Samantha Woolcock

12 November 2019
Dialogue Essay
Stress Suppressed by Shabbat
“‘The point is, where can a stressed-out society find regeneration and renewal?’
said the Rev. Rodney L. Petersen” (Wangsness 2). Regeneration and renewal are
immeasurable abstracts that can predict the quality of life in which is lived.
Regeneration is the ability to experience a refreshed, renewed view of this ever-
changing world. I often suffer the demands of everyday stressors of life such as
meeting my boss’s due dates, struggling with financial obligations, seamlessly trying to
piece together time with my loved ones while taking care of my own health, and trying to
escape the inevitable compiling of emotions leading to the all too common mental health
illnesses. Shabbat is an essential experience of regeneration and renewal of the soul
that I discovered through my personal practice.
As a Christian who naturally preserves the Sabbath day as holy with additional
worship, I became bewildered to learn about Shabbat, the Jewish religious practice of
rejuvenating the soul every day of Sabbath. Explicitly, I became baffled about how a
stressed-out society could even manage an entire day off each week. When I extracted
the time to ponder the commitment of an entire twenty-five hours without studying,
without working, and without chores, I began to encounter additional anxiety and stress.
This initial commitment began to produce the reverse effect that it was supposed to
instill within me.
Through my research on this pristine religious practice, I learned that Shabbat
means “rest” in Hebrew. Shabbat is on the seventh day, or Saturday, that God had
made in Bresheit, a book in the Torah. At sundown on Friday, women in Jewish
families commence to light two candles. Appropriately, the whole family joins in reciting
prayers and blessings. Shabbat is a time to reflect, relax, repay debt, go to synagogue,
and eat the best meal of the week with family and friends. A Havdalah ceremony where
the father of the family lights a braided candle and repeats four prayers at sundown on
Saturday concludes these sacred hours (Marks 3-5). As Judaism remains existent from
over a millennium ago, I have become convinced that it is in Shabbat, a commandment
and obligation from God, that holds the followers of Judaism faithful.
Preparing myself to practice Shabbat was a responsibility vaster than I could
have ever conceptualized. On Monday, I began to comprehensively research and
understand how exactly I could apply this ritual to my Christian college lifestyle. I
decided that instead of experiencing Shabbat as an Orthodox Jew, I would apply this
practice to my Christian theology and explore myself through my presence and values.
For example, instead of reading the Hebrew Bible, I read the Christian Bible, for I do not
speak Hebrew and desired to understand the practice of Shabbat while rediscovering
my viewpoints. As a dedicated student, to take an entire twenty-five hours of rest, I
recognized that I would have to study diligently throughout the entire working week.
Therefore, I got up at seven a.m. every day to complete schoolwork and secure at least
eight hours of studying in addition to classes each day. Also, instead of washing my
laundry on Friday night and following my standard routine, I completed it in advance.
With the workweek concluding, I swiftly tidied my room Friday afternoon so that way I
was altogether satisfied with my completed to-do list to allow my mind and soul ease
entering my first Shabbat.
This first complete day of rest that I had ever experienced was more challenging
than I imagined. Since I applied Jewish practices to my current lifestyle, I did not
commence or conclude the day of renewal with the lighting of candles as they are
prohibited from dormitory rooms. Additionally, I did not travel to the synagogue, or
mass for that matter, because Saint Joseph Chapel does not have it on Fridays or
Saturdays (“Campus Ministry”). However, Shabbat proved extraordinary in my self-
growth. Originally, the twenty-five hours with no work to keep me busy left me feeling
restless until I fell into a deep meditation. In reading my daily devotional, I felt as if I had
all the time in the world to soak up the meaning and depth of each word. As I read
about God’s love, I began to really embody it. With my mind at ease and my heart
opened for nourishment, I realized a deep passion that I had never experienced before.
This deep passion initiated by making my heart feel warm and full. Then, it prompted
me to grasp the meaning of my presence in this world. Even though I have explored
this concept more than ever since beginning college, I had never quite realized the
depth of God’s love for me when He personally chose my existence. This has become
some kind of miracle to me.
As I laid in my bed listening to the muffle of voices in the rooms encompassing
me, I began to love those people around me so deeply. I realized that God chose each
and every one of us to walk this earth. He chose to sacrifice His only son for the sins of
humanity, and once I realized and truly manifested that love from deep within my chest,
I began to finally truly explore myself and my values. With only hours into my first true
day of renewal, I was amazed at the sanctity of time. I realized that time is free, yet
priceless. Time itself comes at no cost, yet it can never be returned. I have concluded
that it is in the one thousand four hundred forty minutes in a day that I have to live out
my values through who I truly am. In these waking hours of the night, I found with the
burning passion inside my chest that my greatest value was love itself. As Shabbat is a
time for tranquility, it is a time to truly take myself away from the business of the world
that often engulfs me in the mundane. Often, I become disoriented with what I am even
living for while going through the motions of everyday life. With these drifting thoughts
as I fell into a slumber, I awoke with a mind so clear from negative thoughts.
It was on this Saturday morning that I decided to put my time toward my passion
for love and directly connect it to my family. Even though Oxford Jews would not have
touched their cell phone, I decided to since it was the only mode of communication with
my family from two hours away. I started by calling my mother and having a real
conversation with her. When I mention that I listened, I really listened. I did not
multitask. I did not fidget. I just really listened. After this experience with love
abounding from my chest, I found that frequently I get absorbed in worldly complications
such as school work and withdrawal time away from listening to my family and
undoubtedly caring about others. Secondly, I video called my brother. He is my best
friend, and I suddenly realized that I had no idea what he did yesterday or the day
before or even the day before that because I got too caught up in mundane stressors.
In the rest of the hours of this tranquil day, I read Scripture, prayed, and talked to my
friends on campus about their ultimate passion in which they try to center their lives. As
the sun began to set, I was slightly dreading having to deal with daily stressors the next
day and could not wait for Shabbat next week.
 As I experienced Shabbat for myself, I discovered that it was in these moments
of relaxation that my head began to clear and my muscles became less tense from the
release of stress. I perceived that as a member of this stressed-out world, I became
renewed in spiritually practicing a day of rest. This enabled me to undergo a better
following week due to the clarity of my mind and eagerness to prepare for the next
Sabbath. There is something to be said for Orthodox Jews that faithfully proclaim this
commitment. In a way, this dedication could give them the motivation to achieve so
much more out of their careers and life than those not experiencing a day of rest.
Shabbat required extensive preparation and resulted in more stress leading up to the
seventh day, but all said and done, I have never felt as grounded in myself and my
decisions as I did concluding those peaceful twenty-five hours. I remain convinced that
if the entire world accepted Sabbath as a spiritual day of regeneration and renewal,
society would be less stressed out.
 Works Consulted

“Campus Ministry.” Seton Hill University, 16 May 2019,

https://www.setonhill.edu/student-life/campus-ministry/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

Marks, Loren D., et al. “Sacred Practices and Family Processes in Jewish Context:

Shabbat as the Weekly Family Ritual Par Excellence.” Family Process, vol. 57,

no. 2, 2018, pp. 3-5. Medline, doi:10.1111/famp.12286. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

Wangsness, Lisa. “And on the Seventh Day, Many Don’t Rest at All.” Boston Globe

People, 2016. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.