The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
“Shulevitz has achieved something nearly impossible. She has written a book about the Sabbath that is truly singular.”—Momentmagazine "This book will make you think differently abouttime, religion and your job. Read it on a Saturday or a Sunday or a weekday, but do read it."—AJ Jacobs, author ofThe Year of Living Biblically"The Sabbath Worldis not merely riveting, wise and at times breathtakingly beautiful, it just might change your life." —Jonathan Safran Foer"One of the many wonders of this beautiful and necessary book is that it manages to explore the meaning of the Sabbath with clarity and erudition, and simultaneously to awaken in the reader a deep longing for something that lives beyond words. What a pleasure to find a book written with the headandthe heart."—Jonathan Rosen, author ofThe Talmud and the Internet"Many times while reading this book, I wished I had written it myself. It is enlightening and comforting to see that someone else has struggled with the Sabbath as I have—with the impossibility of removing oneself from the current of modern life, and with the equal impossibility of being forever caught in that current. Shulevitz's history of the Sabbath in Jewish and Christian traditions is thorough and honest, recalling the social and moral force that underlies our understanding of time, no matter how secular we consider ourselves to be. This is a story of impossibilities—and of why, in our hyper productive world, the impossible is exactly what we need."—Dara Horn, author ofAll Other Nights"Someone once told me that Judith Shulevitz is the smartest writer in New York today. The Sabbath Worldcontains all her formidable intelligence: It’s learned, thoughtful, and elegant.  But it’s also much, much more.  The writing is compassionate, revealing, and deeply personal. The Sabbath Worldis destined to become a modern-day classic."—Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the BibleandAmerica’s Prophet "This is a book that speaks to us all as we struggle to secure time in a frantic world. Melding history, religion, and culture with illuminating personal insights, Judith Shulevitz provides a path to a more balanced and fulfilling type of life."—Jerome Groopman, M.D., Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School, author ofAnatomy of HopeandHow Doctors Think"What a brilliant idea. InThe Sabbath World, culture critic Judith Shulevitz (Slate, theNew York Times) addresses the philosophical idea of the Sabbath from both a personal and a collective point of view. Part history, part meditation, the book delves into the Sabbath in Judaism and Christianity while invoking a wealth of nonreligious sources, from William Wordsworth to Sigmund Freud. Ultimately, The Sabbath Worldsuggests, the Sabbath offers a way to live outside of time, even for a day a week—an act not just of renewal but of resistance in an obsessively over-scheduled and over-networked world."—Los Angeles Times