When is judaism sabbath

On Shabbat, why is the challah covered with a decorative cloth? Which part of the Torah portion is chanted on Shabbat each week?

Why are two candles lit at the beginning of Shabbat? Why do Jewish holidays always begin at night? More Answers to Jewish Questions. Donate today! Everything You Need to Know About Shabbat Services Whether you attend services on Friday night or Saturday morning or both , rarely, sometimes or often, these are some of the things you may see or hear in and around the synagogue.

What's New Challah. Meghann Hennen, a Jewish preschool teacher based in Cleveland, OH, discovered challah's incredible impact on her life firsthand when she decided to start her own challah business on Instagram What is Reform Judaism? As did many generations of Jews before us, we must adapt ritual to this unprecedented way of life, and Shabbat services, a mainstay for nursing home residents, necessitated creative adaptation.

Hanukkah The eight-day festival of Hanukkah—or "Festival of Lights"—commemorates the miraculous victory of the Maccabees and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

In fact, it is a relatively minor Jewish holiday in religious terms which unlike most other Jewish holidays, has no restrictions whatsoever on work or travel—although many Jewish families and communities get together to celebrate this festive holiday. It is customary to eat fried foods such as potato latkes or jelly doughnuts. Photo of Hanukkah menorah or 'chanukiah' in Hebrew by Larry Goldbaum Purim This carnival-like holiday celebrates the defeat of a plot to destroy the Jews of Persia.

It is customary to dress in costumes similar to Halloween or Mardi Gras , and to give gifts of food to friends and the needy, particularly hamantashen , triangular pastries filled with fruit or poppy seeds.

Passover or Pesach in Hebrew The week-long spring festival of Pesach commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from bondage in ancient Egypt.

Shabbat is not specifically a day of prayer. Although substantial time is usually spent in synagogue praying, prayer is not what distinguishes Shabbat from the rest of the week. Observant Jews pray every day, three times a day. To say that Shabbat is a day of prayer is no more accurate than to say that Shabbat is a day of feasting: we eat every day, but on Shabbat, we eat more elaborately and in a more leisurely fashion. The same can be said of prayer on Shabbat.

In modern America, 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. We are commanded to remember Shabbat; but remembering means much more than merely not forgetting to observe Shabbat.

It also means to remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a commemoration of creation and as a commemoration of our freedom from slavery in Egypt. In Exodus , after Fourth Commandment is first instituted, G-d explains, "because for six days, the L-rd made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, he rested; therefore, the L-rd blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.

We also emulate the divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day, as G-d did. If G-d's work can be set aside for a day of rest, how can we believe that our own work is too important to set aside temporarily? In Deuteronomy , while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a might hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Shabbat day.

What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It's all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off.

Thus, by resting on the Shabbat, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments.

During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt. We remember these two meanings of Shabbat when we recite kiddush the prayer over wine sanctifying the Shabbat or a holiday. Friday night kiddush refers to Shabbat as both zikkaron l'ma'aseh bereishit a memorial of the work in the beginning and zeicher litzi'at mitzrayim a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt.

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 Americans see the word "work" and think of it in the English sense of the word: physical labor and effort, or employment. Most Jewish people look forward to Shabbat all week. They see it as God's gift to his chosen people of a day when they take time out from everyday things to feel special.

Shabbat is a time with no television, no rushing to the demands of the telephone or a busy work schedule. Shabbat is very much a time when families come together in the presence of God in their own home. In order to avoid work and to ensure that the Sabbath is special, all chores like shopping, cleaning, and cooking for the Sabbath must be finished before sunset on Friday. 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.

Sabbath candles are lit at sunset on a Friday. 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.