Shabbat (שַׁבָּת; related to Hebrew verb “cease, rest”) is the seventh day of the Jewish week and is the day of rest and abstention from work as commanded by God. Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zachor) and to observe (shamor).

– Origins in the Torah
– The Nature of Shabbat
– Zachor: To Remember
– Shamor: To Observe

Origins in the Torah

The etiology of Shabbat is given in the first two chapters of the Book of Bereishit (Genesis), although the name of the day does not actually appear there: God worked six days at creating the world on the seventh he ceased working (shavat mi-kol melaʾkhto), blessed the day, and declared it holy.

The special status of this seventh day – and its name – were disclosed to the Israelite people in the episode of the manna. God supplied each day’s need of manna for five days; on the sixth, a double portion was provided to last through the seventh day, on which no manna appeared. Correspondingly, the Israelites were commanded not to go out at all but to remain at home on the seventh day. Thus they learned that the seventh day was “a Shabbat of the Lord,” which they must honor by desisting from their daily food-gathering labor.

According to the Book of Exodus, work is to cease on the seventh day in order to give slaves and draft animals rest, a statute that must be observed even during the critical plowing and harvest seasons. The Book of Deuteronomy’s version embodies this humanitarian motive in its divergent rationale of the Shabbat rest – Israel is to keep the Shabbat so that its slaves might rest, and because God so commanded. God’s instructions for building the Tabernacle begins with an admonition to keep the Shabbat, indicating its precedence even over the duty of building the Sanctuary. The Shabbat is then called a sign of both God’s consecration of Israel and of His six-day creation.

The Nature of Shabbat

The Shabbat is one of the best known and least understood of all Jewish observances. People who do not generally observe the stringincies of the day think of it as a day filled with stifling restrictions, or as a day of prayer like the Christian Shabbat. But to those who observe Shabbat, it is a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits.

In Jewish literature, poetry and music, Shabbat is described as a bride or queen, as in the popular Shabbat hymn Lecha Dodi. It is said “more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel.” Shabbat is primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The word “Shabbat” comes from the root Shin-Bet-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.

Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism and is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments. It is also the most important special day, even more so than Yom Kippur.

Shabbat is not specifically a day of prayer. Although substantial time is usually spent in synagogue praying, prayer is not what distinguishes Shabbat from the rest of the week. Observant Jews pray every day, three times a day. To say that Shabbat is a day of prayer is no more accurate than to say that Shabbat is a day of feasting: we eat every day, but on Shabbat, we eat more elaborately and in a more leisurely fashion. The same can be said of prayer on Shabbat.

In modern America, we take the five-day work-week so much for granted that we forget what a radical concept a day of rest was in ancient times. The weekly day of rest has no parallel in any other ancient civilization. In ancient times, leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes only, never for the serving or laboring classes. In addition, the very idea of rest each week was unimaginable. The Greeks thought Jews were lazy because we insisted on having a “holiday” every seventh day.

Zachor: To Remember

We are commanded to remember Shabbat; but remembering means much more than merely not forgetting to observe Shabbat. It also means to remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a commemoration of creation and as a commemoration of our freedom from slavery in Egypt.

In Exodus 20:11, after Fourth Commandment is first instituted, G-d explains, “because for six days, the L-rd made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, he rested; therefore, the L-rd blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.” By resting on the seventh day and sanctifying it, we remember and acknowledge that G-d is the creator of heaven and earth and all living things. We also emulate the divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day, as G-d did. If G-d’s work can be set aside for a day of rest, how can we believe that our own work is too important to set aside temporarily?

In Deuteronomy 5:15, while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a might hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Shabbat day.”

What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It’s all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off. Thus, by resting on the Shabbat, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt.

We remember these two meanings of Shabbat when we recite kiddush (the prayer over wine sanctifying the Shabbat or a holiday). Friday night kiddush refers to Shabbat as both zikkaron l’ma’aseh bereishit (a memorial of the work in the beginning) and zeicher litzi’at mitzrayim (a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt).

Observance of Shabbat

Scriptures tell us that “⁷ For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself;” (Rom. 14:7).  Also, “¹⁹ Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; ²⁰ for you were bought at a price. So, use your bodies to glorify God,” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Shabbat is not about restrictions. The Lord Yeshua performed many miracles during Shabbat. It is about love and compassion, the highest expectations from a person. Moreover, Yeshua tells us that he is “⁸ …Lord of Shabbat!” (Matt. 12:8). Yeshua exercises this authority since He made Shabbat for men. Yeshua is our Shabbat through His death and resurrection and we can rest assured of shalom, joy, and eternal life. When we cease trying to be good doing things for ourselves for salvation purposes thus place our trust and rest/Shabbat in Yeshua, then we truly reach the assurance that we are not alone and we observe Shabbat. When tribulations of this world knock on our door, we have the assurance God will be there through our trials, sorrows, and fears. Yeshua tells us “to do good” on Shabbat (Matt. 12:12), and there is only one who is good.

“⁷ Adonai is good, a stronghold in time of trouble; he takes care of those who take refuge in him,” (Nah. 1:7).

Let us concentrate on God and the things we can do through Him. Let us focus our thoughts on Yeshua and His goodness. “² Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love,” (Eph. 4:2).