Thought for the Week

Originally named Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp, in the 1930s a well-known chocolate bar was advertised as "the biggest little meal" and "the best companion to a cup of tea". By 1939, it was depicted as a culinary essential, with the slogan "what active people need". During the 1940’s, production methods advanced, so that there was an audible 'snap' when the chocolate bar was broken in half. In the 1950’s, the chocolate was rebranded as a teeny bit of luxury, a moment of rest; hence the famous slogan: "Have a break... have a Kit Kat". The clever marketing made a person feel that they deserved the chocolate bar, having worked hard enough to earn a break.

Three thousand years earlier, a slave nation stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. As we will read in synagogue this very Shabbat, finally, our ancestors were free. Standing at Sinai, they received the Ten Commandments, including the fourth - the Kit-Kat of mitzvot - have a break, have a day off, each and every week. As one colleague put it to me: “Shabbat is the day with no ‘oughts’; a day for us to enjoy as we like.”

With the exception of synagogue services, and, of course, the Friday night rituals and family dinner, observing Shabbat is not, for me at least, dogmatic. We are commanded to observe the Shabbat day because it is Kadosh - holy, but Kadosh also means special and different. There is nothing wrong with watching a film, or going to the spa, or Spurs, or the seaside on a Shabbat afternoon, so long as it feels special. How wonderful to take the car for a spin to visit relatives, or catch a train to tour a National Trust garden, or even grab a taxi to get to synagogue. Whatever your ways of spiritually unwinding - go for it. After all, making the most of your weekly day of rest is the very essence of Shabbat - a day to pause and appreciate why you’re working to live rather than living to work. A day to slowly savour a chocolate bar, rather than wolfing it down between meetings. So, go on, "have a break... have a Shabbat".