Pressures to be productive, sixty to eighty hour work weeks as the norm, technology that tethers us to work 24/7; all of these things might make us long for a day of rest. Historically, the Sabbath provided that fulfillment. Often as a religious observance, but sometimes it was just simply a day of getting outside of ourselves and coming together as part of a community.
This is the backdrop of a new memoir by Judith Shulevitz, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time. Judith is a literary critic, a former New York Times and Slate columnist and her new book allows a different view of how we spend of leisure time.
My conversation with Judith Shulevitz: