Shabbat Kept the Jews

“The Hebrew writer Achad ha-Am once said that more than the Jewish people kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept the Jewish people. Jews are not opposed to the market economy or technological advance; we welcome them. But in the Sabbath there is a necessary counter-affirmation, best expressed by one of our ancient sages who said, ‘Who is rich? One who rejoices in what he has.’ The remorseless pressure of consumerism to define ourselves in terms of what we lack, not what we have, takes a heavy toll in a culture which has no counter-voice.”

The Good Society - The St George’s Lecture at St George’s Hall, Windsor Castle