What to do with your time on Shabbat: twenty-five hours without a screen

In short

Shabbat is not an empty day: it is a full day, of another kind. With no phone and no screen, the twenty-five hours fill up with meals that stretch out, with study, walking, rest and time spent together. Many people dread that silence before living it, then come to hold it dear. The point is not to "do nothing," but to inhabit time differently.

At a glance

A day is lived, not ticked off: this list opens things up, it does not shut them in.

The meals, the heart of the day

The three Shabbat meals are not pauses between two activities: they are the activity. You take your time, you sing, you talk, you invite people over. A Shabbat meal can last for hours without anyone noticing, and it is often there that the best of the day takes shape. Hosting and being hosted is central: Shabbat is made to be shared.

Studying, reading

Shabbat is a privileged time for study and reading: a passage from the week's parasha, a book started and never finished, a text shared out loud. With no notifications to break your attention, you read differently, for longer, more deeply. It is one of the most common rediscoveries of those who take it up.

Rest, walking

The Shabbat afternoon nap is an institution nobody needs to justify. You really do rest, without guilt. And you walk: a quiet stroll, with family or alone, within the limits permitted on Shabbat (there is a distance beyond which one does not go; your community will tell you what it is). The body slows down with the day.

Being with other people

This is the ground of all the rest. Shabbat gathers people: you are more present to your own because nobody else can reach you. Children have their parents to themselves, couples find each other again, tables grow with guests. Many discover that the real value of the day lies not in what one refrains from, but in that presence regained.

The silence of the screens

This is the hardest part in our time, and often the most precious afterwards: twenty-five hours with no phone, no screen, no feed. You let those close to you know in advance, you put the device away, and you rediscover a kind of time that does not scroll past. The silence you dreaded soon becomes the thing you protect.

Frequently asked questions

You really don't get bored? The boredom of the first weeks comes from the missing screen, not from a lack of things to do. Once the rhythm is there, time is no longer short: it is savored.

Can you play games, do sport, go out? Quiet games (board games, cards, games with the children) are common; other activities raise questions (writing down a score, certain objects, going beyond the limits). On the precise cases, ask your rav.

What do you do with young children for a whole day? It is precisely their best day: their parents are available, with no screens and no errands. Games, stories, a walk, meals: the time fills itself.

The Shabbat guide · Electricity and appliances · Cooking and keeping food warm

Sources: this guide draws on the classical sources of Jewish law. It gives a general orientation, never a ruling that takes the place of your rav's. On any concrete case, ask your rav.