According to the Book of Exodus , work is to cease on the seventh day in order to give slaves and draft animals rest, a statute that must be observed even during the critical plowing and harvest seasons. The Book of Deuteronomy's version embodies this humanitarian motive in its divergent rationale of the Shabbat rest - Israel is to keep the Shabbat so that its slaves might rest, and because God so commanded. God's instructions for building the Tabernacle begins with an admonition to keep the Shabbat , indicating its precedence even over the duty of building the Sanctuary.
The Shabbat is then called a sign of both God's consecration of Israel and of His six-day creation. The Shabbat is one of the best known and least understood of all Jewish observances. People who do not generally observe the stringincies of the day think of it as a day filled with stifling restrictions, or as a day of prayer like the Christian Shabbat.
But to those who observe Shabbat, it is a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits. In Jewish literature, poetry and music, Shabbat is described as a bride or queen, as in the popular Shabbat hymn Lecha Dodi. It is said "more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel. The word "Shabbat" comes from the root Shin-Bet-Tav , meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.
Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism and is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments. It is also the most important special day, even more so than Yom Kippur. Shabbat is not specifically a day of prayer.
Although substantial time is usually spent in synagogue praying, prayer is not what distinguishes Shabbat from the rest of the week.
Observant Jews pray every day, three times a day. To say that Shabbat is a day of prayer is no more accurate than to say that Shabbat is a day of feasting: we eat every day, but on Shabbat, we eat more elaborately and in a more leisurely fashion. The same can be said of prayer on Shabbat. In modern America, we take the five-day work-week so much for granted that we forget what a radical concept a day of rest was in ancient times.
The weekly day of rest has no parallel in any other ancient civilization. In ancient times, leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes only, never for the serving or laboring classes. In addition, the very idea of rest each week was unimaginable. The Greeks thought Jews were lazy because we insisted on having a "holiday" every seventh day. We are commanded to remember Shabbat; but remembering means much more than merely not forgetting to observe Shabbat.
It also means to remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a commemoration of creation and as a commemoration of our freedom from slavery in Egypt. In Exodus , after Fourth Commandment is first instituted, G-d explains, "because for six days, the L-rd made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, he rested; therefore, the L-rd blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it. We also emulate the divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day, as G-d did.
If G-d's work can be set aside for a day of rest, how can we believe that our own work is too important to set aside temporarily? Reform Jews try to keep Shabbat, but if this is not possible they try not to worry too much.
Often Reform Jews light candles after sunset. Also, while they try to complete the symbolic rituals, they may alter the timings. It is permissible for Reform Jews not to keep Shabbat if, for example, they are on holiday.
They may also drive to the synagogue to attend services during Shabbat. In Jewish homes, a number of preparations are made before Shabbat. The house is tidied and food is prepared, and two candles are placed on the dining table. Also on the table will be two loaves of challah bread to represent the food God provided for the Jews when they were walking through the desert in flight from Egypt.
On Friday evening the Shabbat is welcomed with the lighting of the two candles. Traditionally, the mother of the family places her hands over her eyes and recites a blessing to welcome Shabbat.
First, switching on a light does not create electric power; the power exists already. Second, there is no combustion in the filament of an electric light. Nevertheless, Orthodox Jews do not use electric appliances on the Sabbath, believing that the prohibition against kindling a fire was not based on the physical effort involved in rubbing two stones together to produce a spark but rather on the thought and planning that resulted in its generation.
An exception is the refrigerator, which may be opened and closed because any electric current that this produces is incidental and without conscious intent. However, many observant Jews unscrew the refrigerator bulb for the Sabbath. Lights that have been kindled before the Sabbath, such as the Sabbath candles, are allowed, as are an oven for keeping previously cooked food warm and a burner to keep water warm for coffee or tea.
Similarly, it is permitted to leave an electric appliance running during the Sabbath and to use a timer to automatically turn an appliance on or off, as long as the timer is set before the Sabbath begins.
One mechanism to ease the difficulty of complying with the prohibition against work on the Sabbath was the concept of the Shabbos goy — a non-Jew hired by an observant family to perform certain activities forbidden to Jews on the Sabbath, such as starting a fire and turning lights on and off.
However, the proliferation of electronic timers has virtually eliminated the need for the Shabbos goy. The drinking of wine on the Sabbath symbolises joy and celebration. It is also traditional to eat challah, a soft rich eggy bread in the shape of a braid. Challah is a eaten on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays except for the Passover when leavened bread is not permitted.
Under Jewish law, every Jew must eat three meals on the Sabbath. One of the meals must include bread. Observant Jews will usually eat challah at the beginning of a Sabbath meal. The blessing for daughters asks that they become like the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, while sons are blessed to grow up like Ephraim and Menasheh, two brothers who lived in harmony.
Some of the family will have been to synagogue before the Sabbath meal, and it is likely that the whole family will go on Saturday. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
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