On most Friday afternoons during the last six years, just before turning off my computer, I peruse a starred folder in my Gmail account that most people probably don’t have: It’s my “Possible FB postings for Shabbat” file, an organic, growing anthology of quotes related to Shabbat. Many of them are borrowed from the liturgy in the Reform siddur (prayer book).
When a quote strikes me as the right one for a particular week, I make that text my Facebook status, turn off my computer, and let Shabbat begin. Last week, Ahad Ha-am’s words spoke to me, as they so often do. Even as I scurried to close up shop on the work week, I noticed that the first quote in the anthology is dated July 19, 2010 – almost exactly six years ago to the day.