Image of the Week: Walking in Montreal
© Durga Yael Bernhard
This illustration from my picture book Around the World in One Shabbat (Jewish Lights, 2011) brings to mind memories of Montreal on a day much like today: a brown winter landscape sprinkled with flurries. Yet despite the monochromatic surroundings, the family shown walking here finds plenty of interesting things to look at. They're on a leisurely stroll, walking home from synagogue on a Saturday morning through the city's hilltop nature park, Mont Royal. It's a time when the adults can talk, and the children can play with sticks, notice birds, and discover the world around them. One girl floats a leaf downstream, while her little sister peers over the bridge. Then she finds a special rock and shows it to her grandmother, an immigrant from Holland who fled her homeland during the war, and like many other Jews, found refuge in Canada.
Such interactions are priceless for Holocaust survivors. And in today's world of social media and rampant "peer orientation" (when children and teens bond to their peers rather than adult family members), an inter-generational walk is increasingly scarce – and crucial, for this is the soil from which healthy families grow.
This is what the Sabbath is all about: creating a "sanctuary in time", in which people can rest their bodies, rejuvenate their spirits, and relax their minds. Shabbat makes time out into something sacred – not just in synagogue with stories, blessings, music, and prayer – but for a whole day, including time at home and unhurried leisure.
Shabbat is a blessing for children, as their parents get a regular break from the pressures of the work week. Everyone slows down, and the whole family benefits from unstructured time. This is when young minds can truly grow. This is the most ordinary and fruitful part of the Sabbath. This is the holiday that is most invisible. I like that.
The Sabbath has just begun as I write these words. It's time for me to close my computer and eat dinner with my kids.
May your life be filled with ordinary blessings in 2019.
D Yael Bernhard