Shabbat: Meaning and Practice, Part 1 The Origins and Evolution of Shabbat

Part 1. What is Shabbat? Why is Shabbat?

Following are the Shabbat sections of the two versions of the 10 Commandments found in the Torah. According to each text, what is the motivation behind keeping Shabbat?

Part 2: What and How Shabbat? Additional Sources from the TaNakh

Part 3: Development of a Post Biblical Shabbat - Key Concepts

Concept 1: Shabbat is a taste of the world to come

1. Talmud Brachot 57b

"Five things are a sixtieth part of something else: namely, fire, honey, Shabbat, sleep and a dream. Fire is one-sixtieth part of Gehinnom. Honey is one-sixtieth part of manna. Shabbat is one-sixtieth part of the world to come. Sleep is one-sixtieth part of death. A dream is one-sixtieth part of prophecy."

2. Midrash Otiot d'Rabbi Akiva

"In the hour God said to Israel, "I am giving you the Torah," God said, "If you observing the mitzvah (commandment) of Shabbat, I will give you Olam Haba (the world to come)." And Israel said before God, "Master of the Universe! Show us an example of this Olam Haba." God replied, "This is Shabbat."

3. Babylonian Talmud Betzah 16a

Shimon ben Lakish said: “The Holy One gives man an additional soul on Sabbath eve, and at the Sabbath's departure it is taken from him, as is said, "The Sabbath ceased; va-yinnafash" (Exod. 31:17). Once the Sabbath ceases, vay, en nefesh; "woe, the [additional] soul is no more."

4. Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath

All days of the week must be spiritually consistent with the Day of Days. All our life should be a pilgrimage to the seventh day; the thought and appreciation of what this day may bring to us should be ever present in our minds.

Concept 2: Shabbat as Joy and Bodily Pleasure

2. Talmud Shabbat 118b

"Thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight" (Isa. 58:13). With what is one to show his delight in the Sabbath? R. Judah son of R. Samuel bar Shilat said in the name of Rav: With a dish of beets, large fish, and heads of garlic. R. Hiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: So long as it is prepared in honor of the Sabbath, even a humble dish is "a delight."

3. Talmud, Ketubot 62b

"How often are scholars to perform their marital duties? — Rav Judah in the name of Samuel replied: Every Friday night.

That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, Rav Judah, and some say R. Huna, or again. as others say. R. Nahman, stated: This [refers to the man] who performs his marital duty every Friday night.

Judah the son of R. Hiyya and son-in-law of R. Jannai was always spending his time in the school house but every Sabbath eve he came home."

4. Mah Yedidut (Traditional Shabbat song)

How beloved is your contentment, you Sabbath Queen!
So we run to greet you: Come, anointed bride!
Dressed in beautiful garments to kindle the flame with blessing.
And all labor has ceased, [for it is written:] "You shall not do work."

[It is a time] to delight in pleasures: fatted birds, quail, and fish.

From the day before [the Sabbath], they prepare all kinds of delicacies.
While still day fattened chickens are made ready;
And setting up diverse kinds [of foods], drinking wines; all sweet-smelling.
And we enjoy luxurious delicacies at all three meals.

[It is a time] to delight in pleasures: fatted birds, quail, and fish.

The heritage of Jacob shall they inherit; an inheritance without constraints.
Both rich and poor shall honor it and [thereby] merit redemption.
If you observe the Sabbath Day [God says:] "You shall be for Me a treasure."
"Six days you shall do your work" but on the seventh we will rejoice.

[It is a time] to delight in pleasures: fatted birds, quail, and fish.

Your mundane matters [on it] are forbidden, and even figuring accounts.
Contemplation is permissible, and arranging marriages.
And to arrange for a child to be taught a holy book and how to chant,
and to engage in beautiful words [of Torah] in all corners and gathering places.

[It is a time] to delight in pleasures: fatted birds, quail, and fish...

Concept 3: Shabbat as a mate, a bride

1. Bereishit Rabbah 10:9

Geniva said (of God inaugurating Shabbat on the seventh day): This is comparable to a king who prepared a wedding chamber, but was missing a bride. Similarly, the world was missing Shabbat.

​​​​​​

2. Midrash Genesis Rabbah 11:18

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai taught: The Sabbath spoke right up to the Holy One: “Master of the universe, each one of the days has a mate, but I have no mate.” The Holy One replied: “The congregation of Israel will be your mate.” And when Israel stood before Mount Sinai, the Holy One said to them: “Remember the special thing I told the Sabbath, that "the congregation of Israel is to be your mate." It is this that is implied in the verse "Remember the Sabbath day to hallow it" (Exod. 20:8).

4.L'cha Dodi, Shlomo, Rabbi Shelomo Halevi Alkabets (16th century)

Hymn for Shabbat

לכה דודי לקראת כלה, פני שבת נקבלה

L'cha dodi likrat Kallah, P'nei Shabbat Nikabela,

Come by beloved, let us greet the face of Shabbat

Concept 4: Shabbat as Hope, Shabbat as Revolution

Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, pg. 28

To set apart one day a week for freedom, a day on which we would not use the instruments which have been so easily turned into weapons of destruction, a day for being with ourselves, a day of detachment from the vulgar, of independence of external obligations, a day on which we stop worshipping the idols of technical civilization, a day on which we use no money, a day of armistice in the economic struggle with our fellow men and the forces of nature—is there any institution that holds out a greater hope for man’s progress than the Sabbath?

Achad Ha'am, Shabbat and Zionism, 1898

"There is no need to be overly concerned with mitzvot in order to know the value of Shabbat. Whoever feels in their heart a true connection with the life of the [Jewish] Nation in all generations, cannot in any way imagine a reality for the people of Israel without Shabbat. One could say, without any exaggeration, that more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel, and if it hadn't returned to them their souls and renewed the lives of their spirit each week, all the sufferings of the "days of creation" would drag us farther and farther downward, until they would eventually descend to the bottom floor of materialism, and ethical and intellectual baseness."

Rabbi Michael Lerner “Shabbat” in A Shabbat Reader: Universe of Cosmic Joy, ed. Dov Peretz Elkins

Shabbat is for appreciation, for receptivity, for wonder. It is twenty-five hours dedicated to being open to the world, responding, celebrating…But Shabbat is also something else, the weekly celebration of the possibility of emancipation from oppression and dominion: zecher l’tziyat mitzrayim (a reminder of the Israelite redemption from Egypt).

Shabbat is both the result and celebration of the first national liberation struggle. Ruling elites throughout most of the recorded history have no limit, when people are forced to work till they drop or drop dead, we have a condition of slavery. Shabbat is the first historical imposition of a limit on the ability of ruling elites to exploit labor…The notion that working people could do this, that they had rights that limited the power of the bosses, was a new notion in history. The Jews build their religion around it.

Shabbat wasn’t a day of rest for those who could afford it. “Six days shalt thou work, and the seventh day is a Sabbath to your God. On it, you shall do no word, neither you, nor your family members, nor your animals, nor anyone who works for you, not the stranger who is within your gates.”

Shabbat is the real-world testimonial to the fact that the world can be transformed from what is to what ought to be, and God is the Force in the universe that made that possible.

A few sources were inspired by and/or learned from a Sefaria sheet by Rachel Nilson Ralston