REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY

This title statement is one of the Ten Commandments given at Mt. Sinai.

The Torah instructs its readers to remember six things. They are:

1. The Exodus from Egypt
2. The Revelation at Sinai
3. Amalek’s Attack on Israel
4. The Episode of the Golden Calf
5. Miriam’s Speech When She was Critical of Moses and Her Punishment
6. The Sabbath

There is more than one word in Hebrew that is translated as “memory.” The one associated with the above list is “za-chor.” This word adds great weight to the act of remembering. It implies that the memory should be vivid, active, and consuming. It is as if one witnessed, and experienced, and was profoundly affected by the event. The emotional impact had a powerful effect at the moment, burning itself into the mind forever and accurately. It is so strong that it never fades. The episode is life-altering and affirming.

With this great depth and endurance we are instructed to remember these six incidents. It is not akin to the casual recalls of our life.

The first five remembrances are of actions that could be observed when they happened. The sixth – the Sabbath – was different. As the commandment said, the Sabbath is to be kept Holy. Literally, that means it is to be different from the other days of the week. The Hebrew word for “Holiness” (“Kadosh”) means “different.” It also implies being separate.

It is as different as can be. God is the ultimate of Kadosh, the epitome of being different from anything we can sense or appreciate as the physical, mortal, and restricted human beings we are. God is 100% spiritual. There is no material characteristic to God. God is eternal. God is boundless. There is nothing even vaguely human about the Deity.

God encountered the absolutely alien material universe in order to create it. This newly activated corporeal world has nothing in common with the heavenly plane. God then left this anomaly and rested. That means God returned to the infinitely, eternally, and perfectly harmonious existence that is God. 

And we are commanded to remember this as a special day. We are told to immerse ourselves in something reflective of God’s natural state. We need to separate ourselves from the material attitudes that dominate our lives. To disconnect from the urge of acquisition, envy, hatred, and other desires and motivations associated with the material creation.

To remember the Sabbath means to delve into a spiritual mode of being. It is reinventing the self, guided by the soul that accompanies life’s journey. The task is to awaken the spiritual world through focused meditation. 

Excluding everything material, from thought to pleasure to wealth, it is possible to connect with a celestial realm that extends the earthly experience into boundless potential. By these actions, an undefinable awesomeness perfects and completes the worldly existence. 

A new appreciation and heightened awareness accompanies the resumed terrestrial pursuits when the Sabbath ends. Now the Heavenly and Earthly realms work together for our benefit.

By remembering the Sabbath Day, we enter a world of spirituality which enhances and clarifies mortal life. It pulls that life beyond its physical limitations. It relieves the angst from fear and death. It rings a note of harmony to the chaos and confusion. 

Adding the spiritual dimension to our lives resolves the questions posed by the senses. Every enquiry that humans pursue eventually leads to a “Why?” The more this question is asked, the closer we approach to an answer that transcends reason, logic, and science. The ultimate solutions to all queries are understood in the light of the celestial component of this physical universe. Bringing the soul and body together is the path.