(ח) זָכ֛וֹר֩ אֶת־י֥֨וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜ת לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ (ט) שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒ (י) וְי֙וֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔֜י שַׁבָּ֖֣ת ׀ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֗יךָ לֹֽ֣א־תַעֲשֶׂ֣֨ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡֜ה אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבִנְךָֽ֣־וּ֠בִתֶּ֗ךָ עַבְדְּךָ֤֨ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ֜֙ וּבְהֶמְתֶּ֔֗ךָ וְגֵרְךָ֖֙ אֲשֶׁ֥֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽ֔יךָ (יא) כִּ֣י שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים֩ עָשָׂ֨ה יְהוָ֜ה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם֙ וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֔ם וַיָּ֖נַח בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑י עַל־כֵּ֗ן בֵּרַ֧ךְ יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־י֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖ת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ (ס)
(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
(יב) שָׁמ֣֛וֹר אֶת־י֥וֹם֩ הַשַׁבָּ֖֨ת לְקַדְּשׁ֑֜וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוְּךָ֖֣ ׀ יְהוָ֥֣ה אֱלֹהֶֽ֗יךָ (יג) שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כָּֿל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒׃ (יד) וְי֙וֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜֔י שַׁבָּ֖֣ת ׀ לַיהוָ֖֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֗יךָ לֹ֣א תַעֲשֶׂ֣ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡ה אַתָּ֣ה וּבִנְךָֽ־וּבִתֶּ֣ךָ וְעַבְדְּךָֽ־וַ֠אֲמָתֶךָ וְשׁוֹרְךָ֨ וַחֲמֹֽרְךָ֜ וְכָל־בְּהֶמְתֶּ֗ךָ וְגֵֽרְךָ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ לְמַ֗עַן יָנ֛וּחַ עַבְדְּךָ֥ וַאֲמָתְךָ֖ כָּמֽ֑וֹךָ׃ (טו) וְזָכַרְתָּ֞֗ כִּ֣י־עֶ֤֥בֶד הָיִ֣֙יתָ֙ ׀ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔֗יִם וַיֹּצִ֨אֲךָ֜֩ יְהוָ֤֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֤֙יךָ֙ מִשָּׁ֔ם֙ בְּיָ֤֥ד חֲזָקָ֖ה֙ וּבִזְרֹ֣עַ נְטוּיָ֑֔ה עַל־כֵּ֗ן צִוְּךָ֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת אֶת־י֥וֹם הַשַׁבָּֽת׃ (ס)
(12) Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. (13) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (14) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time. Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogeneous, to whom all hours are alike, qualitiless, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn...
One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word qadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?
It is indeed a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time; in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gen.2:3). There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness...
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time. Unlike the space-minded man to whom time is unvaried, iterative, homogeneous, to whom all hours are alike, qualitiless, empty shells, the Bible senses the diversified character of time. There are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn...
One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word qadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?
It is indeed a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time; in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gen.2:3). There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness...
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
(כז) כִּי אֶשְׁמְרָה שַׁבָּת אֵל יִשְׁמְרֵנִי. אוֹת הִיא לְעוֹלְמֵי עַד בֵּינוֹ וּבֵינִי.
by Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, 1092-1167
Spain
If I keep the Sabbath God will watch over me. It is a sign forever between God and me.
Forbidden are business and travel, and also talk of weekday affairs, matters of commerce, or politics. I will ponder God's Torah, it will enlighten me.
On it I will always find rest for my soul. To the first generation the Holy One gave a sign, by giving a double portion on the sixth day. So every Sabbath eve may God double my portion.
God wrote in the Torah a law for the priests, on the Sabbath to array the shewbread before God. Fasting on it, according to the Sages, is forbidden, except for the Day of Atonement for one's sins.
It is an honoured day, a day of pleasures, bread, good wine, meat, and fish. Those that mourn on it are backsliders, for it is a day to rejoice and it shall make me happy.
Anyone who works on it shall be cut off. With it I shall cleanse my heart, as with soap. I shall pray to God the evening and morning prayers, the additional and afternoon prayers, God will answer me.
On it I will always find rest for my soul. To the first generation the Holy One gave a sign, by giving a double portion on the sixth day. So every Sabbath eve may God double my portion.
God wrote in the Torah a law for the priests, on the Sabbath to array the shewbread before God. Fasting on it, according to the Sages, is forbidden, except for the Day of Atonement for one's sins.
It is an honoured day, a day of pleasures, bread, good wine, meat, and fish. Those that mourn on it are backsliders, for it is a day to rejoice and it shall make me happy.
Anyone who works on it shall be cut off. With it I shall cleanse my heart, as with soap. I shall pray to God the evening and morning prayers, the additional and afternoon prayers, God will answer me.
Rabbi Arthur Green, Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
Shabbat is needed now more than ever. We Jews should be missionary about Shabbat. It may be the best gift we have to offer the world. The idea is that one day a week you say no to our new master, the computer. You turn off the modem, look away from the screen and toward those around you, exercising a talent that may become rare in this age: the cultivation of real human community. My bumper-sticker slogan for Shabbat reads "Visit people, not websites."
But in order to give Shabbat to the world, we first need to reclaim it for ourselves. Most Jews, in the rush toward modernity, lost the rhythms of Shabbat and need to rediscover them. Shabbat does not belong only to the Orthodox minority who observe it strictly; it is the inheritance of all Jews. But how shall we do it? What might constitute a contemporary Shabbat?...
Ten Pathways Toward a Contemporary Shabbat
Do
1. Stay at home. Spend quality time with family and real friends.
2. Celebrate with others: at the table, in the synagogue, with friends or community.
3. Study or read something that will edify, challenge, or make you grow.
4. Be alone. Take some time for yourself. Check in with yourself. Review your week. Ask yourself where you are in your life.
5. Mark the beginning and end of this sacred time by lighting candles and making kiddush on Friday night and saying havdalah on Saturday night.
Don't
6. Don't do anything that you have to do for your work life. This includes obligatory reading, homework for kids (even without writing!), unwanted social obligations, and preparing for work as well as doing your job itself.
7. Don't spend money. Separate completely from the commercial culture that surrounds us so much. This includes doing business of all sorts. No calls to the broker, no following up on ads, no paying of bills. It can all wait.
8. Don't use the computer. Turn off the iPhone or smartphone. Live and breathe for a day without checking messages. Declare this freedom from this new master of our minds and our time. Find the time for face-to-face conversations with people around you, without Facebook.
9. Don't travel. Avoid especially commercial travel and places like airports, hotel check-ins, and similar depersonalizing encounters. Stay free of situations in which people are likely to tell you to "have a nice day." (Shabbat already is a nice day, thank you.)
10. Don't rely on commercial or canned video entertainment, including the TV as well as the computer screen. Discover what there is to do in life when you are not being entertained.
Shabbat is needed now more than ever. We Jews should be missionary about Shabbat. It may be the best gift we have to offer the world. The idea is that one day a week you say no to our new master, the computer. You turn off the modem, look away from the screen and toward those around you, exercising a talent that may become rare in this age: the cultivation of real human community. My bumper-sticker slogan for Shabbat reads "Visit people, not websites."
But in order to give Shabbat to the world, we first need to reclaim it for ourselves. Most Jews, in the rush toward modernity, lost the rhythms of Shabbat and need to rediscover them. Shabbat does not belong only to the Orthodox minority who observe it strictly; it is the inheritance of all Jews. But how shall we do it? What might constitute a contemporary Shabbat?...
Ten Pathways Toward a Contemporary Shabbat
Do
1. Stay at home. Spend quality time with family and real friends.
2. Celebrate with others: at the table, in the synagogue, with friends or community.
3. Study or read something that will edify, challenge, or make you grow.
4. Be alone. Take some time for yourself. Check in with yourself. Review your week. Ask yourself where you are in your life.
5. Mark the beginning and end of this sacred time by lighting candles and making kiddush on Friday night and saying havdalah on Saturday night.
Don't
6. Don't do anything that you have to do for your work life. This includes obligatory reading, homework for kids (even without writing!), unwanted social obligations, and preparing for work as well as doing your job itself.
7. Don't spend money. Separate completely from the commercial culture that surrounds us so much. This includes doing business of all sorts. No calls to the broker, no following up on ads, no paying of bills. It can all wait.
8. Don't use the computer. Turn off the iPhone or smartphone. Live and breathe for a day without checking messages. Declare this freedom from this new master of our minds and our time. Find the time for face-to-face conversations with people around you, without Facebook.
9. Don't travel. Avoid especially commercial travel and places like airports, hotel check-ins, and similar depersonalizing encounters. Stay free of situations in which people are likely to tell you to "have a nice day." (Shabbat already is a nice day, thank you.)
10. Don't rely on commercial or canned video entertainment, including the TV as well as the computer screen. Discover what there is to do in life when you are not being entertained.