There’s something magical about Shabbat. No matter how crazy Friday gets, once the sun starts setting, everything shifts. When we light the candles and say the blessings, it’s like all the stress from the week just… dissolves. There’s this peace that settles in that you can almost feel.
This isn’t random. When God finished creating the world, the Torah says:
God doesn’t get tired, obviously. But He gave us this model – this blueprint for how to live.
The commandment is clear:
Shabbat completely changes how we exist. For six days a week, we work. We’re constantly trying to control and shape everything around us. Meetings, emails, cooking, errands, the never-ending to-do list. But Friday night? We stop. We step into a different way of being, where instead of trying to change the world, we just appreciate it as it is.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called Shabbat a “palace in time.” It’s not a physical place – it’s a sacred space that exists in time itself. When you enter it, you feel the shift. By stepping away from all the creating and doing – putting down our phones, leaving work behind – we get to experience the world as whole and complete, right now.
The Friday night Kiddush calls Shabbat “zecher l’ma’aseh bereishit” – a remembrance of Creation. When we stop our creative work, we’re acknowledging something important: the world keeps going without us constantly intervening. And there’s something deeply peaceful in that realization. We don’t have to control everything. There’s already perfection in what exists.
That’s why the stress melts away on Friday evening. It’s not just about stopping work. It’s about connecting to this truth: that there’s holiness in simply being, not doing. In appreciating what is, not constantly trying to change it. In being present rather than productive. What we feel is our soul recognizing this harmony that’s been there since the beginning of time.
This weekly moment of peace isn’t just in our heads – it’s part of what God promised when He created the world. When we keep Shabbat, we’re doing more than following a commandment. We’re syncing up with the fundamental rhythm of the universe, experiencing time the way it was meant to be experienced, and letting ourselves feel the peace that God built into creation itself. Every Shabbat is a return to that original harmony, a glimpse of something eternal in the middle of our everyday hectic lives.
To learn more about the transformative power of Shabbat, order Shabbat Revolution: A Practical Guide to Weekly Renewal today!
