The what and the why…writes Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
Everything we do in our daily routine includes two components – what we do and why we do it. Both are critically important.
Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
To know why we engage in any activity without actually implementing it is pointless and meaningless. To know why it’s important to be kind and compassionate without practical application, or to understand the value of health with no exercise and healthy eating habits, is useless and has no valuable outcome.
But the opposite is also true. Doing something without any understanding or appreciation of its value and purpose is empty and shallow and often leads to misguided or misdirected conduct.
The distinction between Shabbat and the week, is the difference between ‘doing’ and ‘being’. For six days we create, change, achieve and accomplish. On Shabbat we stop and pull back from the weekday projects (the work that is prohibited on Shabbat is not hard labour but rather creative activity). On Shabbat we stop ‘doing’ so that we can just ‘be’ to reflect on and absorb the meaning and purpose of our existence. Both are so important.
During the week we do – on Shabbat we stop, reflect, study, think and connect to why we do.
In honour of The Shabbat Project
