When bewildered colleagues ask me what Shabbat is like, I say that it’s like preparing multiple Thanksgiving meals every week. I never feel like we’re going to get it all done. Every Friday could use just a couple more hours. But, I always marvel that the stress of preparation, rushing, working, lifts as Shabbat starts.
Shabbat allows me to recuperate from the week and reconnect with family and friends. It allows me to enter the new week refreshed.
Shabbat has not always looked the same throughout my life; it hasn’t even looked the same during this past year. Growing up, I irritably focused on what I couldn’t do on Shabbat. Now I find that Shabbat is what makes me most effective during the rest of the week, whether it’s a nap, a game, a song, a walk in the woods, or laughs with friends over a meal.
After a busy week, my Savta used to say with a sigh, “If we didn’t have Shabbat, we’d have to create it ourselves.” I stand on her shoulders and the many who came before us, whose weeks were full but who understood how Shabbat restores us and improves us.
Mira Resnick is a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the United States Department of State.
