To Keep the Sabbath Holy

Ever since Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, its recipients have had great difficulty in reckoning with, and honoring, the fourth one of the lot: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." At least that's how American Jews of the late 19th century would have it. They preferred to think of the desecration of the Sabbath as more of a millennial phenomenon than a modern one, a long-running and persistent problem rather than a contemporary challenge.