The Mystery of Shabbos: Shabbat Rediscovered

Product Description

In THE MYSTERY OF SHABBOS, Rav Pinson delves into the transformative power of Shabbos.

With an all-encompassing perspective that ranges from the literal, Pshat observation and Halachic implications of the texts, to the allegorical, the philosophical, and finally, to the deeper secrets as revealed by Kabbalah and Chassidus, creating an elegant tapestry of thought and experience.

THE MYSTERY OF SHABBOS is a profound meditation on the meaning of Shabbos

and demonstrates the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual possibilities available and given to us with the gift of Shabbos.

Studying and contemplating this inspired text on the depths of Shabbos will unveil a redemptive light in your experience of the Seventh Day — and by extension, every day of your life.

From the Inside Flap

Shabbos is one of the great wonders of the world. The weekly “day of rest” is a universally acknowledged phenomenon, but one that is not easily understood or explained. On the one hand, it appears that Shabbos is simply one day out of the seven-day weekly cycle dedicated for “down-time.” This simple idea of an alternating rhythm of work and rest
is nearly ubiquitous across cultures;
in fact, all current civilizations celebrate, in one form or another, some type of rest during the course of the seven-day cycle of the week. And yet, there is an obvious but profound mystery in this. Why is there such a thing as a seven day cycle, punctuated by a period of rest, in the first place?

A
solar calendar follows the
objectively experienced cycle of
seasons, while a lunar calendar follows the
more subtle
phases of the moon, which have no overt bearing on the seasons or weather. Both the concepts of years, defined by the solar circuit, and months, as determined by the waxing and waning of the moon,

are innate to the
mechanical
rhythms of
nature
. They are each
tied to
astrological
phenomena that all cultures observe, and all people experience
. But where do weeks come from? Why does a week exist at all? And why
specifically
a seven day week, which seems to have no astrological nor seasonal reason behind it, n
or any basis in a universally observable phenomenon
? 

The short answer is that weeks originate in a Divine mandate, based on a sacred
view
of time.
It is the
Torah, in the narrative of Creation, which reveals
the existence
of that which we call a week. In fact, the only possible reason and purpose for a specifically seven-day weekly cycle is a meta-physical, Torah-based reason and purpose. And yet, the seven day week is embedded in human consciousness to the point that all known civilizations measure time in this way. 

By delving deeper into the spiritual nature of the weekly cycle, and through understanding Shabbos as the meta-root of the week, we will come to appreciate more deeply the power and magic that is Shabbos. We will then be able to open ourselves more fully in order to connect to the essence of this most simple yet profound and mysterious day.

From the Back Cover

Shabbos Means ‘to Return’

The word Shabbos shares a root with Shev/ sit or settle. On Shabbos we Shuv /return (which also has the same letters) to a state of stillness, silence andcalmness of spirit. It is not what we do on Shabbos that defines it, rather, itis in the non-doing; refraining from action reveals its true essence.

Time is movement, and weekdays are all about externalized processes and productions. Shabbos is the state of having arrived at the destination, allowing for increased inwardness and reflection. This stillness is the essential Nekudah/ point within all movements. When we enter the innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, in which the service was done in complete silence, there is no more room to move, nowhere else to go and nothing to do. In other words, when we enter into Shabbos, we have arrived.

Movement, creativity, and ‘doing’generates sound and noise; ‘being,’ on the other