The Shabbos Project (@ShabbosProject_) is a wonderful idea that is sure to increase simcha (happiness) worldwide.  This weekend (the first day of the new month of Cheshvan/October 24-25) Jews in more than 212 cities and 33 countries will experience the joy of observing and celebrating Shabbat (or “Shabbos”). As a Jew who keeps Shabbat on a weekly basis with his family, I’ll try to explain why Shabbat never fails to put a smile on my face.

So, why does Shabbat = simcha?

1. Disconnection from the machines: by now, we understand all too well that our technology is a great servant (for instance, it enables me to write and post this blog), but a terrible master. And for most of us, it has become a master. Far too often I’m checking my phone when I’m at the park during weekday afternoons/evenings with my kids (embarrassingly, Avi sometimes turns to me and says with little-kid outrage, “What’s more important, your phone or your boy???”) or listening to yet another podcast instead of having a good conversation with Neetz, my wife.

And many of us have let work become a 24/7 intrusion now that we can always check emails on our phones and tablets. By leaving all that behind, we benefit from…

2. Enhanced family time: unlike the situations I described above, on Shabbat my family sits down for three meals together, Neetz and I read to the kids and play games with them, talk to each other after the kids go to sleep, and I take my three active little angels for hours and hours of park time (with no phone interruptions, of course). In short, during Shabbat we can be present for, and mindful of, those closest to us. True Shalom Bayit.

3. Strengthened community bonds: in addition to improving family relationships, Shabbat is unparalleled in terms of community building. In my neighborhood in Modi’in, Israel, I am blessed to have a public park directly behind my home. I go there nearly every Shabbat, and I often find myself whistling the theme to the television show Cheers as I walk over, because it feels like everybody there knows my name (I’ll leave it up to them as to whether they are always glad I came).

While the children play with their friends, I get to sit on the park bench and catch up with mine. We are all so busy during the week (full-time jobs, our children, etc.), so Shabbat is the perfect time to have long conversations and catch up.

4. Time for prayer/meditation: the Shabbat prayers are special. Without the need to rush to work or anywhere else, there is time to luxuriate in our relationship with HaShem; to take a moral inventory of how we lived our lives the past week and how we can improve; to think about what we are grateful for; to meditate on what our friends and family might need and to pray for them; to ponder and analyze the weekly Torah portion; and to enjoy the camaraderie and togetherness of the beit knesset/shul (see the above point).

5. Mayim Bialik endorses Shabbat: c’mon, when has she ever steered you wrong?!

Add it all up and you get spiritual and physical renewal. Who doesn’t need that at least once a week? Sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed, I cheer myself up by thinking, “Don’t worry, soon it will be Shabbat and you’ll be able to relax with family and friends.” I totally understand why Rabbinic literature repeatedly refers to Shabbat as “a taste of The World to Come.”

Please join Jews all over the world this Shabbat to find out why Ahad Ha’am once said,

More than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.