Shabbat, Without it I Couldn't Survive

Wikipedia

I must thank my good friend Esther Revivo for this. She posted a lovely "gratitude" piece on facebook and gave me permission to repost it here:

"Short gratitude post for today: I am eternally grateful for having Shabbat a part of my life. It grounds me and is the center of my enter week. I spend the whole week gearing up for it- baking ahead of time; buying, preparing and freezing special foods for Shabbat. It is a warm, wonderful spiritual family day when my family is cut off from the media and everything digital. I feel my soul, spirit, mental and physical strength energized and connection to G-d renewed.Having lived the first 15 years of my life in a home without Shabbat observance, I never take this for granted. I love living in Israel where Shabbat is part of the national consciousness and I'm not considered strange for my actions. Thank you Hashem for this precious gift!"

Like Esther, I, too, wasn't raised with any familiarity to a traditional, Torah Jewish Shabbat. After close to half a century keeping Shabbat according to Torah Judaism aka Orthodox Judaism, I just can't imagine surviving life without it.

Shabbat is a chance to breathe. Sometimes it is a drop stressful getting everything done beforehand, before we light the Shabbat Candles and usher in the peacefulness. All the food must be cooked, light-switches set, floors cleaned, laundry washed. Only someone, like a doctor or police or in the military etc., may find him/herself disturbed on Shabbat.

Once you adjust to the cycle, getting everything ready on time isn't all that complicated.

We pray, we eat, we stay pretty close to home and we rest  physically, mentally, emotionally. We recharge our batteries to help us cope with the following week.

Thank G-d for giving us Shabbat!