Would I observe Shabbat?

That was the first major test of my faith, some four decades ago, soon after I had joined the ranks of the baalei teshuvah, newcomers to an Orthodox lifestyle.

Thor Heyerdahl, the famed Norwegian explorer and writer, who had been my favorite author since I, in high school, had read his best-selling “Kon-Tiki” seafaring memoir, was coming to town. For the first time in my life. I could finally see, and maybe meet, the man I so admired.

Heyerdahl was to speak at the local Museum of Science. On a Friday. When Yom Kippur began.

I checked the schedule in the newspaper. Maybe, if the speech began early enough, I could catch part of it, then drive home before sundown in time for davening. No such mazel! Heyerdahl’s speech was to start at 6:30 p.m., b’davka Kol Nidrei time. Shortly before Shabbat began. No way I could hear Heyerdahl – instead of going to the Museum, I went to shul.

I kept Shabbat. (And I never got to see Heyerdahl, who died in 2002, in person.)

This memory came to mind recently, when the role of religion in public life, and the related subject of Sabbath observance – and the possible sacrifices it entails, and the way it enriches your life, and how it can influence the tenor of a nation’s behavior – was in the news.

A White House-backed, nine-hour-long “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” celebration of religious values, featuring music and speeches, drew thousands of participants on a Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, to the National Mall in Washington in a “rededication” of the USA as a country established as “One Nation Under God.”

The ceremony was initiated as an early part of the country’s year-long 250th semiquincentennial celebration, which will culminate on July 4.

“Rededicate 250” had a like-minded Jewish component.

As part of this government recognition of the value of a day of rest, President Trump, in a proclamation, called on Jews, as well as members “of all backgrounds,” to take part in “Shabbat 250,” a National Shabbat, a nationwide observance, from sundown on Friday,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)