Shabbat — the seventh day · The essentials of Judaism

In a minute

Every week, from just before sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Jews keep Shabbat, the Sabbath. It is a day of rest from work, set apart as holy, remembering that God rested on the seventh day of creation and that God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt. Shabbat begins with candles, blessings over wine and bread, and a family meal; it continues with prayer, Torah reading, rest, food, walks, friends and study; and it ends with a short ceremony of light and spices. It is the only holy day named in the Ten Commandments. A famous saying has it that more than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews (paraphrased; attributed to the writer Ahad Ha'am, 1856–1927).

What it is and how it's lived

Friday evening: welcoming the Sabbath

Preparation. Shopping, cooking and cleaning are done before Shabbat. Many families give a coin to tzedakah just before it begins.
Candles. About 18 minutes before sunset (times vary by community), two candles are lit, traditionally by the woman of the house, who covers her eyes and says a blessing. Shabbat has begun.
Synagogue. The evening service includes Kabbalat Shabbat ("welcoming the Sabbath"), psalms and the song Lekha Dodi, which greets Shabbat as a bride and a queen.
Blessings at home. Parents bless their children. The Kiddush blessing is said over a cup of wine, declaring the day holy; hands are washed; and the blessing ha-motzi is said over two loaves of challah, plaited bread, remembering the double portion of manna that fell before the Sabbath in the wilderness (Exodus 16).
The meal is the best of the week, with songs (zemirot) between courses and grace after meals.

Saturday: a day apart

The morning service includes the weekly Torah reading and the haftarah from the Prophets. There is lunch with family and guests, rest, walking, reading, learning, and visiting friends; then an afternoon service and a "third meal". Greetings change: Shabbat shalom ("a peaceful Sabbath"), or in Yiddish Gut Shabbos.

Saturday night: Havdalah

When three stars appear, Shabbat ends with Havdalah ("separation"): blessings over wine, sweet-smelling spices, and a plaited candle with several wicks. The flame is put out in the wine, and people wish each other shavua tov, "a good week".

What counts as work?

The Torah forbids "any manner of work" on Shabbat. The rabbis linked this to the work of building the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and listed 39 categories of creative work (melakhot), such as ploughing, baking, writing, building, lighting and putting out fire, and carrying from a private to a public place (paraphrased; Mishnah, Shabbat 7:2). Observant Jews therefore do not drive, cook, write, switch on lights or use phones and screens on Shabbat; food is kept warm from before, lights are set on timers, and many communities set up an eruv, a boundary, to allow carrying within it.

Saving life always comes first: Shabbat is set aside for any danger to life (paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 85b).

Its inner meaning

Shabbat is not only a day off. It is a day on: for being rather than doing, for family and community, for God. The rabbis said that on Shabbat each person receives an "extra soul" (neshamah yeterah) that leaves when Shabbat ends, which is why spices are smelled at Havdalah, to revive the spirit (paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Beitzah 16a). A twentieth-century thinker, Abraham Joshua Heschel, described Shabbat as a holy place built in time rather than space, a "palace in time" (Heschel, The Sabbath, 1951; short phrase only).

The Torah gives two reasons, and the two versions of the Ten Commandments give one each:

Creation (Exodus 20): God rested on the seventh day, so Shabbat is a weekly reminder that the world is a gift and has a Creator.
Freedom (Deuteronomy 5): "remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt". Rest is for everyone, including servants, animals and strangers. Shabbat is a weekly taste of freedom; no one is a slave to work.

The rabbis also called Shabbat "a foretaste of the world to come" (paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 57b).

Key texts

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God" (Exodus 20:8–10, JPS 1917)

"And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made." (Genesis 2:3, JPS 1917)

Hebrew (Genesis 2:3, opening; said in the Friday night Kiddush):

וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת־יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ

"Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy God commanded thee." (Deuteronomy 5:12, JPS 1917)

"that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou." (Deuteronomy 5:14, JPS 1917)

"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever" (Exodus 31:16–17, JPS 1917)

"And call the sabbath a delight, And the holy of the LORD honourable" (Isaiah 58:13, JPS 1917)

Exodus says "remember", Deuteronomy says "observe". The rabbis taught that God spoke both words at once (paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Shevuot 20b), and Lekha Dodi begins with this idea.

Common misunderstandings, answered gently

"Shabbat is a day of gloom and restrictions." Jews describe it as the high point of the week: the best food, the best clothes, time with family, song and sleep. Isaiah calls it "a delight".
"Shabbat is Sunday." Shabbat is Saturday; the Jewish day begins at nightfall, as in Genesis: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day." (Genesis 1:5, JPS 1917)
"Using a light switch is not 'work'." The Jewish definition of work is not about effort but about creative acts that change the world, following the 39 categories. Lighting a fire, and by extension electricity, is one of them.

Across the movements

Orthodox Jews keep the full laws of Shabbat. Many Masorti Jews keep them closely, with some rulings permitting, for example, driving to synagogue. Reform and Liberal Jews mark Shabbat with candles, Kiddush, the family meal and synagogue, and choose for themselves how to make the day restful and holy. Many secular Jews still keep Friday night dinner.

Reflection

If you set aside one day a week with no buying, selling, making or scrolling, what would fill it?

In the other traditions

Christianity: most Christians keep Sunday as the Lord's Day, the day of the resurrection, with worship and rest; Jesus himself "entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day" (Luke 4:16, WEB). Seventh-day Adventists and some others keep Saturday.
Islam: Friday (Jumu'ah) is the day of congregational prayer: "When the call is heard for the prayer of the day of congregation, haste unto remembrance of Allah and leave your trading" (Qur'an 62:9, Pickthall). It is not a day of rest in the Jewish sense, and trade may resume after the prayer.

Watch