Last week, I was pretty fried. Shabbat fried me, even. That’s not what it’s supposed to do. And most of what fried me was social media.
So, part of my Shabbat observance, as far as I can manage it for the next little while, will be to disconnect for those 25 hours. Apart from having my phone on for emergency messages from my partners, I will be absent from the Internet for most or all of Shabbat each weekend. So if you don’t see anything here from me on Friday after sundown until Saturday after sundown (Pacific time), that will be why.
Now as with all things Jewish, this is a practice. This means that I won’t be perfect at it, and that there may be times when I need to connect anyway, and I may find that it’s not for me after all. If my students have an online exam on Saturday, for example, I will have to be available to them so that anything that crashes can be put right back up. I am required to check my work e-mail once every day, so I will do that on Saturday mornings to make sure the fires are put out before they get too big to handle. But social media, blogging, chatting and texting will be off the table as much as possible on Shabbat proper. If I visit with people, I will visit in person.
I’ve been very pleased at the numbers on my stats page, as they keep going up by one or two new followers a day. I hope not to lose any of my readers if I skip a day once a week to observe Shabbat. But for me, Shabbat has to be about rest and regeneration and community and prayer, at least for now. I need one day a week that is between me and G-d.
I hope you understand.
Wrestling With God 