Monday Book Nook: The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel.

To pause and greet the soul is a gift. It is also an inheritance.  So often the idea of observing Shabbat is relegating to the Jew, and mired in legalistic discussions of what one can and cannot do on that day.  This is such a mere sliver of the infinite possibilities offered by it.  Fortunately, Heschel has written what I believe is a love story to Shabbat. In language as beautiful as the gifts that such a pause and such a greeting engenders, he brings us into his home for a very intimate portrait of his own beliefs and practices which then opens the meaning of it for all people, Jew or not.  Pausing and greeting the soul is for everyone.  We can do it on a day, we can do it in an hour, we can close our eyes and do it in an instant. For reading the sheer poetry of such a wonderous act, I highly recommend this so short and yet awe-inspiring book.