Thousands of Jewish teens are spending their summers on NCSY Summer programs across Israel and North America. Their days are filled with hikes, learning, sports, laughter, friendships, and unforgettable experiences. Every hour has somewhere to be.
And then tonight, it all stops.
As the sun sets, the buses stop running. The phones are put away. The schedules disappear. For twenty-five hours, the rush comes to an end. Shabbos has begun.
Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation sparked an important conversation about what constant connectivity is doing to our children. More people than ever are recognizing that endless notifications, entertainment, and productivity are not making us happier. Across society, there is a growing awareness that we need moments to disconnect from the daily grind.
The Torah has been teaching that lesson for thousands of years.
Of course, Shabbos is much more than a weekly break from technology. Hashem designed things so that we rest on the very day that Hashem rested from Creation. We don’t simply disconnect from our work; we reconnect to its purpose. Shabbos isn’t only about unplugging from our devices; it’s about plugging into something infinitely greater. For one day each week, we stop creating so we can focus on our relationship with the Creator. We step back from trying to master the world and remember Who truly sustains it.
Perhaps this is one small glimpse of what the prophet Yeshaya envisioned when he described the world before Mashiach: “ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה‘ כמים לים מכסים“- the knowledge of Hashem spreading throughout the world. Sometimes that begins in surprising ways. Society starts searching for truths that Torah has always known.
You can even hear echoes of that conversation in unexpected places. Public figures across the political spectrum have begun speaking about the importance of reclaiming a day of rest, and President Trump recently referenced the value of a “Shabbos” during Jewish American Heritage Month. Secularists across the digital landscape are embracing “analog culture” and spending more time offline. While their reasons may differ, it’s striking that the broader culture is beginning to recognize something the Jewish people have treasured for millennia.
This Shabbos, thousands of teens, including many hundreds whose first Shabbos ever will have been with NCSY, will gather around tables across Israel and around the world. They’ll experience something increasingly rare: twenty-five hours that remind them they are valued not because of what they produce, but because they are created in the image of Hashem.
NCSY Summer shared a video a couple weeks ago that captures that moment. Before the adventures, before the hikes, before the memories that will define this summer, there is Shabbos- the same Shabbos that has welcomed generations of NCSY teens. It’s a reminder that the greatest gift we give our teens isn’t simply an unforgettable summer. It’s the opportunity to pause, reconnect, and discover that sometimes the most meaningful moments begin when everything else comes to a stop.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Micah Greenland
