Going Off the Grid for Shabbat
02/20/2011 - 00:05
Rabbi Jason Miller

Reposted from eJewishPhilanthropy





The first NDU last March reached tens of millions of people internationally. And it resonated with people of all backgrounds, from Catholic to Buddhist and Muslim. Since then, unplugging has become the movement of the moment, with everyone from The New York Times to Arianna Huffington focusing attention on our overly plugged-in society.



The day is being sponsored by One Happy Camper, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Additional funding is being provided by the Koret Foundation.

The NDU, rooted in the tradition of the Sabbath, is guided by Reboot’s Sabbath Manifesto, an ongoing project that encourages people to slow down their lives by embracing its 10 principles once a week: Avoid Technology; Connect With Loved Ones; Nurture Your Health; Get Outside; Avoid Commerce; Light Candles; Drink Wine; Eat Bread; Find Silence; Give Back.

The Sabbath Manifesto was designed to be entirely open to individual adaptation and interpretation. So Reboot’s new smartphone app allows users to create and share their personal Sabbath Manifesto with their friends and the public. Reboot expects to release the app by Feb. 25, a week before the NDU.



"Reboot, a non-profit organization that aims to reinvent Jewish rituals and traditions...The Sabbath Manifesto was designed to be entirely open to individual adaptation and interpretation." What's wrong with the current rituals and traditions? What is the purpose of the manifesto if it's another thing to make up as you go along? If religious observance was expected and not optional, there wouldn't be any technology to unplug because that would be a given. Go to any Orthodox community and there is no technology on Shabbat. As the Dali Lama noted, Shabbat is a built-in 25-hour period of meditation. There is no need for an NDU to discover that because it never went away.

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