of my usual schedule. Sabbath is where I remember that “God is the source of my life.” Sabbath reminds me that the world will spin even if I do not.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Taking Back the Sabbath
Taking Back the Sabbath
The world tells us more, more, more when what we really need is less, less, less. Take a step back from what the world is saying and you will find renewal, I promise you, I’ve experienced it. When I made the concerted effort to slow down, starting with taking back the Sabbath, I felt a deeper faith connection, refreshed and rejuvenated spiritually, mentally, and physically.
Now, if I am completely honest with you—this overwhelming sense of contentment and joy probably won’t happen after observing your first Sabbath. Nor will it happen after a few attempts at slowing down. But it does happen, with time, patience, and a determination to make the change to your lifestyle.
After several years of choosing less over more, I can confidently say that I am in a different mindset than I once was, that my default is now a much slower pace. But I won’t lie; there are times I still struggle with shutting off and removing stress. There are so many things I thoroughly love about being able to work from home, but it has been an adjustment to create boundaries that keep my work/home balance in check.
Taking back the Sabbath is one of those boundaries.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
When Yom Kippur Is On Shabbat
By Raphael Grunfeld 9 Tishri 5778 – September 28, 2017
The deeper reason for requiring us to fast on Shabbat/Yom Kippur may lie in the essential difference between Shabbat and Yom Kippur. Shabbat is God’s day of rest. Yom Kippur is our day of rest. On Shabbat we remain in this world and enjoy the earthly pleasures God created. That is how we acknowledge Him as Creator. Shabbat in this sense is a day of physical rest.
On Yom Kippur, we leave the physical world. We take a day off from the inherent tension caused by the fusion of body and soul. We become pure souls. Yom Kippur is the dress rehearsal of our own yahrzeit. We wear the shrouds in which we will ultimately face Him, and we discard the shoes we will no longer need. By neither eating nor drinking, we celebrate the day like the angels we become. If Shabbat is God’s day off and Yom Kippur is ours, on Shabbat/Yom Kippur God and His people celebrate a day off together.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
How Morley Safer’s Jewish Upbringing Inspired His Quest for Decency and Justice
By Benjamin Ivry - May 19th, 2016
The Canadian Jewish broadcast journalist Morley Safer, who died at age 84 on May 19th, 2016, was as much preoccupied with ethics and the arts as reporting during his more than a half-century with CBS News, 46 of them with the program “60 Minutes.” He told Abigail Pogrebin, author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,”: “I think that a Jewish background does give you a very, very strong sense of doing the right thing.”
The Canadian Jewish broadcast journalist Morley Safer, who died at age 84 on May 19th, 2016, was as much preoccupied with ethics and the arts as reporting during his more than a half-century with CBS News, 46 of them with the program “60 Minutes.” He told Abigail Pogrebin, author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,”: “I think that a Jewish background does give you a very, very strong sense of doing the right thing.”
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Four-Reasons-Shabbat-Is-Compared-to-Bride-and-a-Queen
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3753326/jewish/Four-Reasons-Shabbat-Is-Compared-to-Bride-and-a-Queen.htm
In the 16th-century Shabbat hymn “Lecha Dodi” [“Come, my beloved . . .”], we welcome the Shabbat as both a bride and queen.
This concept goes all the way back to the Talmud, where we read that Rabbi Chanina would wrap himself in his special garments on Shabbat eve and say, “Come, and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen.” Another sage, Rabbi Yannai, would don his garment on Shabbat eve and say, “Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.”1
So what is the Shabbat: a bride or a queen? And who is her husband?
Monday, August 14, 2017
Jazz for the Soul
http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/jazz-for-the-soul/article_26fd5bcf-1230-5790-8581-4c3af5bf1c3e.html
TRAVERSE CITY — There are few things Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg loves more than Shabbat and smooth jazz, though he admits combining the two is a rare treat.
It has been nearly 15 years since Sleutelberg and Jeff Haas organized a series of "Jazz Shabbat" services, reharmonizing traditional Jewish prayers into jazz songs. He jumped at the chance to do it again.
The two will reunite for a Jazz Shabbat on Aug. 18 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Traverse City. Sleutelberg will lead the free Jewish prayer service while Haas playing jazz harmonies of traditional Shabbat hymns from the grand piano.
"Having an opportunity to pray and use jazz motifs to elevate the music of those prayers is exciting," Sleutelberg said. "Anyone familiar with the prayer service will still be able to chant along, but the surrounding melodies will be something very new."
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