Torah for Christians: Shabbat III: Shabbat at Home

TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS

 SEASON THREE    EPISODE SEVEN 

SHABBAT III

Shabbat Shalom. Let’s eat. 

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

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

Celebrating Shabbat at home is called a delight. And it is. We are together with cherished family and friends, eat and drink merrily, and let the cares of the world slide off our shoulders for the day.

The Friday night table feast is the highlight of Shabbat. It’s a time to dress a little bit nicer and it may also be the only night of the week when everyone sits down to dinner together. As a child, for example, I remember fondly our weekly Shabbat dinners at my grandparent’s house. We often were surrounded by aunts, uncles, and many cousins. It was a lot of fun. 

Every member of the family has a role to play in the Shabbat Table Service. As we start the dinner, a woman traditionally lights two Sabbath candles, reciting a blessing that praises God for commanding us to light the Shabbat candles. A man can also light candles: indeed, there is a tradition that every Jewish adult light candles. But candle lighting has fallen into the anachronistic category of “a woman’s job.”

Before electricity, only one candle was needed to illuminate the table. So, why do we light two candles? On Shabbat, all our blessings are doubled. Our mystical tradition tells us that on Shabbat, an additional soul, a divine soul, the neshama yeteira, enters us. All mitzvot are doubled, including sexual pleasure. So, when a woman lights two Shabbat candles, not only is she illuminating the home, but she is also welcoming that neshama yeteirah, that additional soul, into our homes and our hearts.

One of the mot beautiful aspects of the Shabbat Table Service is the blessing of the children. Parents place their hands on their children and recite special blessings. For boys, we ask that God bless these boys with the blessings of Ephraim and Menassah. If you recall, when Jacob was dying, Joseph brought his sons to Jacob for a blessing. We continue that custom today, although we don’t wait until we are about to die; we bless the boys every Shabbat.

We don’t leave out the girls though. We have composed a second blessing: May God give you the blessings of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. Children usually love this ritual; it requires parents to say something positive to their children – a great way to begin Shabbat. 

Husbands also bless their wives. Traditionally, the husband recites Proverbs 31, “A Woman of Valor.” So far, I have not found any blessings that children or a wife give to their husband or father.

Following these blessings, we recite a blessing over the wine. We praise God for creating the fruit of the vine. The infamous sweet kosher wine has its origins in this ritual. Traditionally, wine must be red and, to have a sweet Shabbat, we drink sweet wine. Of course, for children and those who cannot or should not drink wine, grape juice or another liquid is acceptable. Sometimes we let our kids recite this blessing, giving them a role in these rituals. We can drink better more wine later – and often do. It doesn’t have to be that sweet stuff. There are plenty of quality kosher wines available today, especially from Israel.

The Kiddush, the blessing over wine, echoes the creation theme that is the hallmark of the Kabbalat Shabbat synagogue service. In this Kiddush, we remind ourselves of God’s creation of the universe and of the Exodus from Egypt. Both the Genesis Creation story and the Exodus story are origin stories; one speaks of the entire world, a universal yearning, while the other speaks of the creation of the Jewish people, a particularistic yearning. Two creations, just like two candles and, as we will see, two loaves of bread. Normally, the person leading this blessing drinks from a special cup, not surprisingly called a Kiddush cup – but everyone at the table gets at least a little sip of wine or grape juice. 

At this point, many Jews will wash their hands. It’s not because our hands are dirty; handwashing is an aspect of ritual purity that has survived for centuries. We recite a blessing while washing hands and then return silently to the table.

After returning to the table, we bless the bread. Normally, there are two loaves of bread, echoing again the idea that all mitzvot are doubled on Shabbat. We Jews bake a special bread for Shabbat, called Challah. While there are literally hundreds of Challah recipes, coming from all parts of the world, the common theme is that they are all enriched in some way. In the Ashkenazic, European Jewish world, white flour was extremely rare; most Jewish peasants used dark rye or barley flour for daily baking. But on Shabbat, Jews baked with white flour – and often added an egg to the dough, another rarity. Sephardic Jews also used white flour although not all of those recipes use eggs.

Another feature of challah is that the dough is often braided. Ideally, both loaves have six braids: together representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel. But I know from personal experience that braiding six strands is hard; I usually braid three strands together – which is what you will often find if you buy a challah at the grocery store or bakery.

The blessing reminds us that it is God who brings forth bread from the earth. This phrasing is a bit strange; should it not read “who brings forth food from the earth?” Bread does not grow on trees – or even on vines. By saying bread and not simply foodstuffs, we petition God to return us to an idyllic state, to the Garden of Eden. With this blessing, called HaMotzi, bringing forth, we are calling the Messiah to earth as we also praise God for this food.

Each of us tears a piece of bread from a loaf and gives it a pinch of salt before eating. Using salt was a sign of privilege in earlier times; it was a rare seasoning. And on Shabbat, we eat like privileged people.

And then, we eat! We’ll talk about Shabbat foods a bit later so let’s get to the end of the meal. Just as we blessed our food before eating, we bless our food after eating. The Birkat HaMazon, the Blessing after the Meal, is a raucous melody, originally a series of German beer drinking songs – really – that enables us to thank God for our food, bless our hosts and Shabbat, and again calls upon God once again to bring the Messiah to earth. Often, there are special songs, called Z’mirot, that follow the Birkat HaMazon, enabling us to sing and drink the whole night through.

For Shabbat lunch, we do it all over again. While we don’t light candles, we do have a shortened blessing over the wine, wash our hands, bless two more loaves of challah, eat, and then bless and sing. Usually, we eat a hot dish for Shabbat lunch, one that had been stewing since before Shabbat began.

After the Mincha Service, we eat the Third Meal. This is a cold meal, often dairy, that leads into Havdalah. Havdalah, as we learned in our previous episode, is a beautiful ceremony that escorts Shabbat from our midst. We begin Havdalah with a blessing over the wine. Then, instead of blessing bread, we bless aromatic spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg, with a prayer for a sweet week. Finally, we bless a lit, twisted candle, reminiscent of the two candles with which we began Shabbat. The intertwining of the candles also represents the intertwining of Shabbat and the other six days of the week. Then, to formally end Shabbat, we dip the lit candle into the cup of wine. We literally see and hear Shabbat depart from our midst. We then sing songs for a good week and ask God to send Elijah the Prophet in the coming week, to announce the arrival of the Messiah.

Along with the many synagogue rituals, Shabbat is a wonderful time, combining home and sanctuary into one beautiful day. There are many ways to celebrate but the common themes are relaxation, prayer, and good food.

In a moment, we will talk about those special Shabbat foods. 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.

Shabbat foods vary from culture to culture. With today’s easy access to dozens of cookbooks and thousands of recipes online, we literally have too many choices of what to cook on Shabbat. So choose a different cuisine each week and have fun.

But there are some common and popular foods. Let’s start with Friday night. Perhaps the most famous Jewish food of all is chicken soup with matzah balls. Chicken soup is easy to make; you simmer a chicken, seasonings, and vegetables for a few hours, and then, voila, chicken soup.

Matzah balls are a bit different. You may not have had them. Matzah, as we will learn when we discuss Pesach, is unleavened bread, in essence a special kind of cracker. We grind the matzah boards into a fine meal, mix that with oil or schmaltz, chicken fat, and eggs, and form them into dumplings. They taste delicious when boiled and eaten with the soup. If that is too scary, try boiling egg noodles or even white rice and add them to the soup. Don’t, and I mean don’t, buy pre-made matzah balls at a grocery store; you can, though, try them from a good, Jewish delicatessen.

Ashkenazic Jews also eat something that is almost incomprehensible to those who did not grow up with this particular delicacy, gefilte fish. Gefilte is not a species of fish; it means chopped. We grind whitefish and other types of fish together, mix it with flour or matzah meal, add eggs and seasonings and then boil the patties. Usually, we top gefilte fish with beet horseradish sauce or, in modern days, even with guacamole or wasabi. But trust me, if you have never eaten gefilte fish, it’s a very hard taste to acquire. Again, if you know someone who makes gefilte fish at home, try that; the store brands, while ubiquitous, just are not as good. Chopped chicken liver, like a liver pate, is also an appetizer and certainly more palatable. Spread some on challah; it’s delicious.

Fish is often the first dish because there is a custom to eat two proteins at a Shabbat dinner. The second protein is often either roasted chicken or beef, such as a brisket. Jewish brisket is much different than Texas BBQ, which is rather awesome as well. Jewish brisket is braised for several hours at low heat with liquids and vegetables until it is tender. Often, we cook the chicken soup and brisket a day or two before Shabbat so that the flavors properly meld – and so we can skim the fat.

Along with the beef or chicken, we often serve a dish called kugel. A kugel can be made with either egg noodles or potatoes, sometimes with rice or even sweet potatoes. The starch is mixed with eggs, flour or matzah meal and other flavorings, perhaps dried fruits, or cinnamon, and then baked in a casserole. We may also include vegetables to round out the meal. 

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned milk or cheese. Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, require us to separate milk and meat. We can have dairy or even vegan meals on Shabbat but if we eat do, there cannot be any meat products served with it. And when we serve meat, we cannot serve dairy foods with it.

For Shabbat lunch, we often serve a dish called cholent or, in Sephardic homes, hamin. They are essentially the same thing. Since we cannot begin to cook a dish once Shabbat starts, we start it prior to Shabbat. These dishes, which cook for hours, are meat or vegetarian stews. They are usually a mix of beef, potatoes, beans, hard boiled eggs and whatever else is on hand. If the meal is vegetarian, we eliminate the meat and usually add more beans or other vegetables. Seasonings vary according to the home and the culture, but these stews are always delicious.

Following Mincha, the afternoon service, we might eat a light meal, usually dairy since this meal is also usually a cold dish. Perhaps we nosh on a dairy kugel, made with noodles or rice, mixed with cream cheese, sour cream and dried fruits. This can easily be made in advance and served chilled. In essence though, this quick meal is just something to hold us over until after Havdalah, the ceremony that ends Shabbat, after the sun sets on Saturday night.

But even the most traditional among us know that at times, we must violate the many rules and customs of Shabbat. The overriding principle in Jewish law is called pikuach nefesh, the preservation of life. So, for example, if a Chassidic woman has a heart attack on Shabbat afternoon, her family must call an ambulance, and someone can even ride with her to the hospital. I know; I’ve seen this happen in the most Orthodox quarters of Jerusalem. Torah commands us to live by the commandments and not die by them. All laws except murder and blasphemy not only can be broken but must be broken to save a life, including the laws of Shabbat.

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 conclude our 4-part series on Shabbat when we discuss the differences in how Jews, Christians and Muslim celebrate the Sabbath. 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.