The Sabbath — a weekly day of rest and holiness that arrives every Friday at sundown and departs Saturday at nightfall. Unlike the festivals fixed to a single date each year, Shabbat returns week after week, a recurring pause built into the rhythm of Jewish life. It is often called a sanctuary in time: a cathedral built not of stone but of hours set apart.
A sanctuary built not of space but of time — one day each week set apart and made holy.
Shabbat rests on two pillars of the Torah. In Genesis, God completes creation in six days and rests on the seventh, blessing it and making it holy — so keeping Shabbat is a weekly reenactment of that rest. In Exodus, the fourth of the Ten Commandments makes it a covenantal obligation, tied to the memory of slavery in Egypt: a free people rests, and grants rest to everyone in its household. Because it recurs every week rather than once a year, Shabbat is arguably the most consequential observance in Judaism — the discipline that has shaped Jewish family life, community, and identity across every century and every land.
Shabbat opens with the lighting of candles shortly before sunset on Friday, traditionally by the woman of the house, ushering in the day with a blessing. The evening meal begins with Kiddush, a blessing of sanctification recited over wine, and the breaking of two challah loaves. Festive meals, singing (zemirot), and time with family and community fill the day, along with synagogue services and the weekly Torah reading. The heart of Shabbat is rest: refraining from the thirty-nine categories of creative work (melachot) that built the ancient Tabernacle. As three stars appear on Saturday night, Havdalah — a brief ceremony over wine, spices, and a braided candle — marks the separation between the holy day and the ordinary week.
Shabbat Shalom — A peaceful Sabbath
The universal greeting is "Shabbat Shalom" ("a peaceful Sabbath") — simply reply with it in kind. Sephardi Jews often add "u'mevorach" ("and blessed"), and among Ashkenazi Jews "Gut Shabbos" is the Yiddish equivalent.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, your son or your daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the stranger who is within your gates.”— Exodus 20:8-10
Shabbat is weekly, not a once-a-year date. It begins every Friday at sundown, when candles are lit, and ends Saturday at nightfall with Havdalah — roughly twenty-five hours later.
Two things: God's rest on the seventh day of creation, and the Exodus from Egypt — a free people, and everyone in its household, is granted a day of rest each week.
Thirty-nine categories of creative work — such as writing, cooking, and building — derived from the labors of constructing the ancient Tabernacle. Refraining from them is the traditional definition of Shabbat rest.
"Shabbat Shalom" ("a peaceful Sabbath") is the standard greeting, or "Gut Shabbos" in Yiddish. You can offer it both before and during the day.
With Havdalah, a short ceremony over wine, spices, and a braided candle performed after nightfall on Saturday, marking the separation between the sacred day and the new week.
Every week · Friday at sundown to Saturday at nightfall
Shabbat begins each Friday when candles are lit shortly before sunset, and ends Saturday night once three stars appear and Havdalah is recited. It recurs every week, not on a fixed calendar date.
Shabbat Shalom — A peaceful Sabbath