The practise of Shabbat

The Meaning

• Involves 2 interrelated commandments1. Zachor – To Remember

• Exodus 20:11 – God rested on the 7th day.• Deuteronomy 5:15 – You are free from slavery

(and all things – work)

2. Shamor – To Observe• Exodus 31:13 - infer that the work of creating the

sanctuary had to be stopped for Shabbat. 39 categories of forbidden acts.

Friday

• Jews leave early from work and school to prepare for Shabbat.

• Mothers cook ahead of time.

The Spirit of "Menuchah"

• Meaning - to rest, settle down, remain, repose, or be quiet.

• Torah

– Genesis 2:2-3• On the seventh day God finished the work… and ceased from all the work …

and God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation.

– Exodus 20:8

• “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”.

– Deuteronomy 5:12

• in the second version, we are told to "observe" the Sabbath.

Menuchah in halakhah

• Halakhah = codified Jewish law.• During the construction of the 2nd temple

(20 BCE) Rabbis codified Menuchah to ensure a day of rest.

• Tasks associated with the construction of the temple (sanctuary), and their support, were outlawed during Shabbat.– Sowing, Ploughing, burning fire, hammering, cooking

etc.

• See Exodus 31

Lighting of the Candles

• Why? - Shabbat brings light into your universe, and you symbolize this by lighting candles. The rat race, the bills, the Weird Wired World—for 24 hours, it’s gone. You escape. Mums and dads and kids come closer together.

• Who? The woman lights the Shabbos candles because it is her responsibility to illuminate the house with the light of Torah and Mitzvot (or following the commandments of God).

Lighting of the Candles

• Why women?– "The candle of G-d is the soul of Man."1 Eve brought death into this world through

convincing her husband to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, causing this G-dly candle to be extinguished. To "atone" for this, the responsibility of lighting the Shabbos candles was given to the women.

• What now? After the candles are lit, it’s time for family time. Quality time. Everyone sits around the Shabbat table, around the Shabbat candles, and spends the Shabbat meal time with one another. Shabbat—the weekly family retreat, the way it was meant to be. Young girls start lighting as soon as they can recite the blessing, this is usually some time around their third birthday.

Kiddush

• Meaning - is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat or a Jewish holiday.

• Reciting kiddush before the meal on the eve of Shabbat and Jewish holidays is thus regarded as a commandment from the Torah.

Text for Kiddush• [And it was evening and it was morning], the sixth day. And the heavens and

the earth and all their hosts were completed. And God finished by the seventh day His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He rested from all His work which God created to function.

• Attention, gentlemen, [rabbis, and my teachers]!• Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of

the vine. (Amen)• Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us

with His commandments, has desired us, and has given us, in love and good will, His holy Shabbat as a heritage, in remembrance of the work of Creation; the first of the holy festivals, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us and sanctified us from among all the nations, and with love and good will given us Your holy Shabbat as a heritage. Blessed are You, Lord, who sanctifies the Shabbat. (Amen)

Shabbat Meal• After kiddush is said, the procedure is the same as the

Friday night meal: 1. Washing hands in preparation for eating the challah

• Water -- symbolic of Torah; wisdom. Water is the essence of physical life, for without it we would die; whereas wisdom is the essence of spiritual life, the foundation of self-growth and self-realization.

• Hands -- symbolic of our interaction in the physical world.

2. Ha-motzi blessing and eating of the challah• Any traditional Jewish meal begins with the breaking of bread.

3. Zemirot -- songs for Shabbat day 4. Devar Torah -- words of Torah5. Grace after Meals

Shabbat is welcomed into Jewish homes across the world every Friday evening.

Before sundown, two candles are lit by the woman of the house.

Next, the father of the house says a prayer over the children

The father of the house pours out some wine into a special cup and says a prayer before taking a sip and passing it around everyone in the family.

Everyone then washes their hands using a special cup.

Two loaves of bread called ‘challah’ are uncovered.

The bread is cut and sprinkled with salt. Everyone enjoys a slice.

Finally, everyone sits down to enjoy a beautiful meal together. The meal lasts the whole evening. It is a time to share news from the week and to sing songs.

Study of the Torah

• Torah study is counted amongst the 613 mitzvot ("[Biblical] commandments"), finding its source in the verse (Deuteronomy 6:7): "And you shall teach it to your children," upon which the Talmud comments that "Study is necessary in order to teach." The importance of study is attested to in another Talmudic discussion about which is preferred: study or action. The answer there, a seeming compromise, is "study that leads to action."

Study of the Torah

• Although the word "Torah" refers specifically to the Five Books of Moses, in Judaism the word also refers to the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), the Talmud and other religious works, even including the study of Kabbalah, Hasidism, Mussar and much more.

Saturday

• Shabbat Service - 9 am until 12 pm

• Family again studies Torah

• Seudah Shlishit - Light meal

• Concluding evening Saturday.

Havdalah

• means "distinction" or "separation," and that is exactly what it accomplishes: Marking the transition from the holiness of the Sabbath to the ordinariness of weekdays.

• Havdalah involves several steps: recitation of opening verses, a blessing over wine or another drink, a blessing over fragrant spices, a blessing over the flame, and a blessing of Havdalah, the separation of Shabbat and weekday.