Effy’s Reviews > The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man > Status Update

The first section is fantastic. The rest of it kind of drags. I think you really only need to understand the first section.

"We cannot solve the problem of time through the conquest of space, through either pyramids or fame. We can only solve the problem of time through sanctification of time. To men alone time is elusive; to men with God time is eternity in disguise."

It seeks to displace the coveting of things in space for coveting the things in time, teaching man to covet the seventh day all days of the week. God himself coveted that day, He called it Hemdat Yamim, a day to be coveted.

To be sacred, a thing had to be consecrated by a conscious act of man.
“The day of the Lord” is more important to the prophets than “the house of the Lord.”
Nothing is essentially required save a soul to receive more soul.

"The day was a living presence, and when it arrived they felt as if a guest had come to see them. And, surely, a guest who comes to pay a call in friendship or respect must be given a welcome. It is, indeed, told of Rabbi Yannai that his custom was to don his robes on the eve of the Sabbath, and then address himself to the ethereal guest: “Come O Bride, Come O Bride.”"

Their destiny is to be the groom of the sacred day, the commandment to espouse the seventh day.
With all its grandeur, the Sabbath is not sufficient unto itself. Its spiritual reality calls for companionship of man... The six days stand in need of space; the seventh day stands in need of man. It is not good that the spirit should be alone, so Israel was destined to be a helpmeet for the Sabbath.

"After the work of creation was completed, the Seventh Day pleaded: Master of the universe, all that Thou hast created is in couples; to every day of the week Thou gavest a mate; only I was left alone. And God answered: The Community of Israel will be your mate."

"Rest on the Sabbath as if all your work were done. Another interpretation: Rest even from the thought of labor." A pious man once took a stroll in his vineyard on the Sabbath. He saw a breach in the fence, and then determined to mend it when the Sabbath would be over. At the expiration of the Sabbath he decided: since the thought of repairing the fence occurred to me on the Sabbath I shall never repair it.

"Fasting, mourning, demonstrations of grief are forbidden. The period of mourning is interrupted by the Sabbath. And if one visits the sick on the Sabbath, one should say: “It is the Sabbath, one must not complain; you will soon be cured.” Once must abstain from toil and strain on the seventh day, even from strain in the service of God."

"It is, therefore, a double sin to show anger on the Sabbath. “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day” (Exodus 35:3), is interpreted to mean: “Ye shall kindle no fire of controversy nor the heat of anger.” Ye shall kindle no fire—not even the fire of righteous indignation.'