#24 What is Shabbat?

What is Shabbat?  The bible says it took God 6 days to create the earth, and that on the seventh day he rested.  That day of rest is Shabbat, or Shabbos if you speak Yiddish.

Shabbat starts at sundown on Friday night, and ends after sunset on Saturday night.  In the Jewish community, shabbat is declared a day of rest, contemplation, thought, and prayer.

The Reform Jewish community sees Shabbat as a time of rest & family. 

The Orthodox Jews have many strict rules which specify which activities are permitted on Shabbat, and which are not.  Specifically, farming, sewing, cooking, and lighting fires are prohibited.  Those rules were created centuries ago, but are now interpreted to include electricity and telephones.  These rules also prohibit driving on shabbat.

As a vendor, you should respect your Jewish client's desires regarding Shabbat, and not expect phone calls or emails on Shabbat.

Join Pat Blackwell here every week to learn and understand the traditions & vocabulary so important in Jewish celebrations. So glad you are here! 

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Transcript

24-what-is-shabbat

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

shabbat, jewish, party, weddings, vendor, permitted, chavez, podcast, jewish weddings, conservative synagogue, work, forbidden, rabbi, understand, torah, reform, begins, learn, friday evening, rest

SPEAKERS

Pat Blackwell

00:03

Hello there and welcome to episode number 24 of the bookmark Jewish weddings podcast. Today, I'd like to introduce another Jewish word Shabbat. Everyone deserves a day of rest. And in the Jewish world that day of rest is called Shabbat. The Jewish Shabbat begins on Friday at sunset and ends on Saturday when it gets dark. What would you do with a weekly day of rest? Listen to this podcast to help understand the rules of Shabbat and how they might impact your life for your business. As a Catholic farm girl in Minnesota, I certainly never expected to ever be the Jewish party Maven, but 4400 parties and 26 years later, I am indeed an expert at Jewish parties. I am fiercely committed to helping the best vendors book more parties in this amazing, lucrative and incredibly loyal Jewish party market. Let's go Shabbat literally translates to rest or cease. In Christianity, the day of rest is on Sunday in the Muslim world, Sabbath is on Friday. In the Jewish community, Shabbat or Sabbath is from Friday at sundown to Saturday after it gets dark. In Judaism, Shabbat is the most important of all Jewish holidays. so important that it happens each and every week. The entire year long. observant Jews believe that God has commanded them to rest on Shabbat. They believe that there should be no deliberate work done on Shabbat. Truly, it is a time of rest and restoration, not for work or business transactions. Perhaps you've heard the story of how God worked six days creating the earth and on the seventh day he rested. Well, that's the basis for Shabbat. And if God's important work could be set aside for a day of rest. Surely your work is not too important to set aside just temporarily. On a Friday evening at any Jewish household, it's common to hear the greeting Shabbat Shalom, which literally means have a peaceful Sabbath, a peaceful rest the appropriate responses, Shabbat shalom to you as well. When you're in a foreign country, the locals appreciate that you've taken the time to learn at least a little bit of the local language. It's the same with wishing someone a good Chavez, even if you're not Jewish, good Chavez is an appropriate greeting anytime from Friday evening through Saturday evening. We've talked about how there is not a Jewish language. There is Hebrew and there is Yiddish. Well in Hebrew, the day of rest is called Shabbat sh a BB a tea. in Yiddish, that day of rest is called Chagas as h a BB o 's. They both mean the same thing. Throughout history, people had to work every single day just to eat, a weekly day of rest and leisure was only for the wealthy or for the ruling classes. rabbis have argued over the centuries about what constitutes work and is therefore forbidden on Shabbat. Generally, forbidden non Shabbat is anything to do with farming, cooking, sewing, construction, harvesting or fires. Electricity is considered to be the same as fire, and is therefore forbidden on Shabbat. In modern times, things get complicated. We now have Chavez elevators which continuously operate and stop automatically on each floor. We have Chavez timers on our ovens, so the ovens remain heated the entire Chavez. phones are technically electric and forbidden on Shabbat. But every synagogue has its own interpretation of the Torah, and the rabbi sets the local rules. automobiles are either run by an internal combustion engine which uses fire or by electricity these days, which serves the same function as fire and is therefore prohibited on Shabbat. Also, cars would likely be used to move from a private domain to a public domain, and that is strictly forbidden on Shabbat. Perhaps you've witnessed Jewish families walking to services on a Saturday morning, they're likely walking because they are observant Orthodox Jews. Some refer to them as shomer Chavez, those who follow all the rules of Shabbat. One of the results of this belief is that orthodox congregations can only be as large as is practical within walking distance. So orthodox schools usually remain small. If You've been listening to this podcast, you know that reformed Jews do not believe in following all of those 613 rules set forth in the Torah. That's why you'll see parking lots at reform or conservative synagogues filled with cars on Shabbat. A typical Shabbat dinner begins no more than 18 minutes before sunset. roles are very clearly defined. The woman of the house recites a special blessing and lights two candles. Then the man of the house recites a kiddish blessing over the wine. Then the grandfather says the Moti a special prayer over the hollow bread. Observing Shabbat does not mandate that you spend your entire day in prayer, but one is certainly encouraged to include prayer in the Shabbat day. It is a day of rest and relaxation, a day of family time. Shabbat ends at nightfall. Typically technically when three stars are visible in the sky. Usually 40 minutes or so after sunset. There is a special service signifying the end of Chavez called havdallah service. During the havdalah ceremony, blessings are chanted over wine, spices and candles. at weddings, it's not uncommon to see a sign these days that says no phones, please be unplugged and enjoy the ceremony with us. Be present. Sounds a lot like what the Torah said all those centuries ago. Take a break from work and distractions for a while. Speaking of weddings, perhaps you're wondering if weddings are permitted on Shabbat? Well, typically, weddings involve hiring vendors. And we like that part and some type of monetary transaction. And as a wedding vendor, I like that Purdue and signing a ketubah. I know you know all those words, if you've been listening to these podcasts, anyway, a legal contract would be prohibited on Shabbat. So therefore, the short answer is no. weddings are not permitted on Shabbat. At least not in the Orthodox community. That's why Jewish weddings often take place on Sundays or Tuesdays. Hey, I don't know about you, but Tuesday, weddings would fit nicely into my schedule. Among reformed Jews, weddings are indeed permitted on Saturdays, but usually not until at least 6:30pm. Of course, each reform Rabbi decides for himself or herself what time they're comfortable performing wedding ceremonies. But it's pretty darn rare to have a Saturday afternoon Jewish wedding. This podcast is designed to teach vendors about Jewish traditions. So how can you apply what you've just learned about Shabbat? Well, for one thing, you as a vendor should not be surprised that your Jewish clients might not answer their phones or emails on Shabbat. They might not want to meet with you on Saturdays either, because that is technically considered work. You might also help them by making arrangements to get paid on Sunday other than a Saturday. As a vendor, you should learn to respect the rules of Shabbat, especially when working at a reformer conservative synagogue. As a red coat lady, I'm regularly schlepping stuff from someone's home to their party. And here in Metro Detroit. If that party begins on a Saturday night, at a conservative synagogue, I'm required to deliver everything on Friday before Shabbat begins. Writing is not permitted on Shabbat. So at those locations, I'm careful not to carry a pen around. tearing paper is not permitted on Shabbat. Perhaps you've noticed that the toilet paper dispensers there are sort of like Kleenex boxes. You pull out one sheet at a time and you never actually tear the paper because tearing paper is not permitted on Shabbat. As a caterer, you're not permitted to light fire on Shabbat. So of course, you can't light the sternos under the shaving dishes at an orthodox synagogue on Shabbat because lighting fires is not permitted as a vendor. Hopefully you found this podcast helpful. But what if you're not a vendor? What if you just want to understand your new Jewish family? According to the latest polls in the Detroit area 58% of Jewish marriages are interfaith marriages of those of fully 80% consider their new family to be a Jewish family. So there are a whole bunch of parents out there. Perhaps you're one of them, who just want to get a better understanding of their new Jewish family. This podcast can help you understand the holidays, the vocabulary, and the traditions that are so important in Judaism. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Our full course will be available soon. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more. Keep listening every Wednesday to my newest podcast. If there's something in particular you'd like to learn or explore, send me an email. Send it to Pat at Jewish party. maven.com we'd love to hear from you. Or check out my website, guess what? Jewish party maven.com or follow us on Facebook or instant Jewish party maven.com. You got it. We're trying to make it easy for you. As a Catholic farm girl in Minnesota, I didn't understand anything about Judaism. And I'm sure not here trying to convert you. But if you want to understand Jewish customs and traditions, I am here for you. It might help you grow your party business, or it might help you enjoy your new Jewish family. Perhaps this weekend, you will embrace Shabbat and take those GRANDKIDS ON A nice walk through the zoo, or a hike out in nature. Get unplugged. It's worked for centuries to help you get rested and restored and focus on what is truly important. I'll be back next week. Thanks for spending your valuable time with me the Jewish party Maven, and Friday. I'd like to wish you a Shabbat Shalom.