What Does Shabbos Have To Do With Halacha?

Gil Student, the learned Kalta Litvak of the JBlogosphere, left me bewildered this morning.

He referred to a column by Rabbi Yakov Horowitz (Full Disclosure: My first cousin) called "Elevator Pitch". The gist of the article was that the essence of Shabbos was summarized in a 30 second conversation that Rabbi Horowitz overheard in an elevator.

Speaking to a non-Jewish colleague, an obviously frum woman said:

You know, the nicest thing about being Jewish is our Shabbos. For 25 hours, I get to turn off my cell phone and email. I just enjoy my husband and children, unwind from the week – and try my best to get closer to God.

Reb Gil wrote:

I believe that only two of these three reasons have support from medieval authorities.

Gil went on to state that enjoying one's spouse and family is not a reason supported by medieval sources. He ends by saying:

Be that as it may, I prefer to stick to the reasons for the mitzvos found in the sources.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

Honestly, I can't even fathom the point Gil is trying to make. To even raise it in the context of Rabbi Horowitz's article suggests a tin-ear of Biblical proportions.

Rabbi Horowitz's whole point is that in order to battle "Walmart" (Rabbi Horowitz's mashal for the internet) we need to make Shabbos warmer, more peaceful and more attractive to our children. With all due respect, having these kinds of intellectual discussions about reasons for Shabbos is the LAST thing we should be doing.

My advice? Let's gather 'round our table on Friday night and sing a few niggunim. You don't even have to bang the table.