Palace or Prision

For many of my contemporaries, AJ Heschel's The Sabbath was an influential book that enhanced and explained the significance of Shabbat. (if there is someone who found this book not to be inspirational, I'd love to hear your critique).

Heschel refers to Shabbat as a 'Palace in Time' - I have often said to family members that during the LONG summer days one can measure one's attitude whether Shabbat is indeed a palace or a prison by how they react to the extended afternoon.

So too, whenever I visit a school (and for that matter a different community) and pray together, I often try to measure the attitude of the participants whether the tefilla is a palace or prison. Take this metaphor out for a spin and see what you think. What could you do to change the atmosphere?