Do you keep the Sabbath?

[KrazyHorse]

I like boozing, playing video games, browsing Poly etc. more than I'd like not doing those things with my free time.

I have a low threshold for boredom.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


But if I declare cooking to be work for others, then I have to cook the day before.

Thats right. You can have cold food for your main shabbos meal. Or you can cook a food that can be left warming in the oven overnight - ergo, the joy of cholent (note - food preparation that doesnt involve heating is not necessarily considered "work")

Cholent
http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj/ca...tegory=CHOLENT


A recipe:
"Cholent for Saturday
Cholent is the answer to serving a hot midday meal on Saturday when restrictions against cooking on the Sabbath are observed. In this version, the cholent can be half-cooked and left to bake overnight in the oven or can be slowly cooked overnight in a crock pot.
1 cup dry baby lima beans
1 cup dry white beans (navy)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Water
2 onions, finely chopped
2 1/2 lb. beef chuck roast or brisket, with fat, cut into 4 to 6 large chunks
2/3 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup dry lentils
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 bay leaf
6 small red or white potatoes, well scrubbed
About 7 cups boiling water


The day before serving the cholent, put lima and white beans in pot with water to cover by two inches. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes; remove from heat and soak 1-3 hours. Drain beans well. In a 8-quart pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil, then cook the onions until light brown. Add the meat to pot and brown. Add the soaked beans, barley, lentils, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, ginger and bay leaf. Put the potatoes on top. Add water until almost covered, less than 1 inch. Over medium heat, bring the cholent to a boil; then cover and place in a preheated 350° oven. Bake for 1 hour, then lower temperature to 250° and bake overnight (12 to 15 hours). Do not stir while cooking. Serve the cholent in soup bowls.

In a crock pot: Brown the onions and meat in a skillet, then transfer to a crock pot with the remaining ingredients. Cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then turn heat to LOW and cook overnight."

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


But if I declare cooking to be work for others, then I have to cook the day before.

I know Jews that do this. They also don't use electricity or phones...

[Ben Kenobi]

the notion that an all-powerful being wants us to rest one out of seven days...

What's more incomprehensible? That he would want us to do this, or the statement, "on the seventh day he rested?"

[Ben Kenobi]

Thats right. You can have cold food for your main shabbos meal. Or you can cook a food that can be left warming in the oven overnight - ergo, the joy of cholent (note - food preparation that doesn't involve heating is not necessarily considered "work")

Usually my approach on Sundays, but I do go out with friends on occasion to eat, and for fellowship.

Still, it seems too legalistic for me, getting away from the day of rest.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I like boozing, playing video games, browsing Poly etc. more than I'd like not doing those things with my free time.

I have a low threshold for boredom.

another great argument FOR shabbot - it gets you used to a slower pace. Helps break the video game and media addictions.

[Ben Kenobi]

They also don't use electricity or phones...

I use phones very reluctantly, so that's not a problem.

[Ben Kenobi]

For example, would it be sinful for us to serve Jews on their sabbath, and Jews to serve us on ours?

[KrazyHorse]

A devout Jewish maiden named Donna
Is extremely afraid she's a goner.
She was screwing one day
In each possible way,
Quite forgetting it was Rosh Hoshana.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Usually my approach on Sundays, but I do go out with friends on occasion to eat, and for fellowship.

Still, it seems too legalistic for me, getting away from the day of rest.

too much legalist minutae?? You need to read Heschel then. The jews spent hundreds of years adding curlicues of laws, customs and folkways, all interacting with each other, to make up what Shabbos is for us. Effort that certain OTHER people put into the minutae and curlicues of stone cathedrals, with interaction of architecture, sculpture, glass making, etc. Unfortunately you cant carry a cathedral with you on your back. Thus the Shabbos becomes " a cathedral in time". Just as every tiny gargoyle, every curlicue in stone or glass is an act of LOVE, so every detail of law, every little folkway that ties that law together, is an expression of LOVE for the giver of the Shabbat.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


I use phones very reluctantly, so that's not a problem.

A:who would call us on shabbos?
B: no one, unless its an emergency, oh no, somethings happened to my parents, go pick up the phone
A. No, theyre stricter than we are, it must be your friend becky, she has no manners ....
B: wait, the caller ID says its a telemarketer
A.h

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


another great argument FOR shabbot - it gets you used to a slower pace. Helps break the video game and media addictions.

Addictions? I doubt it. I'm much closer to being addicted to alcohol than I am to being addicted to media.

I took a 5 month voluntaryish absence from this place, played perhaps 12 hours of video games total and as always watched zero TV from January to May when I was actually busy with school.

I just don't feel like sitting around for 16 hours a week navel-gazing when I could either be thinking about problems that have real solutions or enjoying myself with trivialities.

[lord of the mark]

=

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
For example, would it be sinful for us to serve Jews on their sabbath, and Jews to serve us on ours?

sinful? Such reciprocity would be the highest honor we could do to G-d.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm really pissed off that liquor stores aren't open on Sundays here.

[Jon Miller]

I don't have an issue with electricity

or doing needed chores

JM