Just one Shabbos

Notwithstanding the rally organized in Baltimore to promote the observance of Shabbos, the Baltimore Jewish Times has reported that the Rosenbloom Owings Mills Jewish Community Center board voted to open on the Sabbath by a vote tally of 97-33.

In an article entitled "Rabbis Weigh In On JCC Issue", Rabbi Nochum Katsenelenbogen stated the following:

"Everything a person sees or hears is to teach us a lesson in our service to G-d, so what can we learn from this?
1) If we do not constantly grow in our Judaism, we automatically slide downwards. If we don’t work on making Shabbos more meaningful in our lives, then Shabbos will lose its value. Each of us must choose a personal way to bring the beauty of Shabbos into our week in a more practical way.
2) There is a cloud of darkness and challenges hovering over us. We must combat it with light — the light of the Shabbat candles. I encourage everyone to light the Shabbat candles before sunset on Friday and to encourage another Jew to do the same. That is our mission in these challenging times.
3) An elderly man came to me and said, “How can the JCC do this? My father came off the boat. He called it ‘Shabbos Kodesh — the holy Shabbos.’ I call it ‘Shabbat.’ My children call it ‘Saturday.’ My grandchildren know it as the ‘day before Superbowl Sunday.’ Oy vey, what will be with us!” And the fellow burst into tears. His neshama [soul] knew and he felt that this is wrong, although he himself is not an observant Jew."

http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/rabbis_weigh_in_on_jcc_issue/12538

"The Babylonian Talmud states:
Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: "If all the Jews were to observe just two Shabbatot properly, Redemption would come immediately." (Shabbat 118b)
The Jerusalem Talmud states:
If all the Jews were to observe just one Shabbat properly, the Son of David would come. (Ta'anit 1:1)
We may say that the sources are not actually contradictory. In truth, we must observe only one Shabbat, as stated in the Jerusalem Talmud, but the one we must observe is the second Shabbat, as stated in the Babylonian Talmud. There is, after all, a significant difference between the first Shabbat and the second. A Shabbat observed in a spiritual vacuum would surely be spiritually uplifting, but this is not the type of Shabbat which would lead to Redemption. This first Shabbat should serve a different purpose, optimally influencing the ensuing week, effecting Sunday, Monday, etc. The spiritual value of that first Shabbat observed gives a different hue to the rest of the week.
The second Shabbat, approached after a week so influenced, is completely different. It marks a spiritual apex, not a spiritual island. This is the type of Shabbat whose observance will bring about Redemption. It is the Shabbat of a week, and a world, uplifted. (see "Pri Tzaddik," Rabbi Zaddok HaCohen)"

http://www.aish.com/shabbatthemes/explorations/Shabbat_Imitating_Creation.asp