![]() On Shabbat, the reading is divided into seven sections, more than on any other holy day, including Yom Kippur. The Torah is read over a yearly cycle of 54 parashioth, one for each Shabbat (sometimes they are doubled). The Sefer Torah is read during the Torah reading which is part of the Shabbat morning services, with a longer reading than during the week.Jewish liturgy treats Shabbat as a "bride" and "queen" (see Shekhinah) some sources described it as a "king".It is the first holy day mentioned in the Bible, and God was the first to observe it with the cessation of creation (Genesis 2:1–3).In many ways, Jewish law gives Shabbat the status of being the most important holy day in the Hebrew calendar: Judaism accords Shabbat the status of a joyous holy day. As a "taste" of Olam Haba (the Messianic Age).To commemorate the Israelites' Exodus and redemption from slavery in ancient Egypt.To commemorate God's creation of the universe, on the seventh day of which God rested from (or ceased) his work. ![]() The Tanakh and siddur describe Shabbat as having three purposes: Seventh-day Shabbat did not originate with the Egyptians, to whom it was unknown and other origin theories based on the day of Saturn, or on the planets generally, have also been abandoned. The difficulties of this theory include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Sabbath in any language. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia advanced a theory of Assyriologists like Friedrich Delitzsch (and of Marcello Craveri) that Shabbat originally arose from the lunar cycle in the Babylonian calendar containing four weeks ending in a Sabbath, plus one or two additional unreckoned days per month. On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make a wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest-day". ![]() The prohibitions on these days, spaced seven days apart (except the nineteenth), include abstaining from chariot riding, and the avoidance of eating meat by the King. Ĭonnection to Sabbath observance has been suggested in the designation of the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eight days of a lunar month in an Assyrian religious calendar as a 'holy day', also called 'evil days' (meaning "unsuitable" for prohibited activities). It is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat ("mid-rest"), rendered in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of mid-repose"). It offers an opportunity to contemplate the spiritual aspects of life and to spend time with family.Ī cognate Babylonian Sapattu m or Sabattu m is reconstructed from the lost fifth Enūma Eliš creation account, which is read as: " bbatu shalt thou then encounter, midly". Shabbat is a festive day when Jews exercise their freedom from the regular labours of everyday life. Shabbat is closed Saturday evening with a havdalah blessing. The third meal does not have the kiddush recited but all have challah. ![]() The evening meal and the early afternoon meal typically begin with a blessing called kiddush over a cup of wine, and another blessing, hamotzi, recited over two loaves of bread, traditionally challah. Traditionally, three festive meals are eaten: The first one is held on Friday evening, the second is traditionally a lunch meal on Saturday, and the third is held later in the afternoon. Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. Variations upon Shabbat are widespread in Judaism and, with adaptations, throughout the Abrahamic and many other religions.Īccording to halakha (Jewish religious law), Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. Judaism's traditional position is that the unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution. Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities, often with great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Since the Jewish religious calendar counts days from sunset to sunset, Shabbat begins in the evening of what on the civil calendar is Friday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the creation of the heaven and earth in six days and the redemption from slavery and The Exodus from Egypt, and look forward to a future Messianic Age. 'rest' or 'cessation') or the Sabbath ( / ˈ s æ b ə θ/), also called Shabbos ( UK: / ˈ ʃ æ b ə s/, US: / ˈ ʃ ɑː b ə s/) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week-i.e., Saturday.
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