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The day the world “gets” Shabbos.
Went to shul this morning for the first time, well, since Simchas Torah. (shh…)
And it was SO lovely, with all the stores closed and, at least first thing in the morning, no traffic on Eglinton. It felt almost, almost like Shabbos, in a way that Shabbos here rarely does.
With all the blogs I read and facebook and everything, I see glimpses into many people’s lives who have very different lifestyles from us.
The fun thing this week has been watching everybody prepare frantically – just the way I do every time every single yom tov rolls around – heck, every single Shabbos.
Lists of holiday food, family, sleeping and travel arrangements, rushing to get everything done – kids in the way, bouncing off the walls, needing baths, showing off special clothes.
And something that doesn’t occur to the rest of the world on a regular basis: there are absolute deadlines, which must be respected.
I realize that they don’t have to stop cooking or stop baking or whatever at sunset or midnight or anything, but there is a deadline for buying presents, for shopping, for cooking and serving a holiday meal at a reasonably appropriate time.
If nothing else, religious Jews are masters of the absolute deadline. Shabbos, Yom Tov – we sweat, we scream, but we also know there’s no negotiating.
Today, I went around thinking of Xmas as the day that maybe, just maybe, they “get” us.
My husband was commenting on this after walking back from shul this morning. He noted that there were practically no cars on the road, and it really made it feel like Shabbos. It was really nice.
ReplyDeleteHuh. Interesting insight about the deadlines and limits.
ReplyDeleteI once explained to a colleague that I cook the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner for ten every week. She thought I was nuts.
Try telling your colleague about a 3-day yom tov!!! ;-)))
ReplyDelete