The Sabbath is one of the most important commandments and also includes some of the most serious topics of Jewish law. For a Jew to violate the Sabbath is, in the teachings of the Talmudic sages, tantamount to idol worship. That is because the Sabbath is a testimony to God’s creation of the world.
At home, the lady of the house makes a blessing and lights at least two candles, but often more, shortly before sunset on Friday in honor of the Sabbath. After we return from the synagogue that evening, we welcome the Sabbath with traditional songs and a short blessing over a cup of wine to sanctify the onset of the holy day. Many people give a blessing to their children at this time. Then we ritually wash our hands and say the blessing over two loaves of bread (challah, traditionally made from braided dough) and have a special meal. It is a mitzvah to honor the Sabbath with delicacies, and some people’s tables every week look like what you might find at a Thanksgiving table elsewhere, or close to it. At the meal we often share thoughts or teachings related to the weekly Torah portion, and conclude with the set text of the grace after meals.
It is very important for men to attend the synagogue to pray with a quorum (minyan) and hear the public reading from the Torah scroll, which can only be done in the presence of 10 men. Women choose to attend if they wish. In my community, many women with small children at home do not choose to attend and instead pray at home, some more and some less.
My pleasure. “Sabbath” is derived from the Hebrew word “Shabbath” שבת. Very few Jews today pronounce the fricativized ת as the “th” sound. (Yemenites are one exception.) In the Modern Hebrew spoken in Israel, as well as among most Sefardic Jews, it is pronounced “t” and they would say “Shabbat” (as in, Shabbat Shalom). Traditionally, Ashkenazi Jews always pronounced ת as “s,” leading to the pronunciation “Shabbos”. Ashkenazim, especially outside Israel, will often wish each other a “Gutt Shabbos” (Yiddish) or “Good Shabbos”.
I’m not especially well-read on this topic, but my understanding is not so much that someone else’s suffering can vicariously atone for my own sins. Rather, the outstanding merit of the suffering of the Tzaddik, which is accepted with unquestioning love of God, spills over and brings merit to the entire Jewish community, for as the Mishna says “All Israel are guarantors for each other,” meaning our merits and demerits affect the whole community, not only ourselves. This can help us in our own repentance, and increase its effectiveness, but does not replace our own repentance. Secondly, there is a concept of sins of the community, which are conceptually different from individual sins, and the Tzaddik as part of or a leader of the community (whether officially or unofficially) can help the community atone. My disclaimer is, again, that I am not an expert in these ideas.
Respectfully one mentions the Sabbath beginnings on Friday before sunset when does the Sabbath end? Read in other Jewish sources Sabbath begins Fri at sunset ends Sat at 6 pm sunset, is this true? Begins at sunset ends at sunset is this correct? Thank you kindly!! Peace
Not quite. The Sabbath begins at sunset and ends at nightfall. This is because there is a dusk period between sunset and nightfall where the status of the day is in doubt. Due to the sanctity of the Sabbath, we are strict and begin the Sabbath at sunset, while waiting to conclude the Sabbath until the “appearance of three small stars” when it is surely the night of the next day. There are various opinions of when full nightfall is. In New York (this varies with latitude), the most lenient opinion typically relied on is 40 or 42 minutes after sunset, and the strictest tend to keep 72 minutes. Beyond purely technical considerations, there is a mitzvah for us to add on some time to the Sabbath. Often people will accept the Sabbath a few minutes early and/or end it a few minutes later.
Respectfully Thank you Moses613. Got that from other sources teaching 6-6 pm, is why I put Sat 6pm ending, asking is this true? Thank you for correcting me!! Peace
A “generic day” is sometimes said to begin or end at 6pm for convenience, because that’s about when the sun rises and sets during the equinoxes when daylight is exactly 12 hours long. But that’s only two days out of the year. And even on the equinox, we would wait until nightfall, so think 6pm Friday until 6:42 - 7:12 PM Saturday.
Mmm… challah bread!
