For the past year since March 2010, I went totally shabbas observant. I did not turn light switches, did not turn on the television and did not use my computer. I must say that I thought I was holy, but the only really big thing that I felt I had done in the past that really bothered me was driving a gas burning vehicle on Shabbas. I will now revise my ideas and I hope that by keeping an ultra orthodox shabbas for a year I can indeed gain some credibility in what are clearly ideas that no orthodox jew who loves to stay out of "trouble" will ever agree upon.
That said, it is shabbas right now and for the first time in a year, I am typing. I am not a rabbi by my training. I am a medical doctor/physician. My drive was science. The rabbis drive is platitudes. I do like the rabbis but I must say they are not scientists. They do not investigate life around us. They just want to make sure that they don't step on a dandilion here and there. I say that you can indeed step on the dandilions of life and I am here today to testify, this Shabbas morning on March 12, 2011 that it is indeed pleasant and righteous to have a life that doesn't involve being afraid of the life around you.
Ok that said, three people's comments about people keeping shabbas were ringing in my ears as threats rather than certainties that needed to be explored. I know a reform rabbi who is rumored to keep all televisions off in his home on shabbas (although he drives his massive SUV vehicle to shabbas prayers on Friday night). I know an israeli youth of the age of perhaps 26 today who someone lauded to me "he never uses his cellular phone on shabbas". And I know a woman who believes she is ultra observant though she is belittling and homophobic who says that "you better not look that up on your computer on shabbas". So I took all this in and for a year, I did not do these activities either.
I was busy on shabbas last week listening to the radio, an act that the ultra religious will tall you is un healthy as a Jew on shabbas. I found a CD of Miranda Lambert that I did not yet hear sitting on my collection case. I decided as if I was being pulled by a magnet from above that I was in fact going to listen to it at 4 pm on the end of Shabbas. I put it in and had a good day. I did not feel that I was really a bad guy. I knew that God was not mad at me. And I just wondered if I was going to truly be rested as a fully orthodox jew might be on shabbas for a true week of being creative.
I am happy to report that my past week was one of the most productive and creative experiences in my lifetime and I have written since Tuesday about 80 or more short stories which all felt blessed. If shabbas was violated, I reasoned, I might have been less than creative in a good week ahead. No go. I was still blessed with the words and ideas I needed to make money intellectually in the time ahead.
I don't think that my shabbas blessings are going to run out and I do believe that my own ways are ok.
I never felt that getting a non jew to open your electric hotel room for you to enter on shabbas was really going to endear us to the non jewish population. I never felt that a shabbas goy as they like to call it is a trust that we make as jews. If anything it discriminates against a non jew by electing him to be a lesser servant. That is heresy in my book.
So let me be clear. As of today, I will continue my online activities. I do not think I will make any purchases as money dealings I still believe to be paganism and indeed I have felt tribulation from doing so in the past.
I will indeed consider driving to synagogue again on shabbas if I ever get a fully electric car. That is a life energy and not the energy of burning a dead decaying item. This is life. This is not shabbas malevolence.
So bring it on. I'm back in a good element.
Today this attachment was confirmed to me when I had an idea of a long lost item that I wanted to see if I still owned. I knew it to be in the basement and I decided it was indeed ok to go do, turn on the lights and get the item. I did not find the item and it was truly garbage. But it my beleif that God gave me this inspiration to find a different more useful item.... a set of 'christmas' lights that somehow I had purchased for some reason long ago and never even took out of the case. I brought them up to my bedroom and decked out my bookcase where I keep my medical textbooks. It was a blessing and on Shabbas, I plugged them in and there was light. They are really neat and I was able to watch their reflection in the off television that I at that moment realized I was not going to turn on on shabbas.
But that said, I have revised even this idea. I believe it ok to turn on the television on shabbas and perhaps it is a mitzvah as well. The only problem is that it is secular and not a relious source of entertainment. But if you are considering the plight of those in Japan this morning who were just hit by an earth quake, you are a human being. To shut off all of the life around you on shabbas is in fact saying to Hashem that we Jews are better than the human beings that are somewhere else and everything in their day can wait until tomorrow.
So I then decided to call my brother who lives in China. He has known that for a year I have asked that he not call us on shabbas. I was quite militant about this idea but I did not mind after I realized that he indeed knew this was a right way to be. I do not believe you should call other Jews on shabbas, unless you realize that they do infact accept calls. This is becuase if you call someone who is not yet "there yet" in their true ability to perceive shabbas, you are going to seem like the "holocaust of the wicked" and that is a holocaust of the wicked if you are really knowing they would perceive it that way. So no calls to my uber seemingly religious friends, but I will call my brother and maybe a non orthodox friend who does not keep shabbas as holy as the others since he still drives on sabbath and does not get the laws of refraining from lighting a fire.
That said, I am also proud to announce that I made some coffee this morning in my electronic coffee maker with a heating element. No fire was lit and I was in the recipience of a warm cup of Joe. I did not do this either for a year though if mom or dad made coffee, I would partake. I will probably not do any crayon drawings or any pencil writing on shabbas still becuase this to me is creating a new image that was not previously created. That is a shabbas violation. But I will indeed type on a computer becuase it is not an image but an electronic display. This is essential to realize as this is a scientific discussion rather than a discussion of spirituality. And indeed shabbas is a time to rest and learn and lead your mind to water. But that said, I am typing quite a bit right now and I fully feel that God is on my side on this benevolent act.
So no crayon drawings, no painting I think at the easel. But internet painting? Ok with me. I have thought about these matters and I am not trying to start a revolution in the ultra orthodox world.... or am I .. I actually am. Be good and keep the sabbath. Do not work for a profit but do not go crazy trying to live under a rug because you really do not understand God and only you can prevent forest fires. Get it? Thanks!
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