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Honor a Jewish hero for justice by making a tax-deductible gift to the Union for Reform Judaism in his or her name. Your gift will provide funding for creative Reform Jewish programming and help ensure the continued growth and strength of Reform Judaism. Affiliate Hat ReformJudaism. Home Jewish Holidays. What to Expect at Shabbat Services. Shabbat's Origins When most people think of holidays, they think of annual celebrations, but in Judaism there is one holiday that occurs every week -- the Sabbath.
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?
In Deuteronomy , while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a might hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Shabbat day. What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It's all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off.
Thus, by resting on the Shabbat, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt. We remember these two meanings of Shabbat when we recite kiddush the prayer over wine sanctifying the Shabbat or a holiday.
Friday night kiddush refers to Shabbat as both zikkaron l'ma'aseh bereishit a memorial of the work in the beginning and zeicher litzi'at mitzrayim a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. Of course, no discussion of Shabbat would be complete without a discussion of the work that is forbidden on Shabbat.
This is another aspect of Shabbat that is grossly misunderstood by people who do not observe it. Most Americans see the word "work" and think of it in the English sense of the word: physical labor and effort, or employment. Under this definition, turning on a light would be permitted, because it does not require effort, but a rabbi would not be permitted to lead Shabbat services, because leading services is his employment.
Jewish law prohibits the former and permits the latter. Sabbath wine is sweet and is usually drunk from a special goblet known as the Kiddush Cup. 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.
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