JOSEPH WHO HONORS THE SABBATH: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SPIRITUAL GAZE, A CASE STUDY

The aim of this paper is to analyze how children construct the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath. More specifically, it attempts to discover how children interpret a Jewish folk story that focuses on the way a Jewish person honors the Sabbath. The story enabled the girls to understand the meaning of honor in its intrinsic meaning, as a mediator to create their own spiritual dignity. To honor the Sabbath means to construct a purified spiritual presence through specific objects. To honor the Sabbath means to develop a spiritual eye, to be sensitive to the spiritual facets of reality. The analysis shows how the Sabbath can bring young girls to new spiritual landscapes and transform the beauty of the objective material into a subjective spiritual presence. Every Sabbath, after I light the candles, I get a spiritual feeling that the Sabbath is a special gift that God gave especially to me. Only God could invent such an outstanding creation called the Sabbath. As a workaholic, being obliged by religious law not to touch my computer, not to answer the phone, not to write e-mails or faxes and only to rest, gives me a lot of time for real spiritual contemplation. I always try to prepare a special meal for the Sabbath and before it begin I set the table for Sabbath dinner with the nicest dishes and the most beautiful flowers my husband could find in the market, I put on my best clothes, and do my best to receive the Sabbath with tranquility. My children used to say that my face changed after I lit the candles, which filled our house with a very special atmosphere. Surprisingly, in spite of the temptation, I don't touch books, notebooks, exams, or anything that has any connection to my academic world, which is so precious to me. I often wonder how, through a long socialization process, the spiritual dimension was instilled and constructed to enable me to withstand temptation and to deepen my appreciation of God's invention. Every week I feel that more than I try to honor the Sabbath, the Sabbath honors me. The aim of this paper is to analyze how children construct the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath. More specifically, I would like to discover how children interpret a Jewish folk story that focuses on the way a Jewish person honors the Sabbath. I will analyze children's interpretations of the well-known story “Joseph who honors the Sabbath” [Yosef mokir Shabbat], which is also a well-known English fairy tale entitled “The Ring and the Fish.”