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Katy Perry Wishes The Whole World Could Have Shabbos

Katy Perry Wishes The Whole World Could Have Shabbos

“Speaking from someone who has a lot of social media spotlight, I feel like social media is very narcissistic and displays a life that isn’t really real,” pop star, Katy Perry told Cosmopolitan.com in a recent interview. She went on to say “I wish there was a thing like Shabbat that wasn’t particularly religious-based, that was kind of a worldwide day where we’re not on our phones — like a movement. I just think something like this would be really great for our minds, especially because kids today — if they weren’t born in the 80s — don’t even know what a life without internet is like. And I think it’s going to be really difficult for our focus and our attention spans moving forward. So I’d love if the world implemented an actual day of real rest.”

Growing up in a non-shomer shabbos family, I remember being so relieved that I wasn’t one of those Orthodox Jews who had to do the whole “boring” shabbat thing every week. I was “free” to do whatever I wanted on Friday nights and Saturdays. And here we have a major celebrity (who’s not even Jewish), who could have any material thing imaginable yet she longingly looks at the gift of shabbos and wishes that she and the rest of the world could have it too.

When I read this quote from Perry, I immediately thought of the prophecy from Amos from some 2800 years ago: “Hi’ne yamim ba’im, ve’hishlachti ra’av ba’arets lo ra’av la’lechem ve’lo tsama la’mayim ki im lishmoa et divrei Hashem.” (Behold, days will come that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.) We live in remarkably affluent times (at least in the Western world), but something is missing for so many people. With conveniences unimaginable in previous generations – all available at the touch of a button – there is a hunger for something else: to unplug and reconnect – “to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.”

May we merit to see a world of spiritual hunger and fulfillment.

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raquel rives says on May 8, 2016
Katy Perry is a very smart and sensitive young woman. She is correct in her description of how the excess of social media and technology is affecting all of us, especially the younger generation. Her analogy between a worldwide need for a day of rest from the use of technology and a religious Shabbat is very insightful.
Yes, our Creator knew that we would need a weekly day of speritual and physical rest. A day to reconnect with our creator. A reminder of who we are and why we are here. The sabbath day is a blessing from our God. As a Seventh Day Adventist I rejoyce in observing the holy sabbath and look forward to it with reverence.
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Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs is the founder and executive director of Jew in the City has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, People Magazine, NYPost, Daily News, TMZ, The Daily Beast, and Hollywood Reporter. She has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, JTA, Jewish Week, Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and Kveller. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.