Shabbat

The Jewish Holy Day

Special Days

• We all have special days, in our lives , list down at least four in your books.

Choose one special day, what are you remembering on this day?

Write about half a page in your books describing your special day, and explaining the event that you are remembering.

What are you remembering?

Shabbat

• The Jewish people have many special days through the year, although they also have a special day once every week.

• This is called Shabbat

• Can you think of any other religions that have a special day once a week, what do they call their special day?

Why celebrate Shabbat?

• The Jews celebrate Shabbat because God told them to keep the seventh day of the week, holy.

• ‘Observe the sabbath and keep it holy..On that day no one is to work…Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that I,the Lord your God rescued you…That is why I command you to observe the Sabbath.’

Shabbat begins !

• Shabbat begins on Friday evening, because Jewish people count their days from sunset to sunset. Everything has to be done before Shabbat begins, all the cooking, cleaning etc.

Welcoming Shabbat !

• The mother welcomes in Shabbat, she covers her head and lights two candles,she then says a blessing over her children. The candle light represents peace coming into the house.

Friday evening.

• The father in an Orthodox home would attend the Synagogue with his sons. When the father and sons return home, the family would sit down to a meal. It would be the best meal of the week.

Kiddush

The father begins the meal by blessing a cup of wine, and passing the cup around for everyone to have some. This blessing is called Kiddush

Challah.

• The father then blesses the two loaves of bread, called Challah. These loaves remind the Jews of the time that they spent in the desert, when God provided them with food, called Manna.

One of the loaves is cut, sprinkled with salt and passed to everyone around the table.

The family then eat their meal, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

The family would have the best meal of the week. Usually traditional dishes, such as gefilte fish and tzimmes.

Time to relax

• The rest of Friday evening would then be a time when all the family spend time together, discussing the past weeks events, and what has happened at school, at home and at work.

Answer the following questions in your books:

• How does the mother welcome Shabbat into the home? ( 2 marks)

•What name is given to the blessing that the father says over the wine? ( 1 mark)

•What is the name of the bread, and what isit a symbol of? ( 3 marks)

Saturday.

• Shabbat continues as a day of rest until sunset on Saturday.

• Shabbat is the one day of the week when everybody spends time with each other, reads the Torah and has a rest.

Havdalah

At the end of Shabbat on Saturday evening, the Jewish people have a custom called Havdalah.

Havdalah literally means separation. The Jewish people are making their special day separate from the rest of the week.

Havdalah = Separation

Havdalah

• Havdalah begins in a Jewish household when the first three stars appear in the sky.

• The Jewish family light a special candle which is plaited. ( havdalah candle.)

The reason that they light the candle, is to show that Shabbat has ended.

The Jewish people in years gone by, and Orthodox Jews today, would not light a fire on Shabbat, as it was one of the things which God asked them not to do , on his special day.

The family would then pray together, and recite a special blessing over some spices.

Each member of the family then sniffs the spices to symbolize that they wish to take the sweetness of Shabbat, through the rest of the week, until the next Shabbat.

Some wine is then poured into a saucer and the Havdalah candle is put out in the wine.

Answer the following questions into your books:

•What sort of things do the Jewish people do on the Saturday? ( 2 marks)

•When does Shabbat end? ( 1 mark)

•What is the special candle used on the Saturday evening? And what does the name mean? ( 2 marks)

•What else is done in the Havdalah ceremony?

Class Assignment

Imagine that you are a Jewish teenager, and a non- Jewish friend, who you met on holiday, has written and asked you to go and stay at their house for the weekend, write a reply explaining all about Shabbat , and why you will not be able to go.

In your letter you should include:

• Why you celebrate Shabbat.

• How important Shabbat is to you and your family.

• What happens on Shabbat and why.Why certain things have special names and why.

• You should begin and end your letter in a traditional letter form.

• Don’t forget that you are writing to a friend , so the letter should be informal.