You’ve heard about it, if you’re Jewish you definitely know about it, if you have Jewish friends you’ve probably attended at least one Shabbat service in your life. And if you haven’t and you’re interested please feel free to reach out to me and I would be more than happy to have you as my guest.
Shabbat represents the end of your work week. It is literally the separation between the time in which you work and play any time and the rest and regrouping you spend for 24 hours each week.
Shabbat begins at sundown with the appearance of at least three stars in the sky. If you really want to be specific about it you can actually Google candle lighting times for Shabbat on the internet and it will tell you exactly what time Shabbat should begin. It is typically 18 minutes before sunset.
Shabbat is a sacred time in my house
In my household you welcome shabbat by the lighting of two ceremonial candles. They are the same size and shape as each other and could be lit with a match or a lighter. Here is the blessing
בָּרוּך אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלָךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל שַׁבָּת
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to light Shabbat candles.
Next we bless the wine. If you’re a kid we give you grape juice. It’s usually extremely sweet wine or grape juice. Here is the blessing that you say over the grape juice or the wine.
The kiddush marks Shabbat as sacred time. Recite the blessing before sipping the wine or grape juice. The Shabbat evening Kiddush is often preceded by a paragraph called Vayechulu, taken straight from the Hebrew Bible, which recounts the moment God completed creation and decided to rest. Here is the complete Kiddush, including Vayechulu:
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר
יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל צְבָאָם
וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּו אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּו אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה
וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ. כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת
סַבְרִי מָרָנָן וְרַבָּנָן וְרַבּותַי
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְרָצָה בָנוּ. וְשַׁבַּת קָדְשׁוֹ בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן הִנְחִילָנוּ זִכָּרוֹן לְמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית. כִּי הוּא יוֹם תְּחִלָּה לְמִקְרָאֵי קדֶשׁ זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם. כִּי בָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ וְאוֹתָנוּ קִדַּשְׁתָּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים וְשַׁבַּת קָדְשְׁךָ בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצוֹן הִנְחַלְתָּנוּ
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ מְקַדֵּשׁ הַשַּׁבָּת
(Quietly: Va-y’hee erev, va-y’hee boker.)
Yom ha-shishi. Vay’chulu hashamayim v’ha-aretz v’chol tz’va’am. Vay’chal Elohim bayom hash’vi’i milachto asher asa. Vayishbot bayom hash’vi’i mikol milachto asher asa. Vay’varech Elohim et yom hash’vi’i vay’kadesh oto. Kee vo shabbat mi-kol m’lachto asher bara Elohim la’asot.
Savri maranan v’rabanan v’rabotai. Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei p’ri hagafen.
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’ratza vanu, v’shabbat kod’sho b’ahava uv’ratzon hinchilanu, zikaron l’ma’aseh b’reishit. Ki hu yom t’chila l’mikra-ay kodesh, zaycher l’tziat mitzrayim. Ki vanu vacharta v’otanu kidashta mikol ha’amim. V’shabbat kod-shi-cha b’ahava uv’ratzon hinchal tanu. Baruch ata Adonai, mi’kadesh ha Shabbat.
We are literally thanking God for wine. Lol I love this religion. Lol lastly we bless the bread. Our bread is called challah and it’s typically homemade a day or two before Shabbat and it’s made with a traditional recipe that I will include here and washed in an egg wash on top.
After the washing of hands, some people have the custom of remaining silent until bread is eaten. Prior to eating the bread, the following blessing is recited.
בָּרוּך אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם הָמוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הַאָרֶץ
retz.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth.
Once those blessings have been said, if you’re at home typically you would then celebrate a Shabbat meal together. Depending on who’s home you’re in that could be something as simple as you wanted to be or could be more elaborate.
My very good friend Rachel has me over every couple of weeks for Shabbat dinner and it always begins with several amazing salads and dips followed by a fish dish of some kind maybe two and then soup and or sometimes additional meat dishes. There are always homemade desserts as well! I’ll leave her house so full I typically have to release a button on my pants lol but it’s completely worth it.
All about honoring with community
If you happen to attend Shabbat services outside of the home, you typically will find yourself in a synagogue also called a shul or a temple. The religious leader called a Rabbi along with a musical leader called the Cantor will lead you in multiple evening prayers.
The blessings for Shabbat include (click for links), The songs and blessings before the Friday night meal include:
- blessing for lighting the candles
- blessing for the children
- Shalom Aleichem (welcoming the Sabbath angels)
- Eshet Hayil (Woman of Valor)
- Kiddush
- Netilat Yadayim (a blessing for washing hands)
- Hamotzi (blessing for the bread). After the meal
- many recite Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals)
- sing special Sabbath songs called Zemirot
Shabbat is all about slowing down. In the Bible it says that you and everyone who works for you and everyone in your family and all of your animals should cease from working during the 24 hours from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night.
MyJewishLearning.com has several links for the reasoning. The Bible does not specifically list those labors that are prohibited on the Sabbath, although it alludes to field labor (Exod. 34:21; Num.15:32-36), treading in a winepress and loading animals (Neh. 13:15-18), doing business and carrying (Isa. 58:13; Jer. 17:22; Amos 8:5), traveling (Exod. 16:29-30), and kindling fire (Exod. 35:2-3) as forbidden work.
Anybody can honor Shabbat any Friday
In this day and age, in modern society, with all the pressures and expectations and soccer games and other events it can feel very hard to honor this experience. However I have to tell you that when I get down to it and I put my phone away and I spend a beautiful dinner at my friends Rachel and Mendy‘s house I am rejuvenated.
Anybody can honor Shabbat any Friday that they want to. It’s a matter of priorities. Some weekends I have very little going on and it gives me a chance to rest and rejuvenate my body and my mind and my soul. And other weekends I am running around like a bat out of hell. Lol
The point is to rest and reconnect with yourself, your friends and your family and your faith. These are in no particular order, however if you’ve been following my blogs then you know that taking care of yourself and your needs is vital. Self-care for the win! And honoring Shabbat is a form of self-care.
Getting together on a Thursday with friends and making the traditional Challah bread is also a form of self-care apps reconnection. Connecting with other women sharing your stories talking about your happiness and your sadness or knowing that you and your family and friends will be eating this challah as a blessing on your table in a day or two can be very fulfilling.
My friend Rachel has a lot of children and tends to have a lot of people in her home for Shabbat so she makes multiple Hollis every week and sometimes a lot more than that if it’s them in the freezer. I know at any given moment I can call her and ask if she has a spare one and she always does! She’s even saved a couple for my son now that he’s in college and he loves to get, “Rachel’s Holla”.
It can be an opportunity for self care or connection to others
Other religions also celebrate Shabbat in different ways. And I encourage you to check that out for yourself if you’re so interested. These days and the times of Covid in quarantining we’ve gotten very creative with how we spend time together and that includes Shabot.
In the height of Covid but we were all saying home in quarantining mom and dad my brother and his wife and daughter and I sometimes my son with all gather together on a zoom call and let her candles together and bless our wine unless our Hala and spend a few minutes talking and sharing how our week was.
It connected us at a time when everybody was feeling disconnected, and it made me wonder why we don’t do that on a regular basis cause I might have to bring that up at our next family get together.
If you ever want to attend a Shabbat service check out the local ones online to see about welcoming guests and their guidelines. With antisemitism on the rise I do not recommend showing up without confirming visitor guidelines. This blog was kinda “quick and dirty” and there is much much more I could share.
Reach out to me if you’re interested, no question is toostupid or offensive, and you are always welcome at my Sabbath table if you’d like that experience as well.