The gift of Shabbat to a person's spiritual life has assumed a wider, political profile

Would I observe Shabbat?

That was the first major test of my faith, some four decades ago, soon after I had joined the ranks of the baalei teshuvah, newcomers to an Orthodox lifestyle.

Thor Heyerdahl, the famed Norwegian explorer and writer, who had been my favorite author since while high school I had read his best-selling “Kon-Tiki” seafaring memoir, was coming to town. For the first time in my life. I could finally see, and maybe meet, the man I so admired.

Heyerdahl was to speak at the local Museum of Science. On a Friday. When Yom Kippur began.

I checked the schedule in the newspaper. May...