Thou Shalt Unplug Theyself – Reboot Your Week On Shabbat

San Francisco-based conceptual artist Jessica Tully designed this cell phone bag as a way to resist the temptation of the distracting electronic glow of our cell phones and cameras. Limited Edition, 4â€³ x 6â€³ Hemp with soy based ink. Logo design by Lucie Kim. (Out of stock!)

Unplugging from the wired world sounds ideal, but impossible. We have never been more connected than we are now, and taking a break even for a nano-second can seem unconscionable. But now, fresh from creative minds at Reboot, and the feature of a popular NY Times article is the Sabbath Manifesto – a clarion call to those caught up in the face paced, hectic world, to observe the ancient call of the Day of Rest:

And the Children of Israel observed the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath for their generations an eternal covenant. Between Me and the Children of Israel it is a sign forever, that in six days did HASHEM make the heaven and the earth,and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’

Ok, that was not the Sabbath Manifesto, per say, it is a passage from the Torah, recited during prayers Friday Night and Saturday, and recited during the ritual blessing of the wine on Saturday afternoon.

The Reboot Manifesto is right now: 1. Avoid Technology, 2. Connect With Loved Ones, 3. Nurture Your Health 4. Get Outside 5. Avoid Commerce 6. Light Candles 7. Drink Wine 8. Eat Bread 9. Find Silence 10. Give Back

Reboot are far from being Luddites. These are hyper-connected folks. Rather they are advocating one day of keeping the Sabbath as a means to better our lives (and make Bubbe proud.)

Join us in fighting back against the tidal wave of technology taking over society and our lives. Are you sick of having conversations with people with their noses buried in an iPhone? Are you that person?

Put down the cell phone, stop the status updates on Facebook, shut down Twitter, sign out of e-mail and relax, as part of our National Day of Unplugging.

Amen.

With the huge success of the getting the word out about the Sabbath Manifesto – I really do hope that tens of millions of people join – I would like to recommend that Reboot take on some addition modern issues with ancient Jewish ideas.

To heal monotonous, romance-less marriages, create a project advocating marital abstinence one or two weeks a month to help rekindle that missing spark: MikvahManifesto.org

To feed the poor, protect the widow and orphan, cloth and shelter the homeless, create a project advocating tithing ten-percent of our net earnings for donations to the poor. See the tzedakahmanifesto.org

That is just for starters – we can do a lot to help improve our lives, and those around us, with some of that Torah stuff.

We will be making a L’Chaim to Reboot tonight. Shabbat Shalom!