What is the Sabbath, anyway? The holy day of rest? The first effort to protect the rights of workers? A smart way to manage stress in a world in which computers never get turned off and work never comes to an end? Or simply an oppressive, outmoded rite? In The Sabbath World, Judith Shulevitz explores the Jewish and Christian day of rest, from its origins in the ancient world to its complicated observance in the modern one. Braiding ideas together with memories, Shulevitz delves into the legends, history, and philosophy that have grown up around a custom that has lessons for all of us, not just the religious. The shared day of nonwork has built communities, sustained cultures, and connected us to the memory of our ancestors and to our better selves, but it has also aroused as much resentment as love. The Sabbath World tells this surprising story together with an account of Shulevitz’s own struggle to keep this difficult, rewarding day.

An inspirational step-by-step guide to the Shabbos experience. This book is the perfect introduction for anyone who wants to keep Shabbos. Each chapter is packed with anecdotes, how-to guides, stories, traditions, and facts, Highlights include a section on Jewish law and even Shabbos recipes!

The Shabbos Kitchen: A comprehensive halachic guide to the preparation of food and other kitchen activities on Shabbos. Radiance of Shabbos: The complete laws of the Shabbos and Festival candle-lighting, Kiddush, Lechem Mishneh, meals, Bircas HaMazon, and Havdalah. Sanctity of Shabbos: A comprehensive guide to the laws of Shabbos and Yom Tov as they apply to a non-Jew doing work on behalf of a Jew.

The Song of Shabbos is a sefer, not a book, that presents an in-depth understanding of the tefillos and zemiros of Shabbos, arranged chronologically, from sunset to sunset. The various treatises present the secrets and sanctity of Shabbos in a new light. This light, the light of the ohr ha’ganuz (the hidden light) was originally revealed in the sifrei Maharal. After centuries of neglect, it was rekindled for the Torah world by the appearance of the famous maamarim of Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Hutner, zt”l, and recorded in his sefarim, Pachad Yitzchak. It is said that the Maharal had the keys to Chazal, and Rav Hutner had the keys to the understanding of the Maharal, not to exclude his uncanny insights into the words of the Ramban, the Gra, and many others. Today, forty years after his passing — the years necessary to understand the mind and ways of the Rav (“adatai d’rabbai”) — his inspiration has brought about a crescendo of interest in his Torah, the maamarim. The light he brought to the world continues to shine brightly.