America's Shabbes

Hurray for Thanksgiving, America's shabbes: time off, time out, stores close, commerce slows.

Family, friends, mounds of food. Weary cooks and grateful diners both happy that the meal's preparation is done.

The familiar menu unites the family and nation, bringing forth memories of Thanksgivings past.

Rituals like this have the power to collapse time and stack it up in a grand heap before us so we can dive in, slip across the bounds of years, mix them up, and feel the presence of here and there, now and then, people and places present and gone, all at once.

In this collage of seasons, we glimpse the many blessings we are fortunate to have.

Especially today, in the midst of global pain and distress, when need relentlessly calls us to respond, it is good to pause in our crusades and recharge and live the way we want the world to look.

For only then, when tomorrow comes, can we hope to make it happen.