A Shabbos for the World
Many times, as I would walk down the road from my university's Jewish Society, usually late, on a Friday night after a dinner and the inevitable hours of conversation, I would see passers-by gussied up in too-few clothes (and too much makeup) to catch the bus for a night out. That's not my speed anyway, but on the Sabbath it's something different; I am in my own world—a temple of the mind—where no work is done, because the world is already complete. There's no rushing, and there's certainly no bussing nor raving. I'm not saying it was always serene (no one could say religious Jews are too solemn after a Shabbos-farbrengen) but there is a rest from activity. I have long found that a strange feeling to be totally separate from someone stood just next to me, who really could not understand. To that, I'll return in a moment. As I write this, I am living in York, England, finishing a degree that I've been working at over the last 3 years. It seems u...