Shabbat I

TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS

 SEASON THREE    EPISODE FIVE 

SHABBAT I

 Once upon a time, a rabbi welcomed a Roman General for Shabbat dinner. The general accepted the invitation and arrived at the rabbi’s house that next Shabbat. The rabbi served him course after course and the general marveled at how delicious the food tasted. “What is the secret to this incredible food?” asked the general. To which the rabbi replied, “That is a special flavor that we add.” The general asked for the recipes so that his chef could prepare these same dishes. The rabbi was honored to comply.

Sometime later, the general came back to see the rabbi. He was quite agitated. “I gave my cook the recipes for your delicious dinner, but they just don’t taste the same. Did you leave out any ingredients?” The rabbi thought for a moment and said, “Yes. There was once taste that your chef could not replicate.” “What spice is that?” The rabbi said, “The taste that is missing is the taste of Shabbat.”

I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is a special Shabbat edition of Torah for Christians.

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Welcome to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr.

Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, is the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar. It is also the oldest. In Genesis, Chapter Two, God decreed that just as God chose to rest on the 7th day of creation, so should we humans rest every 7 days. This commandment, the second one given in the Torah, applied to all of humanity, not just to Jews. Yet, Jews celebrate Shabbat quite differently than Muslims and Christians.

There is so much to discuss that I have divided this topic into four episodes. On this episode, we will focus on Shabbat in the Bible and rabbinic literature. Episode Two will focus on Shabbat in the synagogue and Episode Three will focus on Shabbat at home. Finally, our final Shabbat episode will focus on the differences in how Jews, Christians and Muslims celebrate the Sabbath.

Genesis, 2.2-3 reads as follows:

On the seventh day God finished the work that God had been doing, and God “rested.” on the seventh day from all the work that God had done. 

And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it, God ceased from all the work of creation that God had done.

            Now why did God need to rest? This is a contradiction inherent in the text. By definition, God does not need to rest; God can keep on going, forever and ever, without taking a break. 

          But we humans need to rest. In later rabbinic thought, we learn that God is being a role model for us: if God rests, how much the more so do we need to rest!

          Exodus 20.8-11 further defines Shabbat. I’m sure that you recognize these words:

Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Eternal 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. 

For in six days the Eternal made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and God rested on the seventh day; therefore the Eternal blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

          Exodus elaborates on and expands the definition of Shabbat, especially the meaning of “rest.” Now this commandment to observe Shabbat is directed specifically at the Israelites; they, their families, their servants, their animals, or anyone who lives amongst the Israelites must rest on Shabbat. 

In Deuteronomy’s version of the 10 Commandments, the sole difference is the first word; “Remember” becomes “Observe.”  While this may sound like a minor difference, in reality it’s a big change. To remember is passive; we don’t have to do anything. But to observe, we must be active; we must be actively resting. 

Leviticus 23.3 reinforces this theme when Moses proclaims the festival calendar to the Israelites. Here, Moses declares that Shabbat is a day of complete rest; no work may be done.

Finally, the sacrifices specific to Shabbat are detailed in the Book of Numbers. But since we Jews have not offered a sacrifice for almost 2,000 years; we’re going to leave that topic alone. It’s just not relevant to today’s Jewish experience.

What does this all mean in practical terms? It seems that Shabbat was a difficult holiday to observe in Biblical times. We Jews were not allowed to light a fire, cook, or do any other type of work. Think about how Jews might have endured Shabbat on a cold winter night; it might have been impossible for them to keep this commandment if they were shivering and without any heat source.

But there was another issue that did not come to the fore until the time of the Hasmonean Revolt, the story of Hanukkah. At the outset of the revolt, the Greeks attacked Mattathias and the Jewish rebels on Shabbat. I Maccabees 2.32-41recounts the horrible episode when thousands of Jews were slaughtered because they refused to fight on Shabbat. Then, as chronicled in I Maccabees 2.42-44, the Maccabees determined that if attacked on Shabbat, they would defend themselves. And they did, to the great discomfit of the Greeks.

This was an innovation born out of necessity. The Maccabees realized that they were supposed to live by the commandments and not die by them. To save a life, especially their own lives, Jews could now violate the laws of Shabbat under certain circumstances.

But the problem of a dark and cold Shabbat persisted for another century. It was left to the early rabbis to liberate Shabbat, as it were, from the strictures of the Torah. 

In the late 1st Century, BCE, the great Rabbi Hillel issued a decree, called the prozbul, which redefined the entire concept of Shabbat. In his ruling, he used the powers of logical deduction and an extremely close reading of the Torah to reverse centuries of Jewish practice. Simply put, Hillel decreed that while Jews could do no work on Shabbat, such as lighting a fire. But Hillel allowed that if a fire had been lit prior to Shabbat, it could burn through the day; it did not have to be extinguished before sunset. So, for example, if a Jew lit a fire one hour before Shabbat began, he or she could put a pot of food on that fire prior to Shabbat and benefit from the light and heat. Hillel’s ruling turned Shabbat from a day of darkness and cold to a day of light and warmth. In practical terms, Hillel saved Shabbat for the Jewish people.

In a minute, we will look at some other aspects of Rabbinic thought regarding Shabbat, especially the definition of work. This is critical since these rules define Shabbat for Jews today.

I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.

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Welcome back to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr. Before we return to our discussion of Shabbat, I want to thank you for listening to this podcast. Please remember to review and rate this episode on Apple, Spotify, Facebook, or whatever service you are using. Also, please go back and listen to previous episodes if you have not done so already. And if you would like to read my weekly Torah Study, please go to Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School, available for free on www.Substack.com. And now, this and many previous episodes are available on our brand new YouTube channel. Please subscribe.

In the Talmudic Tractate Shabbat, the rabbis lay down the halacha, the laws of Shabbat. Much of the tractate is concerned with the Shabbat sacrifices, which do not concern us. They also strove to determine when Shabbat began and ended, concluding that Shabbat began just before sundown and ended the next day once 3 stars appeared in the sky. 

But what is most important to us is how the rabbis defined the meaning of work. As we know, work is forbidden on Shabbat. But just what do we mean by that? 

The rabbis looked to an important story in the Torah for their inspiration: the building of the Tabernacle. At first glance, this does not make much sense; why would we concern ourselves with a traveling sanctuary when speaking of Shabbat? The connection though is intriguing; in the Torah, God commands us not to engage in this sacred work on Shabbat. From this, the rabbis derived that there were 39 categories of work in which the Israelites engaged when building the Tabernacle which were therefore forbidden for Jews to do on Shabbat. These categories include lighting and extinguishing a fire, sewing, cutting, and weaving, using a hammer, digging a trench and so on. The Av Melachot, as these 39 categories of work are called, can easily be found online if you want further information.

What does that mean for us today? It’s easy to say that we should not light a fire, slaughter an animal, or use a hammer and nails on Shabbat. But as time went on, we were confronted with innovation after innovation, requiring us to adapt these rules to contemporary times. Let’s take one example, using electricity on Shabbat. Since we are not allowed to light a fire on Shabbat, modern rabbis concluded that turning an electrical switch on and off was the equivalent of lighting a fire and so it was a violation of the Shabbat laws. If a light was on when Shabbat began, that light could stay on throughout the day. But Jews could not turn that light on or off during Shabbat. The same thought applied to turning on a stove or oven – or even starting a car engine, using a cell phone, watching television, or listening to the radio. All of these actions use electricity and so come under the “light no fire” rule. This is why you will see Orthodox Jews in particular live close to their synagogue buildings, so that they can walk to services on Shabbat.

Of course, leaving a light on throughout the day posed problems. Not only might it be a waste of energy but leaving a light on might mean that we would have trouble getting to sleep if the bathroom light was on. So, the rabbis allowed pre-set timers to be used. We can pre-set our timers before Shabbat so that lamps, ovens, and stoves can go on and off during the day. 

Another corollary to this proscription is cooking. Jews who observe these rules strictly know that they cannot light an oven or stove during Shabbat. So, how do we cook a hot meal? Or even wash dishes?

We’ll talk more about foods in Part III of our 4-part discussion but to put it simply, we Jews love to make stews for Shabbat lunch. It’s easy to prepare a Friday night meal since we come home from the synagogue and eat immediately. But to have a hot meal on Shabbat afternoon requires thought; often we prepare a stew, called a cholent in the Ashkenazic world or a Hamin in the Sephardic community, which is placed on a stovetop or put in the oven prior to Shabbat and removed when it’s time to eat lunch. 

Jews of all streams who celebrate Shabbat take these rules into account, even if they do not follow them strictly. The important point is that Shabbat is different from the other six days of the week; we are required to make it special. Just as God set aside the seventh day as a day of rest, so we set this day aside for prayer, learning, family time and especially rest. In the immortal words of the 19th Century early Zionist thinker Ahad Ha’am, “More than Israel has kept the Sabbath has the Sabbath kept Israel.”

I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. Please remember to rate and review this, and previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or other streaming services. You can also like and hear us on Facebook and now, you can subscribe to the podcast on Youtube.

Next week, we will continue with our 4-part series on Shabbat. We will focus on how we celebrate Shabbat in the synagogue: the three worship services, Torah readings and other wonderful aspects of the holiday. Stay tuned.

Finally, I have begun to publish a weekly Torah Study, called Bible Stories They Never Taught You in Religious School. It’s available for free on www.substack.com. You can also sign up on Substack for the newsletter to appear every Friday in your Inbox.

          Have a wonderful week and remember; Hinei Mah Tov … L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.