Elegant, passionate, and filled with the love of God's creation, Abraham Hoshua Heschel's The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication in 1951—and has been read by thousands of people of many faiths seeking meaning in modern life. In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the enormously influential idea of an "architecture of holiness" that appears not in space but in time. Judaism, he argues, is the religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the material things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that "the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals."

赫舍尔（Abraham Joshua Heschel,1907～72），波兰出生的美国犹太拉比，二次大战时在纳粹德国失去母亲与姊妹，流亡至美国后，在美国犹太神学院（JewishTheological Seminary ofAmerica）担任神秘主义与伦理学教授。他集学者、作家、行动家与神学家等多种身份于一身，一生追寻真正的自由与信仰，也是作品广受基督徒阅读的犹太神学家之一，其中《先知》入选《今日基督教》二十世纪百大好书。他最具影响力的作品除本书外，还包括《觅人的上帝》、《人不是孤岛》等。赫舍尔曾与马丁路德?金博士一起参与1965年的美国民权运动游行，他写道：“当我在赛尔玛游行，我的脚在祈祷。”（WhenI marched in Selma, my feet were praying.）

作者的最后一个安息日，与家人和许多朋友共享了一顿美好的晚餐，饭后有位来宾朗读其年轻时写的意第绪语诗篇。他那晚入睡后，便再也没有醒来了。在犹太传统里，一个人在睡梦中过世，被称为“上帝之吻”；而在安息日过世，则是一个虔诚人配得的礼物。作者曾经写道：“在敬畏神的人，死亡是项殊荣。”