Sabbath in America

Keeping Shabbat. I was able to do it while I was in Israel, but it was much easier there. I was living with a religious family, and I had no real responsibility within the country. At home, back in the USA, it is much more difficult for me to maintain the Sabbath. How do I not do any of the usual things on a Friday night and on a Saturday that I usually do. That is the one day that I am free to catch up on many of the smaller dealings that I may have missed throughout the week: laundry, market,......maybe a movie. Also, my Saturday mornings have been routinely committed to racquetball in Golden Gate Park. And even though the game itself is not really that important to me, I could easily skip it and not lose too much on sleep, the event itself is a large benefit to my friend who normally doesn't exercise much.

Why do I bring my reservation? It is because I have been invited over for the length of a Shabbat next week to the home of a nice Israeli couple, and as much as I like the idea of resting for the day, and getting in some reading, I just don't feel that my time will be very well spent since it is the only time that I have entirely free. I need that time to recuperate and to do some of the things that I may deem necessary to my mental health, even if it is sleeping in front of the tv (and tv, is a no-no on Shabbat).

I don't like turning people down. Most of the time, I want to go and to enjoy whatever it is that they want me to experience, but some of these things are harder to do than others, and presently, keeping an orthodoxy Sabbath is right up there for me.