Thirty-nine work activities are prohibited on the Jewish Sabbath. There is a popular misconception that these restrictions give rise to an onerous, rule-ridden, joyless day. On the contrary, the experience of observant Jews is that these well-defined guidelines make possible, every seven days, the physical and spiritual renewal which modern men and women need.

Just visualise the feeling of liberation from the telephone, traffic-jams, dislocation and responsibility; imagine having the leisure to be within a few minutes of your home, available to your family, local friends and neighbours, able to absorb the details of the neighbourhood that you choose to live within, without the pressure to fix it, change it, resolve it, transform it; picture the periodic opportunity of carrying on a conversation with a friend, finishing a story with your child, or just staring into space without feeling that you are guilty of not using your time constructively. People pay a lot of money to go on structured weekends for this very purpose.

The universe is larger than my ego and its demanding needs. I am part of a community of creatures and substances whose significance goes far beyond my own existence. I feel awe and humility when I stand still in such a spectacular theatre of reality. My attention is directed to the preservation of this environment of which I am a part.

On the Sabbath we experience time in a new way. This requires us to change social and psychological habits. Taking a bath, making a change of clothes, setting the table decoratively, responding to the schedule of the sunset rather than the timepiece - these are aids to the difficult task of changing spiritual gear. "Six days shall you labour and do all your work" (Ex 20:8).

The sages of the tradition humorously ask: is it possible for a human being to do all his/her work in six days? To which they answer: rest on the Sabbath as if all your work were done. This capacity to shift one's mental and spiritual state from doing to being is the crux of the Sabbath programme and long may it remain so.

Rabbi Tzvi Marx