By Aaron Berner
"More than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.”
It is one of the oldest Jewish cliches in the book, but it is nevertheless a useful window into the unique importance of the seventh day for the Jewish people. Shabbat is undeniably a crucial aspect of Judaism around the world. In Israel, and in Jerusalem especially, the concept of Shabbat transcends the spiritual and collides with the practical world of "real" life.
At 3pm on a Friday afternoon, Jerusalem is an overwhelmingly chaotic center of hustle and bustle. Israelis are not on their way home from work, however--most do not work on Friday at all. Instead, many Israelis can be seen hustling through the shuk, frantically counting tomatoes, snatching challot, tugging on children and rushing to catch the last train or bus home before Shabbat begins and the bustling city grinds to a halt. While Friday is the day many Israelis take to prepare for Shabbat, Shabbat often seems like the culmination of the entire week. It is a transition point, a barrier in time, a span of 25 hours that is equal parts spiritual and earthly, communal and personal, holy and normal. Shabbat in Israel is a phenomenon that simply cannot be found elsewhere.
On our first Shabbat in Israel with the Nachshon Project (and my first Shabbat in Israel ever), Rabbi Cohen ran a program in which we explored what we each personally want from the 20 Shabbatot we have available to us this semester in Israel. We discussed the wide array of options available to us in the holiest Jewish city: an authentic Moroccan Jewish service; a service at the Western Wall; Reform and Conservative services; a number of different Orthodox services; Yeminite Jewish services; and many more. But more than the physical setting and services, we talk about what we each wanted from our 20 Shabbatot here. Spiritual Growth? Personal Growth? Expanding your horizons? Rest? Exercise? While there are many options for which service to attend or where to spend Shabbat in Israel, there are just as many questions about one’s own mindset, priorities and ideas about what to do with these 25 holy hours every week.
As in many of our preliminary activities, the goal has been more to provoke thought and introspection than to find one true answer.
As we gazed at the stars, arms draped around one another during Havdallah a few hours later, I couldn’t help but thinking of the fact that this is my first time in Israel.
What do I really want from my 20 Shabbatot?
How can you pack it all in to 25 hours just once a week?
How do you choose the most worthwhile things when there are so many different opportunities?
How do you make sure you get the most out of something when you're just happy to be there?
There is no one answer, at least not yet. There is no one place we must go, no one way we must spend Shabbat. After all, we’re here to explore: Both the wonderful opportunities and holy historic places all around us, and maybe more importantly, ourselves.
