Union of Jewish Students

Shabbat

More than Israel has kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept Israel. Ahad Ha-am

Only one of all the Jewish holidays is observed every week throughout the year. It is the Sabbath, the day of rest, the "Queen" of all our holidays. Sabbath observance begins each Friday at sunset and ends Saturday night, one hour past sunset The Sabbath is intended to be a time of peace and rest, a time separate from the weekday's hectic schedule when people can come together to share a special time with their families.

The sages understood this to mean that God created rest on the seventh day. The word "Shabbat" comes from the root Shin-Bet-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest. Resting on the Sabbath, however, is not merely abstinence from weekday labor. The Shabbat observer actively strives for complete physical and spiritual harmony through such means as prayer and song; festive eating and drinking; sharing love with a mate; study, reflection and exchange of ideas; long walks; and visits to friends.

Shabbat incorporates the most cherished values of Jewish tradition, the core elements in Judaism's message to the world: the sanctity and dignity of individual human life; the covenantal relationship between God and Israel; the warmth, closeness and mutual respect of family life; the experience of spiritual joy; and the prospective fulfillment of the "world-to-come" in the Messianic Era.

Shabbat is one of the best known and least understood of all Jewish observances. People who do not observe Shabbat think of it as a day filled with stifling restrictions, or as a day of prayer like the Christian Sabbath. But to those who observe Shabbat, it is a precious gift from G-d, 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 Likrat Kallah (come, my beloved, to meet the [Sabbath] bride). It is said "more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel."

Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. It is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments. It is also the most important special day, even more important than Yom Kippur. This is clear from the fact that more aliyoth (opportunities for congregants to be called up to the Torah) are given on Shabbat than on any other day.

In modern times, 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.

Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zachor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor) Shabbat.

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 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.



The Torah does not prohibit "work" in the 20th century English sense of the word. The Torah prohibits "melachah" (Mem-Lamed-Alef-Kaf-Heh), which is usually translated as "work," but does not mean precisely the same thing as the English word. Before you can begin to understand the Shabbat restrictions, you must understand the word "melachah."
Melachah generally refers to the kind of work that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over your environment. The word may be related to "melekh" (king; Mem-Lamed-Kaf). The quintessential example of melachah is the work of creating the universe, which G-d ceased from on the seventh day. Note that G-d's work did not require a great physical effort: he spoke, and it was done. The word melachah is rarely used in scripture outside of the context of Shabbat and holiday restrictions. The only other repeated use of the word is in the discussion of the building of the sanctuary and its vessels in the wilderness. Exodus Ch. 31, 35-38. Notably, the Shabbat restrictions are reiterated during this discussion (Ex. 31:13), thus we can infer that the work of creating the sanctuary had to be stopped for Shabbat. From this, the rabbis concluded that the work prohibited on Shabbat is the same as the work of creating the sanctuary. They found 39 categories of forbidden acts, all of which are types of work that were needed to build the sanctuary.