The Sabbath is a Bride

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The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The Sabbath

is a bride,

and its celebration

is like a wedding.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 5:  “Thou Art One”

Sure, I think sunsets are beautiful.  But the truth is I rarely notice them.  Within the past year, there have been a few times when I’ve looked up from my book while traveling home on the train, and I’ve seen the sun setting on the Delaware River.  And I’ve thought:  That really is pretty.  Hard to believe it happens every day!

However, most days I don’t look up.  To quote from a Jewish Sabbath prayer:

“Days pass,

Years vanish,

And we walk sightless among miracles.”

Miniature of the Shabbat kallah
(Sabbath bride or queen) from a
festival prayer book (mahzor).
From northern Italy, 1466.
From the British Library Catalogue
of Illuminated Manuscripts.

I hope things are changing in my life.  I’ve been noticing—and appreciating—sunsets more as I attempt to observe a Sabbath that begins on Friday at sunset and ends on Saturday at sunset.  (Note:  According to traditional Jewish protocol, I should light the candles at least 18 minutes before sunset on Friday and conclude on Saturday evening after sunset when the first three stars become visible in the sky.  This sounds like a very poetic protocol to follow.)

Lately, many people have written about the Celtic concept of special thin places on earth, like a mountaintop where we feel that earth is almost touching heaven. Making a distinction between space and time, Abraham Joshua Heschel might have countered that a mountaintop may be a thin place in space but the Sabbath is even more special because it is a thin place in time.  And, if that’s the case, wouldn’t sunsets be like gateways opening into heaven?

Most days, with my head buried in a book, I travel sightless among miracles.

In The Sabbath, Heschel writes about the ancient Jewish conception of the Sabbath as the bride and Israel as the groom.  He quotes Israel ben Joseph Alnaqua, a 14th century rabbi:

“Just as a bride when she comes to her groom is lovely, bedecked and perfumed, so the Sabbath comes to Israel lovely and perfumed…  just as a groom is dressed in his finest garments, so is a man on the Sabbath day dressed in his finest garments;  just as a man rejoices all the days of the wedding feast, so does man rejoice on the Sabbath;  just as the groom does not work on his wedding day, so does man abstain from work on the Sabbath day;  and therefore the Sages and ancient Saints called the Sabbath a bride.”

Lisa on our wedding day,
October 17, 1987.

For my observance of the Sabbath, I haven’t started dressing in my finest garments yet—I have that 21st century American love for t-shirt comfort that’s hard to override.  But I can embrace the beautiful metaphor of the bride, instantly recalling that moment more than 25 years ago when I saw Lisa in her wedding gown coming down the aisle at Salford Mennonite Church, “just as a bride when she comes to her groom is lovely...”  The Sabbath would be very special indeed to be like that.

Afterwards at the reception, Lisa danced with her father to one of her favorite songs.  It always makes her cry.

I’ll share it here:

Is this the little girl I carried,
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty,
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears.

“Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Music by Jerry Bock

“The Sabbath is a bride, and its celebration is like a wedding.”

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chapter 5:  “Thou Art One”

Detail of a miniature of the Shabbat bride under the huppah
(wedding canopy) and surrounded by her entourage.
From a festival prayer book (mahzor), from northern Italy, 1466.
From the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.

Reference Sources

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath Keeping by Lynne M. Baab

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn

A Day of Rest: Creating a Spiritual Space in Your Week by Martha Whitmore Hickman

© 2013 Lee Price