Last week’s Mishpacha feature on South Africa’s Shabbos Project attributed part of its success to the lack of heterodox movements inSouth Africa. Well it turns out that those movements may be minuscule but they are not nonexistent.
The South African Progressive Movement issued a statement explaining that they could not endorse or join Chief Rabbi Goldstein’s call for all South African Jews to keep a full halachic Shabbos because “Progressive Judaism recognizes that different Jews keep Shabbat differently. For some Shabbat might include a hike on a mountain some gardening or Skyping with family inLondonon Friday night. For others it includes driving to shul to Shabbat dinner or to the beach for sunset. For some it might look and feel exactly as the Shabbat being promoted in the Shabbat Project.”
But lest the reader fear that anything done on Shabbat is included in “keeping Shabbat” Progressive Judaism is quick to reassure: “No clearly not. Shabbat must be holy sacred a day unlike the rest of the week.” Whatever one is doing it seems it must be restful and accompanied by muttering the words “holy” or “sacred ” in keeping with the spirit of the day.
Judaism in this pluralistic definition becomes whatever each individual Jew declares it to be.
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