Scan barcode
razzberry_pi's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
fairly dense theological text with lots of references to both the Tanakh and the Talmund
some interesting pieces about the destinctions between work and rest, as well as time vs space, emphasizes the importance of jewish sanctification of time through the Sabbath, rather than space
did contain some weird bits that seemed to put down other religious/spiritual traditions which wasn't great, and took the thread of "conquering space" further than I would have liked
some interesting pieces about the destinctions between work and rest, as well as time vs space, emphasizes the importance of jewish sanctification of time through the Sabbath, rather than space
did contain some weird bits that seemed to put down other religious/spiritual traditions which wasn't great, and took the thread of "conquering space" further than I would have liked
lgpiper's review
3.0
This is a short, rather interesting reflection on the institution of the Sabbath, as in "remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy". It was written by a Jewish scholar, so is specifically related to the Sabbath as celebrated by Jewish people. But, it has some interesting ideas and concepts that people of other faiths might find helpful as they try to understand and relate to their Creator.
The lives of men, according to Heschel, are primarily lived on a structural (physical) plane, i.e. we build things, we manage things, we fix things, we sew and reap crops, we write/plan/calculate, and so forth. All we create, even our mightiest structures, e.g. the pyramids, or our most elevated ideas, eventually decay back to nothingness. Time is different. Time is eternal. The structural is consumed by time, but time never changes, it just goes on...eternally. Something like that.
So, although we work in the structural world for six days of the week, we can escape to the temporal when we celebrate the Sabbath. Creation was done and continues to be done in time. So the Sabbath becomes a day of re-creation, a day of holiness ("...and on the seventh day, God rested...and called it holy"), and also a day, because we are living it in time and in holiness, where we deepen our relationship to and celebrate our relationship with our Creator. In so doing, we attain glimpses of eternity.
I am, of course, missing a lot, and perhaps making some stuff up (and didn't have a clue what he was talking about when he likened the Sabbath to a Bride to be celebrated at the wedding feast). Properly read, this book would be studied, i.e. re-read, notes taken and so forth. I won't be doing that, in part because the book is due back at the library muy pronto. But it is interesting to contemplate how the world might differ if we all took off one day from our normal pursuits—many of us, one day off from being assholes—and considered our relationships with our Creator, and consequently with each other, since we are each of us a little piece of our Creator's work—all many parts, but just one body kind of stuff. That's not going to happen any time soon, of course, because the love of money—allegedly the root of all evil, or so Paul would have it—has pretty much trumped everything else in our modern world. But just think, if each of us reduced our personal assholism by just one seventh, how much better a world we would share with each other.
The lives of men, according to Heschel, are primarily lived on a structural (physical) plane, i.e. we build things, we manage things, we fix things, we sew and reap crops, we write/plan/calculate, and so forth. All we create, even our mightiest structures, e.g. the pyramids, or our most elevated ideas, eventually decay back to nothingness. Time is different. Time is eternal. The structural is consumed by time, but time never changes, it just goes on...eternally. Something like that.
So, although we work in the structural world for six days of the week, we can escape to the temporal when we celebrate the Sabbath. Creation was done and continues to be done in time. So the Sabbath becomes a day of re-creation, a day of holiness ("...and on the seventh day, God rested...and called it holy"), and also a day, because we are living it in time and in holiness, where we deepen our relationship to and celebrate our relationship with our Creator. In so doing, we attain glimpses of eternity.
I am, of course, missing a lot, and perhaps making some stuff up (and didn't have a clue what he was talking about when he likened the Sabbath to a Bride to be celebrated at the wedding feast). Properly read, this book would be studied, i.e. re-read, notes taken and so forth. I won't be doing that, in part because the book is due back at the library muy pronto. But it is interesting to contemplate how the world might differ if we all took off one day from our normal pursuits—many of us, one day off from being assholes—and considered our relationships with our Creator, and consequently with each other, since we are each of us a little piece of our Creator's work—all many parts, but just one body kind of stuff. That's not going to happen any time soon, of course, because the love of money—allegedly the root of all evil, or so Paul would have it—has pretty much trumped everything else in our modern world. But just think, if each of us reduced our personal assholism by just one seventh, how much better a world we would share with each other.
a_tall_yid's review
4.0
Short read and very beautiful but even for a short book, quite redundant. Basically Shabbat gives us spirituality and control over time. Other religions build temples to space.
kaaleppii's review
4.0
This book presents an entirely different perspective on reality and how we are to interpret it than what we in the west are taught. Heschel emphasizes repeatedly and from many different angles how it is time, and not space, in which we principally interact with God. The Sabbath is the crown of that interaction according to him and is vital for experiencing creation in the way we were designed to. The first half of the book was as riveting as it was eye-opening. Towards the latter portions of the book, however, Heschel wanders into defenses which were sad to read as a Christian, as falling short of Christ he must look to the Torah as God's great gift and bridge to man. This is not to say that they are without merit, just incomplete. Overall though it was a fantastic read and I fully plan on reading it again next year once I've sat with it for a while.
ericj's review
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
The following is from like page 7 of this 100-some page love letter to the joys of Shabbat:
Is the joy of posession an antidote to the terror of time which grows to be a dread of inevitable death?
While I didn't get what I thought I was going to out of the book, I did get this little nugget, and so far that, 4 stars.