Charlie Kirk, 31, observed the Jewish Sabbath. Here are some details Buried near the bottom One of many profiles published by conservative leaders since the news broke. Every week from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, Kirk turns off his phone, spend time with his wife and children, and rest.
I found it surprising – he is a evangelical Christian. I also found it moving unexpectedly. This famous Christian figure shared in a precious ceremony that Jews like me around the world have practiced for centuries. I Found the video he explained Why is he attracted to the Sabbath; Writing a bookwill come out in December this year, telling why he observed it to be so transformative.
Impatiently waiting for updates as we all refresh and scroll on our phones (the shooter is still big when I write this – I ran into Kirk’s most inflammatory remarks. I also saw the defense of his political allies, friends and followers.
But when I think of his wife losing her husband and his two children losing her father, these contradictions don’t matter. I just feel sad.
Sabbath is not just a break. This is a relentless effort to modern life, prioritizing family and spiritual reflection over productivity and the intense conduct of the public sphere. A weekly reminder that there are things that are more important than removing the political battles that we focus on everyday. 24 hours a week, Kirk chooses to disconnect from the platforms and conflicts that make him a star.
Shiva creates space for the complexity of grief.
This step-by-step approach, creating a divine reflection time, reminded me of other things: the Jewish rituals of Shiva. Shiva is a seven-day period of mourning that begins immediately after the death of the Jews. During this time, the mourners sit at home while friends and community members visit to provide comfort, share memories and provide practical support. Prayer is brought and tells stories, not just the achievements of the dead, but about their full humanity. It provides people with some of the toughest, most disoriented moments, and a warm and firm structure for people, which is one of the aspects of Judaism that I have always appreciated the most.
Shiva creates space for the complexity of grief. It acknowledges that mourning is not simple, even when people we disagree or those who disappoint us leave, they leave real holes in the world. It provides a structure to deal with losses without us sterilizing or simplifying the dead.
Currently, I find myself thinking about what Shiva might offer us after Kirk’s death. It’s not because my politics addressed my feelings, but I didn’t. He said that even when it comes to Judaism Some blatant anti-Semitic things. But he Push backwards In other cases against young conservatives, embrace the online conspiracy about Jews and Israel.
Shiva created a ritual space for sitting all of this, rather than asking us to solve everything first.
We don’t know much about Sagittarius. But we do know that they choose to use bullets rather than arguments, debates or democratic participation to address some kind of dissatisfaction. This choice should scare anyone who believes in living peacefully in a diverse society. This scares me.
The Sabbath practice observed by Kirk restores a pattern from the intensity of political battles. Shiva’s rituals offer another – a way to maintain complexity, real mourning, while maintaining our principles, finding our humanity even in the face of profound differences.
On the seventh and final day of Lord Shiva, the mourners often make symbolic walks on the streets, marking their transition to everyday life. In Jewish law, the formal obligation of mourning is related to a particular family relationship, regardless of its quality. Even if the parents have a tense relationship or are abused, a child needs to mourn. Brothers and sisters will mourn whether they feel personal or the conflicts in the past are profound. The basic idea is that mourning serves not only personal relationships, but also a broader obligation to respect family relationships and recognize losses to the community.
Kirk may not be part of me or your political tribe, but we can understand mourning his killings is an obligation to our wider community – in this case, our country.
Even if the rabbi acknowledges that the relationship is difficult or disruptive, the focus remains on the purpose of mourning: respecting the dead while caring for life. It creates spaces to pass a sense of mixing, provides community support during trauma, and provides structure for moving forward. Obligation covers both – respecting those who die and helping those who stay.
This framework can go beyond the family. Kirk may not be part of me or your political tribe, but we can understand mourning his killings is an obligation to our wider community – in this case, our country. Someone walked up to a person who gave a speech and shot. That should bother anyone and keep us all safe.
I’ve been thinking about Kirk’s two little kids, who now only grow up with their father’s story. They inherited not only his absence, but also the strange burden of his public legacy.
Perhaps this is where Shiva’s practice becomes most relevant – not as a neat metaphor for political healing, but rather an acknowledgement that grief is always messier than we want. The ceremony does not require the mourner to address their complexity about the dead. It just creates the space to sit with them. It says you can even hate someone’s position but still be shocked by the fact that they disappear. You can object to their ideas, but still feel the mistake of ending violence.
Both Sabbath and Shiva remind us that life is not just politics, and death is always more than the end of the argument.
