Hello everyone! Just want to wish you a wonderful shabbat...may Yahweh bring us all together...in spirit and truth....shalom your sis.... Tamar

shalom Tamar,

thank you and have a blessed, restful Shabbat coming up

The Sabbath Manifesto

http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/

NATIONAL DAY OF UNPLUGGING
A Provisional Guide for Observing a Weekly Day of Rest

The Ten Principles

1. Avoid technology.

2. Connect with loved ones.

3. Nurture your health.

4. Get outside.

5. Avoid commerce.

6. Light candles.

7. Drink wine.

8. Eat bread.

9. Find silence.

10. Give back.

Avoid Technology.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practice...echnology.shtml

"On the seventh day of creation, according to the Bible, God rested (Genesis 2:2). Instead of making more and more stuff, God took some time to appreciate what had been created. Today, creating things is easier than ever thanks to the many amazing technologies we have at our fingertips. From playlists to videos to plain old word docs, our computers, tablets, cell phones and music players help us create hundreds of things a day. But, like God, it's a good idea for us to take some time to appreciate everything that we already have created before we plug back in and start making more........


Technology also tends to include two actions that have traditionally been big no-nos on the Sabbath: using electricity and writing. Exodus 35:3 says, “You shall not burn a fire in your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” Some Jews consider turning on and off electricity to be similar to lighting a fire. This is because electronic devices create a spark when they are switched on or off (it used to be that the sparks were often visible--now they're typically too small to see or feel). Plus, when a light (or any other electronic object) is turned on, a circuit is created, which violates another of the traditional Sabbath prohibitions, which asks us not to create anything on the day of rest.

Many of the rules about Sabbath restrictions come from a list of 39 actions that the Mishnah forbids from being done on the Sabbath. Why these 39? Because they were the actions that the Israelites needed to do when they were building the Tabernacle. Even though the Tabernacle was important for the Israelites, they had to stop construction on it on the Sabbath. Writing and erasing were among the 39 things prohibited--two things it's almost impossible to avoid doing when you're using technology. Think about how often you type--even just one word--into your phone or computer. That's an act of creation, too......"

(NOTE - 39 things the Mishnah(ORAL LAW) forbids - NOT THE BIBLE)

"The Rabbis decreed that one not only should avoid forbidden acts but also must not do anything that (1) resembles a prohibited act or could be confused with it, (2) is a habit linked with a prohibited act, or (3) usually leads to performing a prohibited act.

The rabbinic enactment of measures to prevent these possibilities was termed "putting a fence around the Torah" (Avot 1:1). For example, ripping up a piece of paper was forbidden since it resembles "cutting to shape" or could be confused with it."

Shabbat As Protest

Observing Shabbat is an antidote to the stresses of daily life.

By Rabbi Gunther Plaut

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Rit...

"If Shabbat is to have significance, it must confront one of modern civilization's greatest curses, its internal and external unrest. This unrest arises from the twin facts that the life we lead is frequently without goals and that we are involved in competition without end.

I view Shabbat as potentially an enormous relief from and protest against the basic causes of unrest. Once a week it provides us with an opportunity to address ourselves to the meaning of human existence rather than the struggle for survival; to persons rather than things; to Creation and our part in it; to society and its needs; to ourselves as individuals and yet as social beings. This has been called "the inner source of leisure," the setting of goals which are both realistic and within one's reach, yet also beyond one's self.

There are few better places for such redirection than a religious service, whose major function ought to be not just the repetition of well-worn formulae but the celebration of human goals. If nothing happens to us during this or any Shabbat experience except an enlarging of our vision, we will have gained a new perspective of life's meaning and will have diminished our sense of unrest. That will be Shabbat rest in the sense required by our time.

Endless competition is a specific form of restlessness. Shabbat can be a surcease from and a protest against all forms of competition even when they come in attractive packages marked "self-advancement" or "self-improvement." Shabbat in this sense may be viewed as a "useless" day. Our ancestors had a keen understanding of the fact that sleep on Shabbat was a form of coming closer to God. We must once again understand that doing nothing, being silent and open to the world, letting things happen inside, can be as important as, and sometimes more important than what we commonly call useful.

Formerly a person who did not work was considered useless; what we need now is a purposeful uselessness, an activity (or non-activity!) which is important in that it becomes an essential protest against that basic unrest which comes from competition without end.........."

Why Do So Few Jews Observe Shabbat?

"The Sabbath lays down a judgment on the fundamental issues of our civilization....We Jews fail the Sabbath..."

"The problem is not that Shabbat is irrelevant, but that it is too relevant."

By Jacob Neusner

"To make a point about the role of Shabbat in Jewish life, the author contrasts the widespread adherence to many of the rituals of Passover with the relative paucity of Shabbat observance. Reprinted from The Enchantments of Judaism, published by Basic Books.

Passover is like a love affair--intense but brief. The Sabbath stands in judgment upon us as human beings and calls into question the things that should merely engage but, in fact, overwhelm us. That is why, at sunset on the eve of the seventh day, words do not create worlds. The magic works only when people want it to. The Sabbath is like a marriage that is ordinary and lasts for years. A love affair is what it is--but on the basis of the Sabbath, one can build one's life, and many do......"

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Rit...

Shabbat for non-religious jews is just another day, like Sunday is for non-religious gentiles. The vast majority of Orthodox jews, and Messianic jews observe the Shabbat. Elohim gave us Shabbat milleniums before the Torah was given and yet it isn't revered in the way our Creator taught us. www.messianicfellowship.ca

Given what has happened in the past 90+ years, it just boogles my mind how any Jew could be non-religious. That's like a religion without G-d.

Hebrews 10:28-30 "Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)? For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay."

Ask the Expert: Sunday Services

Are there any Reform Temples that still have their main service on Sunday?,,,,,,,,,Answer:,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "Today, so many of us are accustomed to our synagogues and Temples holding their main services on Saturday that a lot of people don't realize that wasn't always the case. You're on top of your game, Keith--for many years, Reform Temples tended to have their main service of the week on Sunday morning, not Saturday.

How did this happen? The story begins in Germany in the early 19th century, when Reform Judaism was just beginning to develop. Rabbi Samuel Holdheim was the head of a group of Reform rabbis in Berlin who were making a lot of changes to Jewish practice. Among the changes he instituted was moving the main weekly service to Sunday at the synagogue where he worked. Why the change? At that time, Germany was observing a six-day workweek, with only Sunday as a day off. This meant it was nearly impossible for many people to attend services on Saturday, because they had to be at work.

Holdheim concluded that it was better to preserve the Jewish religion than to maintain the importance of a specific day. Observing Shabbat by attending services was, he held, very important; so much so that it should happen even if that meant holding Shabbat services on a different day of the week. It's important to note, though, that Holdheim only advocated the move to Sunday in places where Saturday services had outlived their sphere of usefulness and "succumbed in the struggle against the demands of life." He treated his Sunday service as if it was Saturday, in terms of liturgy, ritual, and sermon.

Holdheim's policy was slowly adopted by a handful of Reform institutions in Germany, and when Reform Judaism made its way to America, the Sunday service came along. In 1885, the Reform rabbinical conference in Pittsburgh unanimously agreed that Shabbat was too important to be limited to Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Orthodox community in America was getting increasingly frustrated about the six-day workweek. In many states, blue laws made it illegal to do business on Sunday, so Jews who owned businesses and observed Shabbat were forced to be closed on both Saturday and Sunday. Many Jewish families became accustomed to going to synagogue early Saturday morning and then going to work. In order to combat what they saw as a real divestment from Jewish tradition, Orthodox rabbis joined in a campaign with labor unions to shorten the workweek to five days.

Clothing manufacturers were the first industry to cut down their workweek. By the mid 1920s, some major garment worker unions were insisting on a five day workweek, and the Jewish community--across all denominations--vocally supported this cause. Over the next 15 years more and more industries moved to the five day workweek, and by the end of World War II, the five day workweek was standard across most industries.

Once the workweek had been shortened and people were no longer obligated to be at their jobs on Saturday morning, many Reform Temples began moving their main weekly services to Friday night, and eventually to Saturday morning. Today, there are only a few Reform synagogues that continue to hold services on Sunday morning.,,,,,,"<< <<<<<<< <<<<<<< < http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ask_the_exper...