As I continue to explore my faith with Judaism, I have been coming to terms with ideas I have been grappling with almost my entire life. First and foremost of these ideas is the belief that Torah is outdated and religion in general does nothing more than hold us as a species back.
The more and more I understand about Judaism, I am finding more and more that this idea is completely false. Years ago, a close friend of mine set me on a path to self discovery with two simple sentences: The Torah has all the answers. We just don't realize it yet. These two sentences have formed the basis for my understanding of Judaism and so, today I will explore my newest discovery.
For the first time in my life, I attempted and succeeded to keep the Sabbath as instructed by the Torah. What this means, is I went 24 hours without lighting a flame, which by proxy means I used no electronic devices. I also did not handle any money or do business of any kind. The last aspect of Shabbat is to create nothing new. Instead were are commanded to rest and enjoy what has already been created on this earth.
Obviously this sounds really difficult in the modern world. After all, many claim that we as a race are notable for staring more at our phones than at actual people. That the internet must always be within reach to have sound discussion. Most of all though, we feel we must always be connected via social media to those we care about.
On one hand the internet has allowed us to see the world in ways that never were possible for us. On the other though, thanks to our dependence on technology, we are able to view everything, but are we really able to ever see anything?
Shabbat was an eye opening experience for me because for the first time in quite a long while, I got to view the world in a way that I had forgotten was possible. I chose to spend part of my time disconnected from social media observing the natural world around me by sitting outside the synagogue I was attending and just listening to sounds as well as looking around.
The earth is alive although we depend on technology most of the time to remind us of it. On the seventh "day" of creation it is told in Genesis that G-d rested on the seventh day to view his work. In a mirror of what was done then, Jews are to do the same on the seventh day of the week which is Friday night to Saturday night.
Back years ago, families and friends mostly kept to Shabbat customs with ease as life was more centralized around community and micro towns and life. While technology has turned our world into a much smaller place and allowed people from all over the world to connect, it also has had the adverse effect of preventing us from taking a moment of rest to just admire the world.
So as I found this last weekend. Keeping to Shabbat in our modern day in my opinion is even more important than it has ever been. If we do not take time to admire our accomplishments, then what is the point of all the toil and work in the first place?
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