Sabbath observations

Christian Century, Nov 29, 2003

I WAS TOUCHED by Lauren Winner's article "Take the day off: Reclaiming the Sabbath" (Nov. 1). As a long-term member of Reform synagogues, but also an attender of Quaker meetings, I too have wondered about viable translations of the Sabbath ideal into other settings. Though Judaism's own daylong Sabbath has never been a practiced part of my life, I have found the hour-long silence of the Quaker meeting a discipline of cessation that echoes something of the Sabbath observations focused peace and heightened stance of attentive listening.

Ernest Rubinstein

New York, N.Y

I found Lauren Winners take on the Sabbath a bit troubling. It seems to me that the early Christians very intentionally came together on "the first day of the week" to celebrate the resurrection. Most of them were working people, including slaves, so they met early in the morning or at night, before or after work.

The one clear New Testament reflection on the matter is the sabbatismos in Hebrews 4:9, a term apparently invented by the writer The "state of being in the Sabbath" could mean life in the kingdom or, I think, the freedom of the one reconciled to God.

The Hebrew Sabbath, on the other hand, played a major role in world history. It was apparently the first institution of a regular day of rest, and may have defined the seven-day week, which has no astronomical basis. But to separate it from its place in the Torah seems inappropriate. The "Sabbath feeling" that Winner experienced requires, I think, the literal refraining from work that Jesus questioned and that requires Senator Joe Lieberman to walk to the Capitol for Saturday sessions, and the orthodox to get one of the goyim to turn lights on and off.

At least some early Christians saw the Sabbath as they did the temple, the Aaronic priesthood and the Davidic monarchy--pointers to the coming of Jesus the Christ. Jesus' own summarizing of the law as love of God and neighbor seems to me to deny the eternal significance of Sabbath observance.

I believe that Sabbath observance signals the intensity of the believer's commitment to God. Jews can teach us something on that point.

Alan Thomson

Brooklyn, N.Y.