Since it comes once a week, one doesn’t normally think of
the Jewish Sabbath as a holiday. And yet, it is perhaps the most important of
all the Jewish holidays, since it is the axis around which Jewish life
revolves.
“God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy,” says the
book of Genesis, “because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that
God had done” (Genesis 2:3). The seventh day is Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath,
which stretches from sunset on Friday until one hour after sunset on Saturday.
Shabbat is a day on which Jews mirror God’s own rest after creating the world.
Jews are enjoined by the Torah to “remember the Sabbath day
and keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). The sense of kedusha, or holiness, that
permeates Shabbat is a product both of prohibitions against work and of the
customs, ritual, and liturgy that endow the day with meaning.
Shabbat is a time when human beings withdraw from exercising
mastery over the world in order to acknowledge God’s power in the universe. The
prohibitions against work and other “profane” activities distinguish Shabbat as
special and holy. The rabbis defined work as the 39 activities necessary for
building the sanctuary in the desert, for example, baking, sewing, tearing,
building, kindling or extinguishing a fire.
Whereas the prohibitions against work distinguish Shabbat
from the rest of the week, the Jewish week itself is actually defined in terms
of the move toward Shabbat. Sunday, for example, is called yom rishon,
the first day, short for the first day toward Shabbat. Because no work is done
by traditional Jews on Shabbat itself, all preparations must be completed
before sunset on Friday—cleaning the house, shopping, cooking food for Shabbat,
and setting the Shabbat table with the necessary ritual items (candlesticks,
wine, kiddush cups, two challot, and a challah plate) as well as a special
tablecloth, nice china, and flowers. For observant Jews, appliances must be
either left on during the entire time
of Shabbat, or turned off beforehand, though special automatic Shabbat lights
may be set prior to Shabbat, and boiling water prepared and left on a low
burner. Traditionally, guests are invited to Shabbat meals.
Traditional Shabbat observance moves between the home and
the synagogue. The first Shabbat service is the Kabbalat shabbat
(“Welcoming the Sabbath”) service, developed by the mystics in the northern
Galilee town of Safed in the 16th century to celebrate the Sabbath as bride.
Immediately following is the Maariv, or evening, service, whose
combination of nusach (musical style) and the context (at the close of
day) create an atmosphere of quiet and peace. The traditional Shabbat greeting,
Shabbat Shalom, a peaceful Sabbath, embodies this mood.
At home, the lighting of candles (traditionally18 minutes
before sundown) initiates Shabbat, literally bringing the light of Shabbat into
the household. Some parents bless their children on returning from services or
at the Shabbat meal. As family and guests gather around the dinner table, they
may sing Shalom Aleichem. This
song celebrates the sense of divine intimacy and security embodied in Shabbat
by wishing peace to the “ministering angels,” who, as it were, escort the worshippers home from the synagogue in the
imagination of one Talmudic sage. The kiddush (the blessing over the
wine which ties Shabbat both to the creation of the world and to the Exodus
from Egypt) is chanted; hands may be washed ritually (traditionally observant
Jews perform this ritual before every meal; liberally observant Jews perform
this ritual to enhance special occasions); and then the motzi, or
blessing over the bread, is recited. For Ashkenazi Jews, the Shabbat meal
traditionally includes chicken soup, roast chicken, and gefilte fish. The
leisurely Shabbat meal is accompanied by the singing of special Shabbat songs,
or zemirot, and concludes with the birkat hamazon, or blessing
after meals.
Communal prayer on Shabbat morning begins with an extended
Shacharit, or morning, service, but the most distinctive feature of the morning
service is the Torah reading. Each week one portion, or parashah, of the
Torah is read aloud in the synagogue, in order to complete the entire Torah in
the course of the year. A related prophetic reading, the haftarah,
follows the Torah reading. The traditional morning service ends with the Musaf,
or additional service, which commemorates the additional Shabbat sacrifice in
Temple times.
At the minchah, or afternoon, service, a short
portion of Torah is read from the following week’s parashah, and after the
service is the third meal, or seudah shlishit, at which more zmirot are
sung. Later, the Maariv service is followed by Havdalah, a special
ceremony that marks the transition from the holiness of Shabbat back to the
everyday.
