Israel Planning To Make Sunday A Day Of Rest

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
by Georges Seurat, 1884

I recently learned that Israeli Vice Premier, Silvan Shalom, is working toward establishing an American-style weekend consisting of two days off (i.e., Saturday and Sunday) in Israel. According to Shalom this change would make Israel “more normal, give people more leisure and allow them to return to the work week on Monday a lot more rested.” He also told JPost that in Israel “We don’t have a real weekend. On Fridays, the kids are at school and the stores close at 2. We don’t have a day when we can rest, play and shop. It would be totally different when we have Sunday as a weekend.” Wait, did this guy actually say that there is not a day of rest in Israel?

Here is a brief overview of Silvan Shalom's two-day weekend plan as reported by JPost:

...the work week would be extended on Monday through Thursday by half an hour, and people would work on Friday until 1 or 2, depending on the starting time of Shabbat. Children would go to school on Monday through Friday for an extra hour to make up for the lack of school on Sundays, which could allow women to work longer hours and have an easier time advancing to managerial positions.

I've never lived in Israel, I've never even visited Israel, so I have no idea what they are experiencing with this deficit of leisure time. I have to admit, I can't imagine life without my two-day weekend; it's what I'm used to, it's what I grew up with. In my pre-Torah life, the weekend was two days of rest and relaxation; maybe some yard work and chores around the house but for the most part, it was my downtime. Today, I honor the Shabbat from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday and on Sunday, I spend time with my family and get things done around the house. But is Sunday as a day off a universal right?

According to the article Shalom recognizes that other countries, Christian and non-Christian, are finding benefit in establishing Sunday as an additional day of rest. He told JPost that “Having Sundays off is not only for Christian countries. They [Muslim and other non-Christian countries] decided to have Sunday off because they believe it will benefit them in the global world.” Global world? Before I digress into a New World Order conspiracy rant and take this post in a whole other direction, allow me to get back on track...

I asked myself the following question about this 'Global, Two-Day Weekend Concept':

Is the Shabbat, the universal day of rest established by Adonai, enough for us
OR
do we need to add to His plan and institute an additional universal day of rest?

The Torah tells us that the seven-day week was created by Adonai, the King of the Universe. We are told to do all of our work on the first six days and then rest on the last day.

I stumbled upon a great article about the history of the weekend called Waiting for the Weekend by Canadian-American architect, professor and writer—Witold Rybczynski (pronounced VEE-told Rib-CHIN-ski). The article is not written from a believer's perspective, Christian or Jewish, but it is very informative and thought provoking. I'm curious how much more information is in his book with the same title.

I have mixed feelings about this move to make Sunday an official day of rest in Israel.

You can read the related articles here:

Do Israelis need long weekends?
By William Kolbrener, Washington Post
06/24/2011

Shalom plans meetings to draft long-weekend coalition
By Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post
03/13/2011

Will Sunday become part of the Israeli weekend?
By Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post
03/04/2011

Waiting for the Weekend
By Witold Rybczynski, The Atlantic Monthly
August 1991

Suggested reading:
Waiting for the Weekend, Witold Rybczynski (Penguin, July 1, 1992)



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