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In addition to being known for their other work, physicists George Gamow and Marvin Stern also published an analysis of an intriguing problem regarding their perception that although both worked on different floors, it seemed that the first elevator to arrive on their respective floors was traveling in the opposite direction of their destination. In this manuscript, a fictitious conversation occurs between the two in regards to the probability of the elevator stopping on every floor (which they term the Shabbat Effect). One claims that it is the number of elevator occupants that predominates whereas the other claims it is the number of floors in the building that predominates in giving rise to this effect. Equations for estimating the probability of the Shabbat Effect are developed and analyzed. The resulting equations show that the relationship between the number of elevator occupants and floors is surprisingly complicated. Consequently, no general rule can be given for whether the probability of the Shabbat Effect increases or decreases for an arbitrary change in the number of occupants and floors. However, it discovered that for similar changes in the number of occupants and floors, it is the number of floors that predominates in determining the probability of the elevator stopping on every floor.

Background Religious practices often structure daily behavior, yet their role in shaping sleep–wake patterns remains underexplored. While stable schedules and socially reinforced habits are known to support circadian alignment and sleep quality, few studies have examined religious observance as a behavioral framework that promotes sleep health in older adults. This study investigated whether Jewish religious lifestyle, particularly Sabbath observance, affects habitual sleep–wake patterns in late adulthood. Methods A cross-sectional field study was conducted among 473 community-dwelling Israeli Jewish older adults (median age 69 [range 60–88]; 74.6% female; 41.9% engaged in regular work or study). Data were collected between May 2022 and February 2023 via an anonymous self-administered online survey (CLISEF), which included validated questionnaires assessing sleep behaviors, chronotype and daytime sleepiness (ultra-short Munich ChronoType Questionnaire, MCTQ; and Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS), and items to report subjective sleep quality, napping habits, and screen exposure at bedtime. Results Religious participants ( n  = 274) reported a unique pattern of sleep habits in comparison to their Secular peers ( n  = 199): they had on average an earlier chronotype (02:53 ± 01:02 vs. 03:13 ± 01:11, midsleep time on free days), longer sleep duration on free days (Sabbath) (442.7 ± 77.0 vs. 424.8 ± 76.6, min) and lower social jetlag (14.1 ± 39.6 vs. 25.7 ± 37.9, min). These differences stemmed from the group-specific patterns of sleep timing during free days (Sabbath) relative to workdays. While the Religious group slightly but significantly advanced sleep onset times on Sabbath (∆=-9 min), the Secular group significantly delayed their sleep onset times (∆=16 min). Both groups delayed sleep offset on Sabbath (∆=32 min and ∆=29 min). Additionally, the religious participants who practice day-time napping reported longer naps. No significant differences between Religious and Secular groups in subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, nighttime awakening patterns and habits of alarm clock use and screen exposure after bedtime were observed. Conclusions These findings suggest that Jewish religious observance contributes to more consistent sleep-wake behaviors and earlier chronotype in older adults, emphasizing the broad relevance of sleep timing regularity for promoting daily habits that may be adopted beyond specific religious or spiritual contexts.

This article uses two case studies to promote the idea that British evangelicalism is sometimes marked by the denial of inconvenient facts. First, it takes a critical look at the apologetic impulse to explain away the problems that Scripture sometimes presents and to deny their affective dimensions. Second, it considers some of the abuse scandals of recent years and the way in which the evangelical church has tended to respond by covering them up and silencing the voices of accusers. This response appears to be motivated by the fear of quenching what appear to be successful ministries or of tarnishing the reputation of the church. The common theme that these examples share is that they are motivated by the instinct to present the gospel in the best possible light, but this appears to stem from an unarticulated functional atheism that does not truly trust God’s people to the Spirit. As a remedy, two linked practices are proposed, drawing on the work of Eugene Peterson and Cheryl Bridges-Johns. These are Sabbath-keeping as a means of rediscovering the primacy of God’s presence and work; and the re-enchantment of Scripture by means of a Pentecost imaginary, which offers the possibility for the transrational.

The time is ripe for a fuller exploration of Sabbath within the field of Christian spirituality studies. Sabbath bears on several topics important to this field, including prayer, liturgy, time, justice, work, ecology, and interreligious dialogue. While many aspects of Sabbath are relevant to spirituality studies, this essay addresses contemplative dimensions of Sabbath and the potential for deepening more communal understandings of contemplation in dialogue with Jewish thought and practice. The consideration of contemplative dimensions of Sabbath unfolds in three movements: lingering, seeing , and stilling . It ends with a note about the eschatological dimension of Sabbath.

Among the many changing practices during the Reformation, Sabbath observance gained increasing importance as interpretations and practices evolved, leading to divisions among different traditions and disagreements within those traditions. Sabbath theology helped distinguish confessional identity. This study aims to delve deeper into Swiss Reformed interpretations of specific Scriptures that provide the basis for theological conclusions and practical applications regarding Sabbath. It focuses on four key passages in Isaiah (1:13–15, 56:2–8, 58:13–14, and 66:22–24) that contributed to the biblical basis for interpretations of Sabbath among the reformers. By comparing interpretations, we gain a more complete picture of the Swiss Reformed perspectives on Sabbath and observe a pattern of religious change as these religious ideas spread across different regions of the Swiss Confederation from the 1520s to the 1580s. The Swiss Reformed interpreters include Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531) in Basel, Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) and Konrad Pellikan (1478–1556) in Zurich, Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563) in Bern, and Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) and Rudolf Gwalther (1519–1586) in Zurich again. The questions addressed in working through their interpretations include which meanings of Sabbath they emphasize, distinctions they make regarding the Sabbath commandment, aspects of Sabbath they think are perpetual, and the day of the week they argue Christians should observe Sabbath. This portrait of Sabbath interpretations among the Swiss Reformed depicts the gradual development toward stricter and more comprehensive views on Sabbath practice among Reformed Christians and gives voice to the unique understandings of these individual Swiss Reformed theologians in the sixteenth century.

This study focuses on the tension between the national, public, and social restrictions that apply to the Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) in Israel and the way that Jews from a variety of religious streams understand Shabbat as leisure time that allows for a subjective choice of practices and self-realization. Jewish law provides clear rules and instructions for behavior on Shabbat, including a prohibition on different types of melacha (different kinds of creative activity), with the goal of “remembering” and “keeping” the Sabbath. While in Israel there are many Jews who do not follow these laws, they also make Shabbat special in other ways. Since Israel is a Jewish state, there is no clear separation between religion and state; today there are laws, regulations, expectations, and customs relating to Shabbat in the public sphere. To understand the diversity of views of Israelis about Shabbat, qualitative interviews were conducted with 66 secular, religious, formerly religious, traditional, and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, aged 25–50. Analysis of the survey data shows that Israeli Jews have a variety of perspectives regarding Shabbat, and do not describe Shabbat being structured and experienced as collective, homogeneous, and restrictive. Among the interviewees, religious and secular alike, Shabbat is described as a time full of variable subjective content, based on free choice and free from other obligations. On the one hand, even the religious and Ultra-Orthodox prioritize the individual and their family, sometimes more than religious faith or halachic obligation. On the other hand, even for those who do not keep the Shabbat halachically, resting on Shabbat forms an organizing principle for the weekend, lending this time its unique quality.

In this essay, I explore how Christians can relate to the Sabbath in a way that adequately expresses Christian traditions about sacred time while showing respect for distinctly Jewish practices. My basic claim is that a Christian sanctification of the Sabbath presents an entirely new challenge for a Christianity that does not view Judaism as superseded or outdated. Thus, I ask: What should be the meaning of the Sabbath commandment for Christians? How can Christians sanctify the Sabbath while affirming it as a sign of the Jewish people’s living covenant? First, I will lay out the questions that are raised for Christian theology when affirming Jewish Sabbath observance as part of practiced Judaism, that is, as lived Torah and as a tradition passed on from generation to generation. Next, I will consult contemporary Jewish literature on the topic, then look for Christian accounts of the Sabbath in Christian systematic theologies. I will ask: What happens when Christians affirm that Sunday does not abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, while also asserting their own commitment to the Bible’s holy day? I will subsequently sketch an outline of a Christian theology of Shabbat that acknowledges distinctive Jewish legal traditions as well as its own connectedness to Biblical temporal structures.

Avital, an Israeli law student whose husband flew back immediately after Simhat Torah, tells me that while she knows it would bebest for the country if the ground operation got underway, she can't help but be grateful for every day it is delayed further. Netanel, a spiritually-enterprising undergrad from Vermont, put on his tefillin, draped a tallit-sized Israeli flag over his shoulders, and loudly sang Am Yisrael Chai on repeat at the center of the demonstration; one of the pro-Israel groups advertised a place of refuge with free lunch in the Hillel cafeteria; most students simply went about their day. In the left part of my visual field I see Eytan, sophomore and gabbai, leap from his seat and burst into tears, and on the left I see Sara, mother visiting from Israel, gasp in shock. The senior rabbi and the executive director of the Hillel speak, as do two students, one of them Roi, an Israeli whose childhood friend and tennis nemesis, now an officer, was killed leading his soldiers into the fray.

The Sabbath is part of Jewish tradition. In Christianity it has taken on a new meaning. Both faiths saw it as a gift from God, a tool to affirm one’s spiritual creed and identity, and a way to maintain a distinct faith identity. The secularism of contemporary society has resulted in a misinterpretation of the purpose of Sunday rest and a disregard for the spiritual aspects that the Sunday celebration involves. A false perception of Sunday rest has emerged in modern times: It is not perceived as a divine gift that enables a spiritual ministry, which leads to resistance and opposition to the restless anxiety of the consumerist world and serves as an alternative to advertising’s demanding presence in this world. This rest, as a gift from God, has been one of the most fundamental defining features of man’s connection with God throughout history. Since Christian antiquity, there has been substantial debate over how to observe this tremendous gift of rest. Rest was valued as a gift in the Jewish culture in a specific way that included defining the identity of the chosen people. Later, in the Christian tradition, it was connected to the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection and the spiritual healing He provided to the world. There has been much debate on the continuity and discontinuity between the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sunday, as well as on how the transition from the Sabbath to the Sunday celebration came about. The two qualities of the Jewish Sabbath – a day of rest and a day of religious celebration – have been transferred to the Christian Sunday but in a radically different context.ContributionBy analysing early Christian literature, this study aims to investigate how the concept of Sabbath rest was taken up and reconstructed in Christianity in the celebration of Sunday, and how spiritual work was a constant in the life of Christian communities up until the 4th century, when Sunday rest was established by law. Contrary to Rordorf’s opinions, this article aims to show that Christians, despite being physically obligated to work on Sundays, tacitly observed this day as a day of resurrection, emphasising the spiritual work of the virtues as their vehicle towards their entrance into the rest in God, even before Sunday became socially established as a day of rest (Heb 4:1–11). This study intends to show that this unique vision of the Sunday rest of the early church can be an element of resistance and an alternative to the demanding stress and restless anxiety of modern society.

The commandment not to work and to rest on the Sabbath became a major spiritual practice in Judeo-Christian history. This article will spell out, in a concrete manner, the key spiritual contents of Sabbath-keeping that are relevant for and that determine an authentic, liberating and joyful celebration of the Sabbath. It, thus, contributes to the debate by Christians about the shape and form of what the practice of Sabbath-keeping practice might look like today. This article firstly explains how and why the practice by times became oppressive and abusive, losing its popularity because of a legalistic moralism. It then analyses how the practice in reality is about sanctifying work that reflects its true nature and that contributes meaningfully to human existence. It will focus on how commitment is a necessary beginning to practise the Sabbath before it analyses the dynamic and inspirational nature of Sabbath-keeping as a practice about resting. The article will anchor theological and theoretic reflections concretely in the life experience of faith communities concluding with a discussion about the lightness of the practice that is enjoyed in liturgy, in community, in play and in joyful celebration. The very last part will spell out ecological implications of Sabbath-keeping as one of the latest, exciting forms of Sabbath-keeping. Contribution This article responds to the renewed interest in the spiritual practice of Sabbath-keeping. It analyses how the practice lost its popularity because of a legalistic moralism. It will then analyse the lightness of the practice as it is enjoyed in liturgy, in community, in play and in joyful celebration.