Posting Soon:
The concept of the Shabbat occupies a lofty position within the context of Jewish theology. One well know teaching states that it wasn't the Jews who had saved the Shabbat, but rather the Shabbat who had saved the Jews.
To some extent it may be argued that it is the Shabbat that religious practice that distinguishes Judaism from other religions. It is this religious practice the one that most clearly manifests the core religious genius of Judaism. It is similar in this contextual sense to what meditation represents in Zen. It is this unique practice the one that manifests the core genius of Zen practice.
It is for that reason that I propose to discuss a program for the creation of a practice of the Shabbat based on Buberian and Zen concepts, and if the scholarship behind this works, I will argue that in so doing we will remain faithful to the Shabbat's original intent.
I will be posting a program for a family, personal and communal Shabbat practice along the lines of what I consider to be a dialogical practice. This practice has the potential of becoming a tool for social and personal liberation. Please share with me your thoughts and views. (I use the term "practice" when normally the word "celebration" would be used. Celeberation has been so strongly associated with the concept of "rituals" that I feel we need to coin a new term to describe what we do. Practice includes celebration but it does mostly indicates a way of life, not a formulae for a sacrament)
2 comments:
This looks as an interesting idea and I’m looking forward to the time when the program will appear In the meantime, some preliminary comments on what was written above:
The idea of a program for Shabbat practice along the lines of “dialogical practice’ is, I think, very promising. I imagine it will go on the lines of “I and You” (You being the Shabbat day) and thus bestowing on the Shabbat much of which the Written and Oral Law expect from us.
I very much agree, as Dr. Margulies proposes, on the use of the term “practice” instead of “celebration”. After all, praxis is the foundation of Jewish Faith and it is mostly through praxis that the Shabbat is ‘remembered” and “guarded” as the Torah commands us. (See on this Prof. Y. Lebowitz ‘ essay on: Religious Praxis: The Meaning of the Halachah {1953})
I’d like to comment a bit on the title of the program because, I suppose, it will reflect its content. Dr. Margulies calls it:”on the celebration of shabat in a non-religious/orthodox manner” .
I don’t think that a hypothetical open-minded orthodox Jew would object to the introduction of, say, Buddhist meditation practices in the Shabbat day, neither he would object to a dialogical practice of that day. He would object though to the introduction of such and other practices instead of (as a substitution of) the usual practices of the day.
I assume that a title like “on the celebration of Shabbat in a non-religious manner” is designed to catch the attention of a public that is very much distant from Shabbat observance and that is kept distant from it on account of the numerous and cumbersome ordinances associated with Shabbat observance. In the sense of attempting a rapprochement of that public to the Shabbat, the aims of the program are commendable. However, why the “non-religious manner” ? I seem to sense here some lack of consistency since, if we strip the Shabbat from its religious content, the why Shabbat and not Sunday, a far more propitious day in the Diaspora?
Religiosity does not keep a one-to-one relation with orthodoxy and thus one could keep the religious component without a comprehensive observance of all the ordinances. In order to practice Shabbat we need at least to comply with some of those ordinances. In some cases this might lead, with the help of a dialogical practice, to an step-by-step approach whereby, as time goes on, more and more ordinances are observed. Perhaps the title, and the program, should be designed so as to keep open this possibility?
thank you for your comment. we have switched to a different blog-site where we have consolidated various different postings: http://dialogicalecology.blogspot.com.
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