JEWISH INTEREST
July/August 2021
Federation Star
17
Reclaiming Shabbat Aging Jewishly — What our traditions tell us about growing old By Rabbi Barbara Aiello
F
or Harvey, it was the sweet smell Sunday wasn’t our day, but we Jews were of the challah. reminded that every week has a day of “I’d come in the door and, oh, rest,” she says. that smell! When I think of Shabbat, it’s “What we’ve been through lately, with my mother’s challah that always comes to COVID-19 and all, I needed something mind,” says Harvey. to hang on to. So, I started lighting “It might sound silly, but it was the candles on Friday night and saying the newspaper on the floor. It meant that blessings,” Carl chimes in. Mama had washed the floor for Shabbat,” “My candlesticks were mismatched. says Clare, while Carl remembers, “The They came from the Dollar Store. I didn’t white shirts. Ironed and hanging on the have challah, but I had my rice crackers, door. For my brothers and so I made HaMotzi with the me, those fresh-pressed white cracker. I ordered pizza and shirts said, ‘Gut Shabbos!’” watched a Jewish film. I shut The sweet memory of off the computer and all the Shabbat has become, for craziness on the news and many Jews, their only contook a walk. At first, it felt nection to what our tradition awkward and strange. But tells us is the most important now, I look forward to Friday of all the Jewish holidays and nights. Sometimes I invite celebrations. And the recent my kids or ask a friend over. Pew Report documents what I turn off the world and get most of us already know. back to basics. It makes me Rabbi Barbara The Pew study found, feel good,” he says. Aiello “U.S. Jews are less likely than In a recent article by the overall U.S. public to say religion is Iranian-American columnist Sohrab “very important” to them (21% vs. 41%). Ahmari (“What We’ve Lost in Rejecting While slightly more than half of Jews say the Sabbath,” The Wall Street Journal, religion is “not too” or “not at all imporMay 7, 2021), the author writes, “Settant” in their lives.” ting aside one day a week for rest and In the intervening 20 years since the prayer used to be an American tradition. last U.S. Synagogue Survey, researchers In an age of constant activity, we need it found that “nonorthodox congregations more than ever.” are closing and merging. The Reform Mr. Ahmari also reminds us of the movement has downsized by 180, and words of one of Judaism’s foremost the Conservative by over 350.” thinkers, Rabbi Abraham Joshua HesIn addition, the study found that just chel, who cautioned Jews to recall 14% of U.S. Jews are members of Reform that, “Shabbat guarantees our ‘inner congregations, while a scant 11% mainliberty’ and that a society without a Sabtain membership in a Conservative shul. bath could easily descend into tyranny Couple these statistics with the words and barbarism.” of cultural Zionist, Ahad Ha’am, who Heschel went on to characterize said, “More than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat with these words, “It is one of Shabbat has kept the Jews.” life’s highest rewards, a source of strength And, we wonder, could this be true? and inspiration to endure tribulation, Incredibly, following the destruction to live nobly . . . The Sabbath is the of the second Temple, when animal inspirer, the other days the inspired” (A.J. sacrifices ended, it took some time, but Heschel, The Sabbath, 22). we Jews brought the “light of the fire” Could it be that Carl is on to into our homes. At the family table, something? we continued to renew and refresh As a wise rabbi once said, “When ourselves as we observed an at-home it comes to Shabbat, it is better to do family Shabbat. something rather than nothing.” That was then. Today, when it comes No t w i t h s t a n d i n g m i s m a t c h e d to Shabbat, where do we Jews stand? candlesticks, rice crackers and pizza, Harvey, Clare and Carl, who shared Shabbat is God’s gift, just waiting for us Shabbat memories, described their conto embrace it, enjoy it and grow. nections to Shabbat today. For 10 years, Rabbi Barbara Aiello “I don’t know. Shabbat got away from served the Aviva Campus for Senior Life me. My wife passed on and I put the as resident rabbi. Her most popular colcandlesticks away. And nowadays there’s umns are now published in her new book, always something else to do on Friday “Aging Jewishly,” available on Amazon night,” says Harvey. books. Rabbi Barbara now lives and works Clare agrees. “There was a time when in Italy, where she is rabbi of Italy’s first we had the Blue Laws. Stores were closed Reconstructionist synagogue. Contact her at on Sundays for the Christian Sabbath. Rabbi@RabbiBarbara.com.
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