A cure for
nomophobia is offered in the Bible’s commandment to observe a Sabbath day by
turning off, tuning out, and unplugging once a week. It was an unprecedented
concept in the ancient world with potent relevance in postdigital culture. Put
your smartphones, computers, and tablets to sleep. Just tune in to God’s
creations, enjoy family and friends, walk in the forest and fields, watch the
sunrise and sunset, and play with your children.
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| My granddaughter Elianne playing Shabbat Queen |
Adopt the
formula instituted millennia ago to free the Israelites from their enslavement
in Egypt to free you from the being enslaved by the ubiquitous digital
technologies that too often rule all of our waking hours. The fourth of the Ten
Commandments enjoins us to remember what it was to be a slave who never had a
break from the repetitive sameness of everyday life (Deuteronomy 5:12–15).
Make
every seventh day Shabbat, different from the other six days of the week. Make it
an Ecology Day by leaving the world the way we got it. Make it a Non-Art Day
when we honor God’s creations rather than ours. Observance of Shabbat is in
tune with Wikipedia’s definition of postdigital as “an attitude that is
more concerned with being human, than with being digital.”
Shabbat was
given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai as a gift to share with all humanity, a
gift particularly valuable to everyone in our fastpaced postdigital world. In
his seminal book The Sabbath: Its Meaning to Modern Man, Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that observing Shabbat invites us to become
attuned to holiness in time rather than living in the tyranny of space, both
real and virtual. “It is a day in which we are called upon to share what is
eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of
creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.”
As the sun
sets on Friday, Miriam lights Shabbat candles, closes her eyes to her busy
week, and blesses God, sovereign of the universe, who bestows upon us a good
and long life. On opening her eyes, she sees calming candle light ushering in a
day qualitatively different from all the other digital days of the week. My
wife and I celebrate Shabbat with a thanksgiving dinner, not once a year in
November, but every week. We enjoy our growing family of children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren singing together around our table. The
table is covered with a tablecloth embroidered by my mother and a challah cover
embroidered by my wife’s mother, illuminated by the warm glow of the Shabbat
candles. Until stars dot the Saturday-night sky, we are invited to keep our eyes
opened to everyday miracles of being.
One day each
week, stop doing, stop making, just enjoy being alive. Delight in all that
happens around you. Don’t seek out things to frame and shoot. Let them be.
Shabbat is a Divine gift to all people for all time. You are invited to observe
Shabbat as a powerful way to free you from being enslaved by technological
wizardry.
On the eighth day, return with renewed energies to being partners
with God in the continuing creation. Enjoy being immersed in the amazing
technological wonders of our era, knowing that you are free to tune out, turn
off, and unplug on the next Shabbat.
(The
above is an excerpt from the book Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights forSmartphone Photography and Social Media by Mel Alexenberg)
