JustASC

Sundown marks the “National Day of Unplugging,” an effort by the folks at the Jewish think-tank Reboot to get people ”to recharge themselves by not using computers, cell phones, or any technology for 24 hours, from sundown, Friday, March 19, to sundown, Saturday, March 20.”

It’s part of an effort to promote their Sabbath Manifesto, “a modern-spin on the ancient notion of a day of rest.”

I observe the Sabbath, so I’m already sold on the idea (in fact, when I worked for CLAL, I had a similar idea for a secular technology Shabbat, but it never got off the ground — probably because I didn’t tell anybody else. Damn you, interior monologues that I think everyone can hear!).

Shabbat is a great weekly vacation in and from time — come sundown Friday, I almost hear a gate clanking shut behind me, separating me from all the shmutz of the work week as I step into a haven free from my public obligations. Friday nights we move dinner from the kitchen to the dining room, dress up a little, linger over a multiple-course meal, take a walk when it’s done. The kids are off the computers; I resist the temptation of TV. This may nauseate you a little, but we often spend the night playing a family card game. If someone were to ask me to define “success,” I might say it’s the ability and luxury to, no matter what else is going on in your life, carve out four hours a week that look exactly like that.

I’m in shul on Saturday mornings, but I don’t feel shul-going makes Shabbat Shabbat (although I do like the weekly opportunity to commune with my people). The Shabbat Manifesto boils it down to the basics. If you heed them, you’ll find that the simplest ideas can sometimes be the best:

– Avoid technology,

– Connect with loved ones,

– Nurture your health,

– Get outside,

– Avoid commerce,

– Light candles,

– Drink wine,

– Eat bread,

– Find silence and

– Give back.