There are laws on the books in Israel that prohibit teenagers from working on the Sabbath. Ultra-Orthodox Jews want to see similar rules that prevent people from going to beach, visiting shopping malls and talking on their cell phones on the Sabbath. People dress up for Shabbat and go to considerable trouble to ensure that everything is organised to obey the commandment to make the Sabbath a delight. The woman of the house usually performs this ritual.
It is an integral part of Jewish custom and ceremony. The candles are placed in candlesticks. They mark the beginning of each Sabbath and represent the two commandments Zachor to remember the Sabbath and Shamor to observe the Sabbath.
After the candles are lit, Jewish families will drink wine. 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. 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. Other blessings, prayers, songs and readings may also be used. 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. Most Jewish holidays are movable feasts, whose dates are defined by the Jewish lunar calendar and thus, like Easter, are on different dates every year. Work is forbidden on some Jewish holidays as it is on the Sabbath. The Jewish day begins at sunset, which means that all Jewish holidays begin the evening before their western date. Holidays begin at sunset, often with a service after sundown.
This has an historical basis in the difficulties faced accurately determining the Jewish calendar based on the lunar cycle. Jews living outside Israel being unsure of a festival's exact date would celebrate for an extra day. Although dates can be calculated accurately now, many non-Israeli Jews still follow this practice.
Hanukkah and Purim commemorate the saving of Jews from desperate situations. The Feast of Weeks is Shavuot. The Feast of Booths is Sukkoth. During ancient times these were the great festivals in which Jews were obligated to make visits to the Temple and make sacrifices.
The synagogue services for this festival emphasise God's kingship and include the blowing of the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. This is also God's time for judgement. Jews believe God balances a person's good deeds over the last year against their bad deeds and decides their fate accordingly. The 10 days beginning with Rosh Hashanah are known as the Days of Awe, during which Jews are expected to find all the people they have hurt during the previous year and apologise to them.
They have until Yom Kippur to do this. On Yom Kippur Jews believe God makes the final decision on who will live, die, prosper and fail during the next year, and seals his judgement in the Book of Life. It is a day of fasting. Worship includes the confession of sins and asking for forgiveness, which is done aloud by the entire congregation. For the duration of the festival Jewish families live in temporary huts called sukkot singular: sukkah that they build out of branches and leaves.
Each day they hold celebrations with four types of plant: branches of palm, myrtle and willow and a citrus fruit called an etrog. Sukkot is intended to be a joyful festival that lets Jews live close to nature and know that God is taking care of them. Jews spend some time in their sukkah, but not as much, and without some of the rituals.
Synagogues read from the Torah every week, completing one read-through each year. They reach the end on Simchat Torah and this holiday marks the completion of the cycle, to begin again the next week with Genesis.
When they came to rededicate the temple, they had only enough sacred oil to light the menorah seven-branched candlestick for one day. It is said that the candles stayed lit for eight days despite this. During the eight days of Hanukkah, Jews light one extra candle on a special nine-branched menorah, called chanukkiya, each night.
They say prayers and eat fried foods to remind them of the oil. Some gifts are exchanged, including chocolate money and special spinning tops called dreidels. The Torah forbids Jews to eat the fruit of new trees for three years after they are planted.
The fourth year's fruit was to be tithed to the Temple. Tu B'Shevat was counted as the birthday for all trees for tithing purposes, like the beginning of a fiscal year.
On Tu B'Shevat Jews often eat fruits associated with the Holy Land, especially the seven plants mentioned in the Torah: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Planting trees is another tradition. The Jewish heroine Esther, wife of the king Ahasuerus, persuaded her husband to prevent the massacre and execute Haman. Because Esther fasted before going to the king, Purim is preceded by a fast. On Purim itself, however, Jews are commanded to eat, drink a lot and celebrate. Almsgiving is also a very important Purim tradition.
The Book of Esther is read in the synagogue and the congregation use rattles, cymbals and boos to drown out Haman's name whenever it appears. During Passover, Jews remember the story of the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt. God unleashed ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in the death of every family's eldest son.
God told the Israelites to sacrifice lambs and mark their doors with the blood to escape this fate. They ate the lambs with bitter herbs and unleavened bread unrisen bread without yeast. These form three of the components of the family meal, called the seder, eaten by Jews on the first two nights of Passover. There are blessings, songs and other ingredients to symbolise parts of the story. During the meal the adults explain the symbolism to the children. Historically, at this time of year the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the temples.
Shavuot also marks the time that the Jews were given the Torah on Mount Sinai. Shavuot is marked by prayers of thanks for the Holy Book and study of its scriptures. Customs include decorating synagogues with flowers and eating dairy foods. Other tragedies are commemorated on this day, such as the beginning of World War I and the Holocaust. As Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning Jews observe a strict fast and avoid laughing, joking and chatting. Synagogues are dimly lit and undecorated and the Torah draped in black cloth.
Usually falling in September, it is a two day festive occasion that begins with the blowing of a ram's horn in the synagogue during a service that is held after sundown on the eve of the holiday. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. During Biblical times Rosh ha-Shanah apparently was not associated with the new year but rather it was a "memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns" commemorating Abraham's sacrifice of a ram instead of his son Isaac Muslims celebrate the same event but say it was Abraham's other son Ishmael who was not sacrificed and celebrate it on a different day.
It lasts 2 days. The traditional greeting between Jews is "L'shanah tovah" Rosh Hashanah is also a judgement day, when Jews believe that God balances a person's good deeds over the last year against their bad deeds, and decides what the next year will be like for them. God records the judgement in the Book of Life, where he sets out who is going to live, who is going to die, who will have a good time and who will have a bad time during the next year. The book and the judgement are finally sealed on Yom Kippur.
That's why another traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting is "Be inscribed and sealed for a good year". One of the synagogue rituals for Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the Shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. A hundred notes are sounded in a special rhythm.
A special meal is served, with the emphasis on sweetness. Apples are dipped in honey, as a symbol of the sweet New Year that each Jew hopes lies ahead. A sweet carrot stew called a tzimmes is often served.
And at New Year the Jewish Hallah or Challah bread served comes as a round loaf, rather than the plaited loaf served on the Sabbath, so as to symbolise a circle of life and of the year. There's often a pomegranate on the table because of a tradition that pomegranates have seeds, one for each of the commandments that a Jew is obliged to keep. It has traditionally been a day period of penitence that begins with the Rosh ha-Shanah and ends with Yom Kippur.
So during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur everyone gets a chance to repent teshuvah. So Jews are expected to find all the people they have hurt during the previous year and apologise to them. And it must be a sincere and an effective apology. As you can imagine, a lot of making-up for hurts and insults goes on in the Jewish world during this period. It is very healing time for both individual and community.
Jews will also spend much time in prayer tefilah , seeking to put themselves into a good relationship with God. A Jewish person goes to a river or a stream and, with appropriate prayers, throws some bread into the water. Day of Atonement is the most sacred and solemn Jewish holiday. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Usually falling in October, it is a day of fasting, which begins at sundown on the previous day and lasts until sundown on Yom Kippur.
Services are held featuring the reading of The Book of Jonah and the asking rabbi to atone the entire community, a ritual that dates back to biblical times. Special melodies and liturgy are used, and the familiar prayers are supplemented with passages in prose and poetry extolling God for the divine gift of the Shabbat and its delights.
At the major worship service on Saturday morning, a portion of the Torah is read aloud as part of a year-long cycle, supplemented by a passage from one of the prophetic books called a haftarah. The rabbis of antiquity deduced that all labors necessary for constructing a sanctuary and its appurtenances should serve as the blueprint for Shabbat prohibitions.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. Shabbat Themes and Theology Shabbat is portrayed in the Bible as the pinnacle of the creation of the universe , and its observance can be seen as a reminder of the purposefulness of the world and the role of human beings in it.
Shabbat History and Development Shabbat, like many important facets of Judaism, has its origins in the Torah , where it is most notable as a day of complete cessation of labor. Join Our Newsletter Empower your Jewish discovery, daily. Sign Up. 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. Notably, the Shabbat restrictions are reiterated during this discussion Ex.
From this, the rabbis concluded that the work prohibited on the 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:. All of these tasks are prohibited, as well as any task that operates by the same principle or has the same purpose. In addition, the rabbis have prohibited coming into contact with any implement that could be used for one of the above purposes for example, you may not touch a hammer or a pencil , travel, buying and selling, and other weekday tasks that would interfere with the spirit of Shabbat.
The use of electricity is prohibited because it serves the same function as fire or some of the other prohibitions, or because it is technically considered to be "fire.
The issue of the use of an automobile on Shabbat, so often argued by non-observant Jews, is not really an issue at all for observant Jews. The automobile is powered by an internal combustion engine, which operates by burning gasoline and oil, a clear violation of the Torah prohibition against kindling a fire.
In addition, the movement of the car would constitute transporting an object in the public domain, another violation of a Torah prohibition, and in all likelihood the car would be used to travel a distance greater than that permitted by rabbinical prohibitions. For all these reasons, and many more, the use of an automobile on Shabbat is clearly not permitted. As with almost all of the commandments, all of these Shabbat restrictions can be violated if necessary to save a life. The mood is much like preparing for the arrival of a special, beloved guest: the house is cleaned, the family bathes and dresses up, the best dishes and tableware are set, a festive meal is prepared.
In addition, everything that cannot be done during Shabbat must be set up in advance: lights and appliances must be set or timers placed on them, if the household does so , the light bulb in the refrigerator must be removed, so it does not turn on when you open it, and preparations for the remaining Shabbat meals must be made. The Shabbat, like all Jewish days, begins at sunset, because in the story of creation in Genesis Ch. Shabbat candles are lit and a blessing is recited no later than eighteen minutes before sunset.
This ritual, performed by the woman of the house, officially marks the beginning of the Shabbat. Two candles are lit, representing the two commandments: zachor and shamor. The family then attends a brief evening service 45 minutes - that's brief by Jewish standards - see Jewish Liturgy. After services, the family comes home for a festive, leisurely dinner. Before dinner, it is customary for parents to bless their children.
Then the man of the house recites Kiddush , a prayer over wine sanctifying the Shabbat. The usual prayer for eating bread is recited over two loaves of challah, a sweet, eggy bread shaped in a braid. The family then eats dinner. Although there are no specific requirements or customs regarding what to eat, meals are generally stewed or slow cooked items, because of the prohibition against cooking during the Shabbat.
Things that are mostly cooked before Shabbat and then reheated or kept warm are OK. After dinner, the birkat ha-mazon grace after meals is recited. Although this is done every day, on the Shabbat, it is done in a leisurely manner with many upbeat tunes.
By the time all of this is completed, it may be 9PM or later. The family has an hour or two to talk or study Torah , and then go to sleep. The next morning Shabbat services begin around 9AM and continue until about noon.
After services, the family says kiddush again and has another leisurely, festive meal. A typical afternoon meal is cholent, a very slowly cooked stew. By the time birkat ha-mazon is done, it is about 2PM. The family studies Torah for a while, talks, takes an afternoon walk, plays some checkers, or engages in other leisure activities.
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