Shelter from the Storm? Effects of Shabbat Observance in the Context of Mass Trauma and Exploring Rituals’ Mechanistic Pathways

The October 7th attacks in Israel and the ensuing war caused widespread psychological distress and collective trauma. Research demonstrates that religious rituals can promote adaptive coping. We examined the roles of Shabbat observance and cognitive-affective experience of Shabbat in coping with traumatic exposure. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of Israeli Jews’ (N = 423) exposure to events of October 7, Shabbat observance, reports of emotions and spiritual gains related to Shabbat, other experiential spiritual/religious factors, and self-reported severity of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (GAD-7, PHQ-9, PCL-5). War-related exposure was associated with more severe symptoms. Shabbat observance was linked to lower symptom severity, as were Shabbat-related positive affect and spiritual gains in most cases. Regression analyses showed that Shabbat observance and Shabbat-related positive affect had independent main effects predicting reduced symptom severity. Serial mediation analyses showed partial mediation, with Shabbat observance predicting lower symptoms' severity primarily through increased positive affect, supported by a secondary pathway from spiritual gains to positive affect and a remaining direct effect of Shabbat observance beyond the affective and spiritual pathways. Shabbat observance may not buffer effects of war exposure but does provide a counteracting resource for coping that has interrelated ties to mental health via affective, behavioral, and cognitive pathways highlighting rituals’ multidimensional nature and therapeutic potential in the context of mass trauma.