The future of Jewish Festivals and Shabbat

What is the relationship between Jewish Festivals and Shabbat?
What does it mean that the Afterlife will be completely Shabbat?
What does it mean that, in the Afterlife, there won’t be eating or drinking?
Why is the Afterlife called the Garden of Eden?
What does it mean that, in the future, all Festivals will end except Purim?
What does it mean that, in the future, Tisha’ be’Av will become a holiday?

I once joked: ‘A book that doesn’t discuss Free Will cannot be Jewish, and a speech that doesn’t refer to the B’reishith Torah reading can’t be kosher.’

So, let’s start at the very beginning. (According to some, a very good place to start.) Nature started with Six mundane (chol) Days, followed by one holy (kodesh) Day, Shabbat: chol, chol, chol, chol, chol, chol, kodesh.

But humanity was born on the Sixth Day of Creation, the starting point of the Jewish calendar: Rosh haShannah. There are six eternal Festivals mentioned in the Torah. So, contrary to Nature, humanity started on (one of the six of) the Festivals, followed by mundane times: kodesh, kodesh, kodesh, kodesh, kodesh, kodesh, chol. What’s that relationship?

Shabbat starts with the two Blessing of the Kiddush and ends with the four Blessings of Havdalah. The Festivals start with a handful of Blessings and end with the two blessings of Havdalah. What’s that relationship?

Shabbat and Festivals may overlap, or not, but what’s their relationship?

I will suggest how this can all come together on Earth. I don’t know and cannot know how it goes if the end is supernatural. Classical Christianity says this world is not G^d’s world. Only the Afterlife is. Jews disagree.

We are told that Shabbat is a sliver of life in the Afterlife, that Afterlife is eternally Shabbat. Let me suggest that, as part of the Redemption, parallel to what will happen with Shabbat, first, all days will turn into Festivals. Life on Earth will be one, year-round, joyful Jewish Festival. We will also stop dying after G^d slaughters the Angel of Death, as our Sages promised.

Medical scientists are busy ending the main killer illnesses, then will go after aging, then invent rejuvenation, to end up with physical immortality.

Then, scientists will implant into our skins the plant inclusion chlorophyll. We’ll turn green and able to live like green plants, transforming sun rays into energy. We won’t be sex-crazed anymore, so we’ll go about in our green birthday suits unflustered. Back to Paradise. We will also synthesize all vitamins and recycle water, so we don’t need to eat or drink anymore. We’ll be in a ‘different’ world having an eternal Shabbat, no consuming.

Then, Shabbat will join the Festivals. Just as in the Creation Story, the First Shabbat was added to the first Second Day of Rosh haShannah.

Meanwhile, we’re killing humans and the planet (hunger, climate change, wars, murder, substandard healthcare for the masses, etc.), so we might need a Supernatural Redemption not to go the way of the Dodo.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1