So Um.... Is This Normal?

[Antigonos]

This reminds me of something that might sound weird and irrelevant at first, but I'll explain eventually, so bear with me.

 

When I began observing the Sabbath as an Orthodox Jew, I stopped turning the lights on and off, stopped tearing toilet paper, stopped cooking, stopped going out to shops, stopped watching tv, stopped using the internet, etc. I stopped a lot of things, because most of the rules for the Sabbath are negative rules, i.e., they forbid things. I was living alone in a German dorm room the size of a cardboard box. It was really, really depressing to sit in that box for 26 hours trying to find something to do other than sleep, so I mostly slept. More depressing.

 

I finally talked to a friend about this, the one who was "bringing me up" as an Orthodox Jew. Her husband overheard our conversation, and being a very educated man, said to me: "You have to start adding things in. All you've done is take things out and forbid things. Now you have to start filling up that emptiness with the things that the prohibitions make space for, the things that make the Sabbath truly joyful. Read the Torah, sing Shabbos songs, spend time with friends, eat lots of food, go for a leisurely walk, etc." I started to do this, and suddenly I began to see the goodness of the Sabbath. I didn't feel anymore like I was just observing a day of "not allowed". I felt like I was observing a day that was set apart for truly peaceful, God-centered things, the things I always wanted to do but never had time for.

 

You are focusing on all the things that are negative, that you'll have to give up. But remember that those things go away in order to make space for other things. And those other things will be truly wonderful. They will bring joy and peace and God-centeredness in a way that the "forbidden" never could.

 

Exactly.  The rationale for Shabbat is "l'havdil kodesh l'chol" -- differentiating the sacred from the profane.  When I lived in NYC, I studied Hebrew on the Sabbath.  When I was in ulpan [an intensive language program] after arrival in Israel I did NOT study Hebrew on the Sabbath, because I was studying it all week long.

 

There is secular time, and there is sacred time. Creating boundaries to separate the two is not easy, but in the end, both periods are more meaningful.  It occurs to me that sisters in active orders must have frequent conflicts with this, and I wonder how they resolve overlapping demands.
 

[Gabriela]

It occurs to me that sisters in active orders must have frequent conflicts with this, and I wonder how they resolve overlapping demands.

 

Well, even active sisters rest on the Sabbath. But during the week, they do a whole lot of sudden switching back and forth between work and prayer, work and prayer, work and prayer. (Of course, they should be praying ceaselessly, but you know what I mean!) I am not the type who can make such switches successfully or quickly, and that's the main reason I feel I could never be an active sister. It takes enormous mental discipline to be able to drop work (especially work with people) and just focus on God for 30 minutes, then go right back to it... [EXHAUSTING!]

[TheresaThoma]

Well, even active sisters rest on the Sabbath. But during the week, they do a whole lot of sudden switching back and forth between work and prayer, work and prayer, work and prayer. (Of course, they should be praying ceaselessly, but you know what I mean!) I am not the type who can make such switches successfully or quickly, and that's the main reason I feel I could never be an active sister. It takes enormous mental discipline to be able to drop work (especially work with people) and just focus on God for 30 minutes, then go right back to it... [EXHAUSTING!]

 

When I interviewed at the place I will be working at next year I ran into this a couple of times (I was there for 5 days). The staff prays together 3 times a day (Morning and Evening prayer plus the Divine Mercy Chaplet) and often I would be doing something and one of the staff would come to tell me they were going to be having prayer in a couple of minutes. I would then have to stop what I was doing and go. It really taught me to remember that time with God needs to come before everything else. I also found that when it was just going for a short while I tended to bring that "prayer" back with me and it was easier to bring what was going on in my life to God.