 Remember
the Sabbath
In the Torah, it says: "remember the sabbath
day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). God
commands His people to remember the Sabbath day
by keeping it holy. This refers to making the
Sabbath day different from the rest of the six
days of the week. The first six days of the
week, we are to work but the seventh day is a
day for ceasing our work. Traditionally, the
most basic way of keeping the Sabbath holy is by
performing the traditional rituals of lighting
Sabbath candles, kiddush and havdalah. The
lighting of the Sabbath candles and the ceremony
of havdalah, particularly, are
short ceremonies that mark the beginning and end
of the Sabbath, respectively. Since these
rituals are only performed at those specific
times, (just before and after the Sabbath,
respectively), they provide something for us to
actually experience the sanctity of the Sabbath.
Of course, both rituals become moot if we do not
cease from productive labour within the
intervening hours.
Candles are lit eighteen minutes before sunset
on Friday to mark the beginning of the Sabbath.
Kiddush (which literally means "sanctification")
refers to the ritual performed at the Sabbath
table just after the Sabbath begins and just
before lunch on Sabbath during the day. It is
simply a special prayer declaring the holiness
of the Sabbath, while drinking a cup of wine (or
grape juice). Havdalah (which literally means
"separation") is a ritual performed
approximately forty minutes after the Sabbath is
over and it too is simply a special prayer which
declares that the Sabbath is over. It is said
over a cup of wine (or grape juice), while spices
are smelled and a special candle is lit as well.
Rest
and Cease from Work on the Sabbath
In Exodus it says: "six days you are
to do your work, but on the seventh day you
shall cease from labor so that your ox and your
donkey may rest, and the son of your female
slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh
themselves" (Exodus 23:12). All writers of the
Bible assumed that worshippers of the one true
God have already, at least on a conceptual
level, accepted upon themselves the seventh day
Sabbath. Take, for example, Luke's description
that it was Yeshua's custom to attend synagogue
on the Sabbath: "he came to Nazareth, where he
had been brought up; and as was his custom, he
entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood
up to read" (Luke 4:16). The fact that Yeshua
kept the Sabbath was obvious and did not need to
be stated. Nowhere does the Bible say "make sure
to accept the Sabbath day" as if one could have
the option to disregard the Sabbath altogether.
The Torah does, however, tell us what is not
permitted on the Sabbath, namely, work. For the
entirety of the seventh day of each week, we are
to completely cease from productive labour. What
kind of work is God prohibiting on the Sabbath?
The Hebrew word used in the Sabbath commandments
is “melachah.” When it’s used elsewhere in the
Torah it refers to productive labour. In
Genesis, it’s used to refer to very act of
creating the universe. In Exodus and elsewhere,
it’s used to refer to the building of the
Tabernacle. The Sages have derived 39 categories
of work that is prohibited on the Sabbath. Most
of the categories are directly derived or, at
least, logically derived from the Torah. At the
very least, we should abstain from what the
Torah clearly prohibits on the Sabbath: cooking,
kindling a fire, harvesting, gathering things
for purposes of work and more. |
Host
a Sabbath Table fellowship on Friday
night.