“Shabbat is the Jewish tool to make sure we don’t misunderstand our place in the universe…

God gave mankind the power to manipulate and change the world. Because of this, we are easily lulled into thinking that we are in control of the world.

Then comes Shabbat… we step back from the world and make a statement to ourselves and humanity that we are not in charge of this world. We stop all creative work and acknowledge that it is God’s world, not ours…

Once we’ve extracted ourselves from the illusions of our own power and prominence… we free ourselves to reach out and experience the primary goal of Shabbat: getting in touch with God. …during the week, it only happens if we make a particular effort to partake of these experiences. We have to fight off the influences of the mundane workday in order to break through to the spiritual.

On Shabbat, however, the spiritual level of the world is intensified. God immerses us in a spiritual environment, and our perception of His closeness is heightened.

…We take advantage of the extra spirituality infused in the Shabbat day to focus on our spiritual goals, which we express through the prayer service, the learning of Torah, festive meals, and time spent with family and friends…”