Shomer Shabbat - Social Dimensions

Social Dimensions

In the past, it was relatively uncommon to be shomer Shabbat in the United States, even among the Orthodox. Emanuel Feldman writes that it was a “rarity” in the American Orthodoxy of the 1950s. Overall, political scientist Charles Liebman estimated that about 4% of American Jews were shomer shabbos in the 1960s. Among other factors, Saturday had not yet been established as a day off from work, and many American Jews found that insistence on Shabbat observance would cost them their livelihood. During this period, to improve observance, Flatbush rabbis operated a Shomer Shabbat council and ran a Shomer Shabbat parade.

According to the National Jewish Population Survey (2000–2001), about 50% of affiliated Jews (versus 8% of unaffiliated) light Sabbath candles. The first mitzvah in shomer Shabbat home each Friday evening, candle-lighting is performed by 85% of Orthodox, 50% of Conservative and 25% of Reform Jews (Ament 2005:31). In total, Sabbath candle-lighting is practiced by 28% of NJPS survey respondents representative of 4.3 million Jews (United Jewish Communities 2003:7).

With the increasing observance among Orthodox Jews, the status of shomer Shabbat has become more important. For example, one of the key questions asked about Orthodox Jewish day schools is whether it allows children who are not shomer Shabbat. The shomer shabbat distinction has been found to be a factor in the social integration of children and families. Sabbath observance is a major priority among Orthodox Jewish families and one scholar contends that shomer Shabbat status is the “functional equivalent” of Orthodox Jewish identity.

Various organizations have accommodated the religious observance requirements of shomer Shabbat Jews. For example, after extensive appeals on their behalf, the U.S. National High School Mock Trial Championship made adjustments for observant Jews from the Torah Academy of Bergen County who were the 2005 state champions representing New Jersey. Similarly, hospitals may allow a shomer Shabbat program for residents in medical training, in which the shomer Shabbat resident works a similar amount of hours as other residents, but not on Shabbat or major Jewish holidays. Many municipalities have cooperated with observant Jews in creating a symbolic boundary for a neighborhood (eruv), in which a shomer Shabbat is permitted to carry or move items that would otherwise be prohibited, such as a baby stroller. In sports, observant Jews may be accommodated along with Seventh-day Adventists. Alternatively, groups like Tzivos Hashem has set up its own shomer Shabbat baseball Little League.