This week in our fall Introduction to Judaism course, we dove into the Hebrew Calendar and the way it has developed over time. We looked at the Hebrew months, the holidays, and the way we count the years as the Sages did, by dating back to the creation of the world. Together, we explored questions about what makes Jewish time so special and attempted to find some possible answers.
Sacred time, space, and ritual can perhaps be best visualized through our havdalah service that ends Shabbat, when we extinguish the havdalah candle and mark the separation between Shabbat and the rest of the week. If Shabbat is one day of the week, that makes the majority of our week not sacred, almost acting as a subtle reminder to us of the mundanity of everyday life.
But the idea of sacred time doesn’t have to be limited to the expectations set by ancient text and tradition that seemingly expect all other time to be unremarkable. Rather, sacred time can be described as time set apart from the everyday with intentionality behind how we mark it.
Every day, I wake up and walk my dog, Ariyeh. I used to immediately put one headphone in my ear as we headed out on our route. One morning, I realized I left my headphones behind. As I walked around my neighborhood for the next 30 minutes without music or an audiobook, I realized how much I had been tuning out around me. Since this day a few months ago, I have intentionally left my headphones behind and just walked with Ariyeh. This time might not be typically defined as “sacred,” but it enables me to slow down and experience the world around me with fewer distractions, something that doesn’t happen as I go about my day. Some mornings, I’ll say the Morning Blessings as I walk, explicitly thanking God for the new day. Others, I simply listen to the sounds of the birds and the cars, being more attentive to the world around me.
Finding time to pause can be a challenge. We are often pulled in too many directions to count, making it feel impossible to even consider adding something to our to do list. I hope you’ll join me in finding a moment, even just one, to explore the possibility of a sacred moment in time.
– Yael Farber, Rabbinic Intern