Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) was born in Warsaw into a distinguished family of Hasidic rabbis. He received his first smicha (rabbinical degree) from an Orthodox yeshivah in Poland and his second from a liberal rabbinical seminary in Germany. He escaped Europe at the beginning of World War II and came to the United States to teach, first at a Reform rabbinical seminary and later at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was classmate of Mordechai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. He accompanied Martin Luther King on the famous Salem March, and said that, as he did so, it seemed as if his legs were praying for him.

Few rabbis have been exposed, throughout their lives, to such a wide variety of approaches to and experiences with Judaism as Heschel. Professor David Biale says that Heschel’s theology is based on his interpretation of Hasidic spirituality in the light of modernity. For Biale, his most important works are: «God in Search of Man» (1955); «The Earth Is God’s,» his elegy on the Jews who died in the Holocaust (1949); and «The Sabbath» (1951), a work that ignores the numerous rules governing Shabbat observance and leads us to meditate on the true spiritual significance of this holiday.

In “The Sabbath,” Heschel wrote: “The Bible is more concerned with time than with space. It sees the world in the dimension of time. It pays more attention to generations, to events, than to countries, to things; it is more concerned with history than with geography. To understand the teachings of the Bible, one must accept the premise that time has a meaning for life as important as space. Judaism is a religion of time that aims at the sanctification of time. The Bible senses the diverse character of time. No two hours are alike. Every hour is unique.”

Regarding Shabbat, Heschel says: Work is a craft, but perfect rest is an art. The art of keeping the seventh day is the art of painting on the canvas of time the mysterious grandeur of the moment when God completed his creation. It is the result of an agreement between body, mind, and imagination. Shabbat is delight: delight for the soul and delight for the body. You can observe Shabbat by mechanically following its rules. But observing the seventh day is more than simply obeying God’s commandments. Sanctifying the seventh day does not mean mortifying yourself, but rather, sanctifying it with all your heart, soul, and senses. We sanctify Shabbat with things as mundane as special foods or beautiful clothes, not just with prayers.

Heschel says: Unlike the Day of Forgiveness, the Sabbath is not dedicated exclusively to spiritual purposes. It is a day where the soul as well as the body, comfort, and pleasure are integral parts of Shabbat observance. It must be the whole person, with all his faculties, sharing in the blessing of the Sabbath. Celebrating Shabbat must be more than a mere mechanical ritual; celebrating Shabbat must be an art.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: «The Sabbath» by Abraham Joshua Heschel and «Judaism» by David Biale.