“I was there for 10 minutes, and already I felt calmer.”

And in that moment, I was reminded once again how Shabbat is a practice that when regularly “practiced,” sensitizes us to shabbats that arise when we are least expecting them. And that is a central element for what it means to live Jewishly.

Yesterday, Ann Friedman and I visited the Auspicious Cloud Retreat Center in Chappell Hill, just an hour outside of Houston. Formerly the Margaret Austin Center, and now owned by the Houston Zen Center, this retreat center is where CSK’s first Shabbat retreat will take place, this coming March 17-19.