Shabbat Overview
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."
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