Shabbat in the Year 2100 One of the great challenges of our world is that things are constantly changing. Technology becomes old after just a few years; styles are outdated in a flash; what’s new quickly becomes old. Everything in our society is fragile and short-lived. The Rambam, in the very beginning of his major work, Mishneh Torah , discusses the fundamental tenets of Jewish faith, and mentions our belief that G-d is the only thing that endures forever, that never changes, and that is not dependent on anything or any factor. The Torah, which G-d wrote and which He gave us, is likewise eternal and not subject to change. It is therefore called תורת אמת – which is commonly translated as “the true Torah,” but actually refers to the Torah’s everlasting, consistent and unchanging nature. We are very fortunate in our ever-changing world to have something which we know with absolute certainty will never change and will forever remain in its current form. Our tefillin will always look the same, tzitzit will always look the same, and Torah will always remain the same. Even as everything in our world changes at dizzying speeds, we can feel secure in our eternally unchanging Torah. The same is true of Shabbat. The Gemara in Masechet Hullin (101) says that Shabbat is קביעא וקיימא – consistent and permanent. The holidays we observe occur on calendar dates, which are dependent upon the declaration of the new months by the Bet Din (rabbinic court). Shabbat, however, occurs every seven days, irrespective and independent of any factor in the universe. In a world that is constantly changing, we find comfort each week with the onset of Shabbat, which is one of the very few consistent, reliable, and unchanging features of life. In 1974, somebody approached a certain Jewish philanthropist and proposed the idea of having the Shabbat candle lighting time printed in the New York Times every Friday. This would have the effect of spreading awareness of the great mitzvah of Shabbat, and also instill pride in Jews everywhere over their faith. The man was sold on the idea, and for the next 25 years, he paid $2,000 a week to the New York Times to publish a notice in the corner of the Friday paper informing Jewish women of the proper time for Shabbat candle lighting in New York City. The notice also included a phone number for people to call for more information about Shabbat (1-800-SABBATH). In the spring of 1999, this philanthropist decided to stop sponsoring this project, and the candle lighting notice never again appeared in the New York Times, except once. One January 1, 2000, the New York Times ran three front pages in honor of the new millennium. It reprinted the front page from a century earlier, on January 1, 1900; it had the regular front page for that day, January 1, 2000; and it printed a fictional front page for January 1, 2100, in an attempt to foresee what the news might be one hundred years into the future. This imaginary front page included a fictitious article about the incorporation of Cuba as the 51 st state, and a piece covering a controversy as to whether robots should be allowed to vote. Interestingly, in the corner of the front page, there was a notice announcing the time of Shabbat candle lighting in New York City for that week. The production manager, an Irish Catholic, was asked about the inclusion of this notice, and he said, “We don’t know what will happen in the year 2100. It is impossible to predict the future. But of one thing you can be certain, that in the year 2100 Jewish women will be lighting Shabbos candles.” Remarkably, even this Catholic manager working for the New York Times recognized the unique consistency and permanence of Shabbat, and astutely observed that Shabbat is one of the very few things in our world that can be predicted with certainty. While everything around us constantly changes, we know with absolute confidence that every Friday night, we will have candles, special food, words of Torah, and beautiful zemirot . The width and pattern of the tie cannot be predicted, or the color and style of the furniture of the kinds of foods that we eat. But the Shabbat experience will always be the same, and this is something that we should always appreciate, each and every week.