What is renewal if not the Shabbat?

Shabbat is a condition for renewal. Renewal is a condition for Shabbat.

Shabbat is a condition for renewal. In other words, Shabbat produces energy. That is the resting, it is the togetherness, it is the family, it is the joy of life and the beauty within symbols. candles shining, sweet braided challah, wine in a winecup, a white shirt. These are what we look for in welcoming the Shabbat. We try to draw light and bliss from them and to pour in them some of our own contents: Our belief in man who still has a spark, the kibbutz's companionship that exists but only requires exposure and emotional expression. I believe that the Shabbat experience is such that generates strength to the rest of the week – to the actual reality of the kibbutz and to life at large.

 

Renewal is a condition for Shabbat. In other words, it is not "engaging in repentance", nor "returning to religion", yet it is a instilling new contents, humane, pertaining to the kibbutzes, Jewish – with ancient Jewish symbols. That without the new contents, there would be no connection to the symbols, and the atmosphere on Friday nights in the dining room would be that of alienation and a sense of weekday dullness.