Why Your "Digital Shabbat" Will Fail

For 25 hours each week, Jews are required to put aside all work related objects and activities. They are to abstain from activating any form of technological machinery, such as cars, televisions, computers, and phones. In fact, all devices that assist Jews in reaching out of themselves into the outer world and impacting it are off limits.

If you observe a sabbath, this feeling is not unfamiliar. You are well-acquainted with what others think of as the awkward restraints of just being . You understand its essential, restorative purpose — and marvel at others’ allergy to it. Why are we so terrified of stillness? To be still is an invitation to reckon with our smallness, our powerlessn