Sitting On Concrete

Abraham Heschel was a very influential Jewish thinker who wrote beautifully about the Sabbath.  I’ve always loved his description of the Sabbath as a palace in time.  The Sabbath comes every week, and it is up to us to make something beautiful of it.  We build the palace ourselves through our traditions.

Well, I am in a unique situation.  I believe in the Sabbath, but my needs as a young mom are changing.  It’s actually very nice, because I have the opportunity to look at things in a different way.  What do I want Sabbath to be?  What do I want my son to grow up with?

Ideally, when Jr gets older, I want us to volunteer in our community on Sabbath.  I want us to help people out, not just sit around eating.  However, he is still very little.  We are in the stage of tantrums and napping.  It’s a delicate balance, and taking him to a food bank or an old folks home isn’t really feasible.  Especially when going on foot.

So what will we do to make Sabbath special?  I really don’t know!  We had candles on Friday night, and I woke up this Saturday morning wondering how exactly to do this.  I want my son to learn that the Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity to fill the Sabbath.  I want him to see that it is a special day he can look forward to.  I want him to learn that a sincere act to help someone else is an act of worship.  That will look different at every stage, but there has to be something for right now!

So I am thinking.  Traditions are built one step at a time, and we’re still at the foundation, sitting cross-legged on the concrete.