41–50 of 285 posts
"The Sabbath’s radicalism should be no surprise given the fact that it originated among a community of former slaves" Just a reminder to readers, there is no historical evidence for the mass jewish enslavement by egyptians as described in the torah.
Kind of have this in Germany, where many businesses are prohibited from being open on Sunday. For example, grocery stores can't be open unless they're at a central train station or airport. In practice, to me it just feels really annoying and limiting. Means I basically have to plan any larger shopping trips for Saturday, even if that doesn't work well for my schedule. I get that they want to make sure workers have e…
As a student in Cambridge MA in the late 70s, very few stores were open on a Sunday. I often played rugby matches on Saturday and I remember having to often find a few hours in the afternoon free of classes when I could do various shopping. Just an anecdote but you don't have to go back to the truly distant past to find the vast majority of stores closed on Sunday.
a pharaonic economy driven by anxiety begets violence, dishonesty, jealousy, theft, the commodification of sex and familial alienation. None of these had a place in the Torahic economy, which was driven not by anxiety but by wholeness, enoughness. In such a society, there was no need to murder, covet, lie, commit adultery or dishonour one’s parents. Lol. All of that existed in the torahic economy. It never ceases to…
He's not idealizing the past. Keep reading: "It is unknown if these radical commandments were ever followed to the letter." The "Torahic economy" as referenced by the author in this context is clearly the _idea_ of an economy that does follow the ideals of the Torah. The way things played out in reality could more accurately be referenced as the "Hebrew economy" or something like that.
If a torahic economy is only an idea... then why use it as an example at all. We know that's not how it played out in practice.. He holds the current economy to reality, but the torahic economy only to an idea. We aren't striving for violence and murder either... they exist, just like they would exist in a torahic economy too.
"The Sabbath’s radicalism should be no surprise given the fact that it originated among a community of former slaves" Just a reminder to readers, there is no historical evidence for the mass jewish enslavement by egyptians as described in the torah.
https://reformjudaism.org/were-jews-slaves-egypt
Last paragraph: "In short, the biblical writers invented the idea that the Israelites lived in Egypt in order to impel them to maintain their distinctiveness in Canaan. And the story of servitude in Egypt is an allegory of servitude to Egypt. Our ancestors, among others, did perform forced labor for Egyptian taskmasters, but they were never slaves in Egypt."
I wonder how our concepts of work and rest have changed over time? Is tending to your home, family, or garden considered work?
Kind of have this in Germany, where many businesses are prohibited from being open on Sunday. For example, grocery stores can't be open unless they're at a central train station or airport. In practice, to me it just feels really annoying and limiting. Means I basically have to plan any larger shopping trips for Saturday, even if that doesn't work well for my schedule. I get that they want to make sure workers have e…
As we live in a society, it makes sense to have a common day of rest - consider that schools, hospitals, public transit etc. are also resting. Plus your family and friends.
Pretty sure two out of three of those aren't really resting. You think hospitals stop working or trains stop running?
> it makes sense to have a common day of rest
Eh, nah. I'm mostly a social democrat, and I'd be all for better worker protections in general in the US, but I haven't heard any socialists or labor advocates pushing for "oh yeah, let's pick one day and force everyone to have it off". If nothing else, in the US this would be seen as a pretty gross abrogation of separation of church and state to make it Sunday (and every other day of the week would be even less practical).
People should absolutely have time off, but I think being more flexible is generally preferable.
The article raises good points about the need for formal societal taboos against constant work. The ideal (often violated, though) in our modern society of the "40-hour week" as a reasonable amount is one of them. Having regular times for contemplation and separation from the bustle of the world is important. The gig economy has dangers in it. There's a liberating aspect in that people "can choose their own hours," b…
> I do wish, though, that the article fully grappled with the issue of the 'shabbos goy.' It praises the virtues of having everyone able to participate in a time of separation from work, but then there's this practice where the conveniences of life are still indulged in by having an outsider labor for you. I'd say the traditional Christian concept of the sabbath is looser and doesn't really require this kind of thing…
In effect I'd say that it is an attitude more
concerned with the spirit and less with the
letter of the law (so, for instance, I don't
think turning on the light is an issue, and
putting money on the table for someone to
take isn't actually adhering to the
prohibition on commerce).
There are definitely times when it's tough. A tight deadline is coming up at work and Friday's sundown is just hours away. But I plan around those things and I find that on the whole, having a day (completely) off of work relaxes me a ton.
These days, technology is literally built to be addictive. I'm sure there are people who resist checking their phones, writing emails at 2am and reading hacker news better than I do, but I think the majority of people would benefit from an occasional day away from these things.