The Passover Seder on the first two nights—an elaborate and ritualized meal—recounts the story of Exodus using ritual foods, prayers, stories and songs.
Only the first two and last two days of Passover are observed as full holy days, with restrictions on work and travel. However, many extended Jewish families gather for the holiday, and consequently some Jewish students may miss the entire week of classes. In Israel, schools are always closed for Passover.
Skip to main content. Links to common UMass Amherst services and features. It is a day of physical and spiritual delights that is meant to illuminate certain key concepts in the traditional Jewish perception of the world. Shabbat is portrayed in the Bible as the pinnacle of the creation of the universe , and its observance can be seen as a reminder of the purposefulness of the world and the role of human beings in it.
The traditional Shabbat is portrayed in Jewish liturgy , song, and story as a day of joy, a sanctuary from travails, and even a foretaste of the perfected world that will someday be attained. Shabbat, like many important facets of Judaism, has its origins in the Torah , where it is most notable as a day of complete cessation of labor. The prophetic tradition portrays it as a day of pleasures as well. They also prescribed festive meals and ceremonies for every part of the day.
The drinking of wine on the Sabbath symbolises joy and celebration. It is also traditional to eat challah, a soft rich eggy bread in the shape of a braid. Challah is a eaten on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays except for the Passover when leavened bread is not permitted.
Under Jewish law, every Jew must eat three meals on the Sabbath. One of the meals must include bread. Observant Jews will usually eat challah at the beginning of a Sabbath meal. The blessing for daughters asks that they become like the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, while sons are blessed to grow up like Ephraim and Menasheh, two brothers who lived in harmony.
Some of the family will have been to synagogue before the Sabbath meal, and it is likely that the whole family will go on Saturday. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. Many Americans therefore conclude that Jewish law doesn't make any sense. The problem lies not in Jewish law, but in the definition that Americans are using. The Torah does not prohibit "work" in the 20th century English sense of the word. The Torah prohibits " melachah " Mem-Lamed-Alef-Kaf-Heh , which is usually translated as "work," but does not mean precisely the same thing as the English word.
Before you can begin to understand the Shabbat restrictions, you must understand the word " melachah. Melachah generally refers to the kind of work that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over your environment. The word may be related to " melech " king; Mem-Lamed-Kaf. The quintessential example of melachah is the work of creating the universe, which G-d ceased from on the seventh day. Note that G-d's work did not require a great physical effort: he spoke, and it was done.
The word melachah is rarely used in scripture outside of the context of Shabbat and holiday restrictions. The only other repeated use of the word is in the discussion of the building of the sanctuary and its vessels in the wilderness. Exodus Ch. Notably, the Shabbat restrictions are reiterated during this discussion Ex. From this, the rabbis concluded that the work prohibited on the Shabbat is the same as the work of creating the sanctuary.
They found 39 categories of forbidden acts, all of which are types of work that were needed to build the sanctuary:. All of these tasks are prohibited, as well as any task that operates by the same principle or has the same purpose. In addition, the rabbis have prohibited coming into contact with any implement that could be used for one of the above purposes for example, you may not touch a hammer or a pencil , travel, buying and selling, and other weekday tasks that would interfere with the spirit of Shabbat.
The use of electricity is prohibited because it serves the same function as fire or some of the other prohibitions, or because it is technically considered to be "fire. The issue of the use of an automobile on Shabbat, so often argued by non-observant Jews, is not really an issue at all for observant Jews. The automobile is powered by an internal combustion engine, which operates by burning gasoline and oil, a clear violation of the Torah prohibition against kindling a fire.
In addition, the movement of the car would constitute transporting an object in the public domain, another violation of a Torah prohibition, and in all likelihood the car would be used to travel a distance greater than that permitted by rabbinical prohibitions. For all these reasons, and many more, the use of an automobile on Shabbat is clearly not permitted. As with almost all of the commandments, all of these Shabbat restrictions can be violated if necessary to save a life.
The mood is much like preparing for the arrival of a special, beloved guest: the house is cleaned, the family bathes and dresses up, the best dishes and tableware are set, a festive meal is prepared. In addition, everything that cannot be done during Shabbat must be set up in advance: lights and appliances must be set or timers placed on them, if the household does so , the light bulb in the refrigerator must be removed, so it does not turn on when you open it, and preparations for the remaining Shabbat meals must be made.
The Shabbat, like all Jewish days, begins at sunset, because in the story of creation in Genesis Ch. Shabbat candles are lit and a blessing is recited no later than eighteen minutes before sunset.
0コメント