“The idea that man should rest from his work one day every week sounds to us like a self-evident social-hygienic measure”

To the modern mind, there is not much of a problem in the Sabbath institution.  The idea that man should rest from his work one day every week sounds to us like a self-evident social-hygienic measure intended to give man the physical and spiritual rest and relaxation he needs in order not to be swallowed up by his daily work.

Erich Fromm, The Forgotten Language: An Introduction to the Understanding of Dreams, Fairy Tales and Myths (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1951), 243.