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A couple of days ago we had a lively conversation over dinner about whether time has passed quickly or slowly over the past few difficult months.  My daughter said it was astonishing that Passover is so soon again, but my son thought that time has passed incredibly slowly and that it feels like ages since pre-lockdown.

I can identify with both approaches.  Passover does seem quite recent, but it also seems that there have been stretches of identical weeks that blur into each other.  I believe that when today is so similar to yesterday and tomorrow, we can lose our sense of time passing.  We are all used to evenings, weekends and holiday-times that are different in content and texture from work or school hours.  But with many of our favourite social and other activities suspended and so few places to go, much of the variety that spices our lives has been missing.  

There is a traditional Jewish antidote to this – Shabbat, the Sabbath.  Each week, we switch off from our regular activities and explore the wonder of being together, as families, communities, or even alone with God. We eat delicious foods, sing, pray and for 25 hours, leave behind the constant pressure of becoming that characterises the rest of the week.  Instead we focus on the wonder of just being.  For me at least, it restores my spiritual equilibrium – I couldn’t live without Shabbat.

A few months ago, a proudly Jewish, although not Shabbat observant journalist told me that with his work and personal lives all happening from the same room, he had lost the usual rhythm of the week.  He’d found himself reintroducing Shabbat rituals of his childhood – lighting candles and long, contemplative and undisturbed meals.

Rabbi Professor A.J. Heschel called Shabbat an oasis in time.  He explained that we spend much of our time focused on making sense of things and the space they occupy.  Yet the Sabbath encourages us to sanctify and elevate not space, but time itself.

I’ve been wondering whether we can all find a Shabbat moment in the week.  Of course, I recommend, the full-blown switch-off, but I believe that each of us is able to pause from work, study, the school run, even just for a few minutes.  Take a deep breath and focus on the wonder of just being.