A humorous email was distributed this past week that compiled a “true dictionary” for the those working in the non-profit sector. Some examples from the email: If you see a job description that says, “Looking for a self-directed individual” that really means, “We don’t have enough staff to pull off this plan, so you’ll be on your own to get the stuff done we hire you for.” Or if you see a job description that lists, ‘Must be a self-starter” that means, “Expect zero training, support, or real buy-in from the organization on your project. And you must be able to raise your own salary.”
And then this one, which certainly is true in the for-profit sector as well, “flexible work hours” which really means, “You may work whatever hours you like, as long as they add up to 60 hours per week.”
Those “flexible hours” – it doesn’t matter when they occur so long as a full sixty hours of work takes place. The advantage of a work place with flexible hours are obvious. Employees are able to devote more time to their professions when they are given the flexibility to choose which hours they work and when. And there is an advantage to all of us as human beings who aren’t only someone else’s employee and we want the flexibility to step away from work during the hours when we have other things to accomplish. We can pursue other priorities and other interests and also get our work done…so long as we put in the requisite sixty hours.
The flaw in the “flexible work hours” system was explained by journalist Judith Shulevitz in her 2011 book “The Sabbath World.” Fully flexible work hours assume, “that time is, like money, a pure quantity to be divided and spent at will.” But Shulevitz claims:
“One minute is not exactly like every other minute, because time changes as it flows. Time is qualitative as well as quantitative. The when of time – its after what or before what or at the same time as what – matters as much as, if not more than, its how much… We know all this intuitively, because we would have no social or professional lives if we didn’t…”
We understand this, more than intuitively, because Shabbat serves as a weekly reminder that there is a quality of time and not just a quantity of time. On a very deep level, something is different about Shabbat. Our calendar, the cycle of Shabbatot and yamim tovim make certain times special. Think of late afternoon on Yom Kippur in the final minutes of Ne’ilah. Think of the sunrise on Shavuot morning after a night of communal Torah study. Think of a group of friends gathered around a Shabbat table hearing kiddush on Friday night. Time is so much more than quantity. Time has a quality to it as well.
“Flexible work hours” and modern communication technology have obscured the qualities of time. We answer work emails on our phones late at night sitting in bed, and we shop for shoes online sitting at our office desks. We find it harder to focus in an effective way at work and it is harder to focus on our families and on ourselves when we are home. We become less sensitive to the qualitative aspects of time and adopt an attitude of “work as many hours as you like as long as they add up tot 60 hours per week.”
And this is true on a collective level as well. In 2014 the journal Sociological Science published a paper called “Time as a Network Good: Evidence from Unemployment and the Standard Workweek.” This paper demonstrated that even those who were unemployed and had no jobs were more relaxed on the weekend because that’s when their friends and families were home from work and able to spend time with them. On Monday mornings, their friends and families went off to work, leaving the unemployed feeling the same Monday morning blues as those still in the workforce.
The quality of time is a “network good,” even something as basic as relaxing on a weekend is only valuable if we all do it together.
And that idea can be seen in this week’s Torah portion.
שֵ֤שֶת יָמִים֙ תַעֲשֶ֣ה מַעֲשֶ֔יָ ובַי֥ום הַשְבִיעִ֖י תִשְבֹ֑ת לְמַ֣עַן יָנ֗וחַ שֽורָ֙ וַחֲמֹרָ֔ וְיִנָפֵ֥ש בֶן־אֲמָתְָ֖ וְהַגֵֽר׃
Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
The Torah tells us that we are to observe Shabbat for a purpose. That purpose is for our animals to rest and relax, and for our servants and the strangers to be refreshed – va’yinafash – for their spirits to be revived.
The Seforno points out that the Torah is presenting the respite and revival of the servants as a corollary to the householder’s Shabbat observance.
Some years ago Rabbi Shimon Felix helped me to understand the dynamic that the Seforno is describing. It is possible for some segments of society, those who are prosperous and privileged, those with a high socio-economic status to enjoy a day of leisure in a way that prevents those with a lower status from experiencing a day of rest. If I go to the beach or to the theater, or drive to a restaurant for a day of leisure, then lifeguards, waiters and cooks, gas station attendants and others will need to be at work.
In the United States we have seen this dynamic on display in recent years as the commercialism of “Black Friday” has encroached into Thanksgiving. Some stores now advertise the convenience of being able to shop on Thanksgiving night while some observers worry about those who are employed at these stores who no longer have a chance to celebrate a full holiday.
The Torah tells all of us to observe Shabbat – not as a day of leisure but as a day of rest – in order to ensure that everyone in our society has a day for our spirits to be revived. This is consistent with the rest of Parashat Mishpatim which introduces one mitzvah after another that regulate interpersonal interactions between people with an emphasis on protecting those who are most vulnerable. This is true for the Torah in economic mitzvoth and it is also true in the ritual mitzvot. Mitzvot are not good deeds, they are not a tool for personal development, they are ways to organize Jewish society in a collective way around common values. Shabbat is a tool of public policy no less than the Torah’s economic laws.
There is no value to quantity of time without paying attention to the quality of time. All time is not created equal and a day of rest for everyone allows everyone to have a day of rest.
There can also be no investment in quality time without a quantity of time designated and protected for a specific purpose.
When Sara and I first started working at Princeton we were confused by the way some of the students spoke about the Friday night dinner that took place at Hillel. They called the dinner “Shabbat.” As in, “are you going to Shabbat this week?” “Why don’t you come with me to Shabbat this week.” We were confused: Shabbat isn’t a place! Shabbat isn’t a program – it’s a full day of the week!
But, in time we came to understand and appreciate the significant amount of work, on the part of students and staff, that turned the meal into something that hundreds of students valued and were excited about. There was a “network effect” to the value of Shabbat. Because it was special to some, it could be special to others. And that communal scale allowed individuals to make Shabbat into a uniquely special day for each of them in ways that made sense to their own lives and goals.
And that same chance, thankfully, exists for all of us. As a group there is enough critical mass here of people who have bought into the idea of Shabbat, that each one of us can make the investment to take that quantity of time and give it a truly special quality.
Shabbat is an opportunity to escape the distractions of technology and the pervasive and pernicious creep of work into our personal lives. We can set goals for ourselves that require quantity of time and those goals can give Shabbat a quality that sustains us for an entire week.
We can use Shabbat to cultivate friendships. Those friendships can grow from a around chess board or from over a book in the beit midrash, or from a walk in the park.
We can use Shabbat to read – not a short magazine article on our phones, or a 140 character tweet, but a book, with a sustained and developed argument, or a novel with character development! (Remember those?)
We can share meals with friends and with family without the need to look at our watches and wonder where we have to be next. We can look into the eyes of the people we are seated across from at the table without FOMO – wondering where else we could be and what else we could be doing.
And, the shul’s programming on Shabbat: kiddush and shalosh seudos each week, afternoon shiurim in the spring and summer, Dr. Kranzler’s parsha discussions are all ways to help you make Shabbat special. The shul is here to be a partner for you. Please approach us – any of us in the shul leadership. We can’t know all of the ways that we can be your partners, but we are ready and eager to help you make Shabbat as special as it can be.
And…in just a few moments, we can rise, and without phones buzzing in our pockets or deadlines weighing on our minds, recite the Mussaf amidah and give voice to the sacred potential of this day.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 