
The Sabbath
by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Published 1951 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
118 pages
About this book:
Elegant, passionate, and filled with the love of God's creation, Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication--and has been read by thousands of people seeking meaning in modern life.
In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel, one of the most widely respected religious leaders of the twentieth century, introduced the influential idea of an 'architecture of holiness" that appears not in space but in time. Judaism, he argues, is a religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the materials things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that 'the Sabbaths are our great catherdrals.'
Featuring black-and-white illustrations by Ilya Schor
Recommended in:
- ‘This Is Nuts.’ An OpenAI Insider Explains Why He Quit. (Oct 7, 2026) with David Robinson
- Best Of: Sabbath and the Art of Rest (Dec 27, 2024) with Judith Shulevitz
- Sabbath and the Art of Rest (Jan 3, 2023) with Judith Shulevitz
- What I'm Thinking About at the End of 2022 (Dec 16, 2022) with Aaron Retica
Recommended with:

The Challenger launch decision: risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA
Vaughan, Diane

Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest
Phoebe Wahl

The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
Judith Shulevitz

I and Thou
Martin Buber

Adam Bede
George Eliot

The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week
Eviatar Zerubavel