The daily work which has chiefly the well-being of the body as its aim
must be interrupted on certain days which the Almighty has appointed
for the promotion of man’s spiritual well-being. Sabbath and Festivals
are the days thus appointed, and are therefore called מועדי יי “the
seasons of the Lord,” and מקראי קדש “holy convocations.” The blessing
derived from the observance of Holy-days in the true spirit is
described by the prophet as follows: “If thou keep back thy foot
because of the sabbath, from doing thy business on my holy day; and
call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt
honour it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own business,
nor speaking thine own words: then thou shalt delight thyself in the
Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father” (Isa. lviii. 13,
14). To those who fail to observe the seasons of the Lord in the true
spirit, the prophet says in the name of the Almighty: “Your new-moons
and your festivals my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am
weary to bear them” (ibid. i. 14).
Maimonides [56] comprehends the various duties and observances of the
Holy-days in the following four terms: זכור “remember,” שמור “take
heed,” כבוד “honour,” and עונג “delight.” The first two are found
in the Pentateuch, and form the beginning of the fourth commandment in
Exodus and Deuteronomy respectively; the other two occur in the above
description of the Sabbath quoted from Isaiah (lviii. 13, 14).
Following the example of our great teacher, we shall likewise treat of
the laws and customs of Sabbath and Festivals under these four heads:
[57]—
a. זכור “Remember.”
Remember the Sabbath-day; speak of it, of its holiness and its
blessings. We fulfil this duty when Sabbath comes in, by the Kiddush,
“the sanctification of the day,” in which we praise the Almighty for
the boon bestowed upon us by the institution of the Sabbath; and when
Sabbath goes out, by the Habhdalah, in which we praise God for the
“distinction” made between the holy and the ordinary days. We have both
Kiddush and Habhdalah in a double form: (a) as a portion of the Amidah
in the Evening Service; the Kiddush being the middle section of the
Amidah, the Habhdalah consisting of a prayer added to the fourth
paragraph beginning אתה חנן; (b) as a separate service especially
intended for our homes. It is this home-service that we generally
understand by the terms Kiddush and Habhdalah, and in this sense they
are employed in the following. [58]
Kiddush.
There is a traditional explanation of the term zachor: זכרהו על היין
“remember it over the wine.” As “wine gladdens the heart of man” and
forms an important element in a festive meal, it has been ordered that
our meal on the eve [59] of Sabbath and Festival should be begun with a
cup of wine in honour of the day, and that mention should be made of
the holiness of the day before partaking of the wine. The Kiddush
consists of two blessings (ברכות): one over the wine, [60] and one
that refers to the holiness of the day. On Holy-days—except the last
days of Passover—a third blessing (שהחינו) follows, praising God for
having granted us life and enabled us again to celebrate the Festival.
On Friday evening a portion from Genesis (i. 31 to ii. 3) is added,
which contains the first mention of the institution of Sabbath. If a
Festival happens to fall on Sunday, we add part of the Habhdalah to the
Kiddush on Saturday evening, [61] referring to the distinction between
the holiness of the Sabbath and that of the Festivals.
The Kiddush is part of the Sabbath or Festival evening meal, and in the
absence of the latter the Kiddush is omitted. [62] In Synagogues of the
German and Polish Minhag the Reader recites the Kiddush at the
conclusion of the Maarib Service. This custom is a survival of the
ancient way of providing for the poor and the stranger. In the absence
of better accommodation lodging and food were given to the needy in
rooms adjoining the Synagogue, or even in the Synagogue itself. It was
for these that the Reader recited the Kiddush, before they commenced
the evening meal, as most probably wine was not served to all. Although
circumstances have changed the mode of maintaining the poor, and the
latter find no longer lodging and board in the Synagogue, the Kiddush
has been retained as part of the Maarib Service, except on the first
two nights of Passover, when there had never been an occasion for
reading Kiddush in the Synagogue. The poor were treated on these nights
with four cups of wine each, and they recited Kiddush by themselves as
part of the Seder.
Habhdalah הבדלה.
Habhdalah is recited in the evening following Sabbath or Holy-day,
after the Evening Service. A cup of wine is raised, and the ברכה over
wine is followed by another ברכה, in which God is praised for the
distinction made between the holy and the ordinary day (בין קדש
לחול), or between two kinds of holiness (בין קדש לקדש) in case
Sabbath is followed by a Holy-day.—On Sabbath night we take a candle
and a spice-box, and add two blessings after that over wine; in the one
we thank God for the enjoyment of the fragrance, in the other for the
benefit He bestowed on us by the creation of light. A few verses from
the Bible, especially the Prophets, precede the Habhdalah.
The origin of the introduction of the blessings for light and for
spices in the Habhdalah may be the following:—The principal meal of the
day used to be taken about sunset; light and burning incense were
essential elements of a festive meal. On Sabbath these could not be
had, and were therefore enjoyed immediately after the going out of
Sabbath. Although the custom of having incense after the meal has long
ceased, it has survived in the Habhdalah, and has, in course of time,
received another, a more poetical interpretation. The Sabbath inspires
us with cheerfulness, gives us, as it were, an additional soul—נְשָׁמָה
יְתֵרָה—traces of which are left on the departure of Sabbath, and are
symbolised by the fragrance of the spices. For the use of the special
light there has likewise been suggested a second reason, namely, that
it is intended at the commencement of the week to remind us of the
first product of Creation, which was light.
There are a few customs connected with the Habhdalah that may be
noticed here.
(1.) The wine, when poured into the cup, is allowed to flow over, as a
symbol of the overflowing Divine blessing which we wish and hope to
enjoy in the coming week.
(2.) Some dip their finger in wine and pass it over their eyes, in
allusion to the words of the Nineteenth Psalm (ver. 9), “The
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The act
expresses the love of the Divine commandments (חִבּוּב מִצְוָה).
(3.) Only male persons partake of the wine; they have more interest in
the Habhdalah as the signal for the resumption of ordinary work and
business.—The exclusion of women from the wine of Habhdalah may also
have its origin in the fact that Jewish women generally abstained from
taking wine, considering strong drink suitable only for the male
portion of mankind. They only partake of the wine of Kiddush on account
of its importance; to Habhdalah less importance was ascribed.
(4.) On reaching the words בין אור לחשך, “between light and
darkness,” some hold their hands against the light, the fingers bent
inside, in illustration of the words which they utter, showing darkness
and shadow inside and light outside.—With the practice of these and
similar customs we must take good care that we should not combine any
superstitious motive, or join actions which are really superstitious,
and did not originate in Jewish thought and Jewish traditions.
We further remember the Sabbath-day to sanctify it by increased
devotion, by reading special Lessons from the Pentateuch and the
Prophets, and by attending religious instruction given by teachers and
preachers.
Besides various additions in the Service, and the substitution of one
paragraph concerning Sabbath or Festival for the thirteen middle
paragraphs of the Amidah, there is another Service inserted between the
Morning and the Afternoon Services; it is called Musaph, “the
Additional Service,” and corresponds to the additional offering
ordained for Sabbath and Festival (Num. xxviii. 9, sqq.).
An essential element in the Morning Service is the Reading from the
Torah (קריאת התורה) and the Prophets (הפטרה). A periodical public
reading from the Law was enjoined in the following words: “At the end
of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the
feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law
before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and
women and children, and the stranger that is within thy gates, that
they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and
observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children, which
have not known anything, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God”
(Deut. xxxi. 10–13).
A seven years’ interval would surely have destroyed the impression
produced by the reading. The reading was probably repeated throughout
the country at shorter intervals. Tradition ascribes to Moses the
institution of reading the Law every Sabbath, Monday, and Thursday
morning, in order that three days might never pass without Torah. Ezra
is said to have added the reading on Sabbath afternoon, and to have
made various other regulations with regard to the reading of the Law.
Quantity and manner of reading were at first, no doubt, variable. In
the course of time certain systems found favour and became the fixed
rule. Some completed the reading of the whole Pentateuch in three
years, others in one year. The former mode was gradually displaced by
the latter, and the attempts which have lately been made to revive it
have not succeeded. Traces of the triennial reading may be noticed in
the number of sedarim contained in the five books of the Pentateuch. At
present, however, the annual course is followed in almost all our
Synagogues. The section read on one Sabbath is called sidra; the first,
בראשית, is read the first Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles, and
the last sidra is read on Simchath-torah (the 23rd of Tishri).
For the Festivals such sections were selected as contained either
direct or indirect reference to the Festivals. If these happen to be on
a Sabbath, the ordinary reading is interrupted, and that of the
Festivals substituted for it.
The number of persons who were to take part in the reading varied
according as the people were likely to devote less or more time to
Divine Service: on weekdays and on Sabbath afternoon three, on New-moon
and Chol-hammoed four, on the Festivals five, on the Day of Atonement
six, [63] and on Sabbath seven. Some may have required the assistance
of the chazan, and in some cases the chazan’s voice was the only one
that was heard; gradually the chazan became the reader, and the
original reader became silent, being content with reciting the
b’rachoth. Only in the case of the Bar-mitsvah, the Chathan-torah, and
the Chathan-b’reshith the original practice has been retained.
As regards the order of those who take part in the reading of the Law,
the first place is given to a Cohen, i.e., a descendant of Aaron, the
priest; the second to a Levite, i.e., a non-priest of the tribe of
Levi; and then follow other Israelites, that are neither Levites nor
Cohanim, without any prescribed order. The last who concludes the
reading from the Law on those days on which a chapter from the Prophets
is also read is called maftir, “concluding;” and the lesson from the
Prophets is called haphtarah, “conclusion.”
In the selection of the haphtarah care was taken that it should contain
some reference to the contents of the lesson from the Pentateuch, and
as there was not much choice, the haphtarah, once chosen, was as a rule
read again on the recurrence of the same sidra. Different communities
had different series of haphtaroth. A few negative rules concerning the
selection of the haphtarah are mentioned in the Mishnah (Megillah iv.
10); Ezek. i. and xvi., 2 Sam. xi. and xiii., are to be excluded. These
rules, however, were not observed, as Ezek. i. is the haphtarah for the
first day of the Feast of Weeks. There is an ancient rule about the
nature of the haphtaroth between the Fast of Tamuz and New-year; viz.,
there should be three haphtaroth of “rebuke” and seven of “comfort”
(נ׳ דפרענותא, ז׳ דנחמתא). The former are taken from Jeremiah (i.
and ii.) and Isaiah (i.); the latter are selected from Isaiah (xl. to
lxvi.)
Various accounts are given of the origin of the haphtarah. One account
traces its origin to a period of persecution, when the Jews were not
allowed to read from the Torah, and the scrolls of the Law were either
confiscated or concealed. In both cases it was easy to read from the
Prophets, for this could be done by heart and in any place; whilst for
the reading of the Torah it was necessary to produce a copy of the Law.
According to another account, the haphtarah served as a protest against
the theory of the Samaritans, who recognised the Torah alone as holy.
But it is more likely and more natural to suppose that the haphtarah
was introduced as soon as the Prophets became part of the Holy
Scriptures.
There was a tendency to have recourse to the Divine messages of future
comfort and glory when the present was gloomy and sad. At the end of
the Service or a religious discourse, just before leaving the Synagogue
or the Beth ha-midrash, passages from the Prophets were read, in order
that the people might carry away with them a strengthened faith in God
and in the ultimate victory of their religion. On Sabbath morning the
lessons from the Prophets were of greater importance, since a larger
number congregated, and more time could be devoted to it. A b’rachah
therefore introduced it, and b’rachoth, including a prayer for the
restoration of Zion, followed it. The name haphtarah suggests this
explanation; it denotes literally “causing to leave,” “departure,” or
“conclusion.”
After the return of the Jews from Babylon they spoke the Chaldee
dialect; the lessons from the Bible were accordingly accompanied by a
Chaldee translation called targum. The translation was not always
literal, but was frequently a paraphrase. It was given, as a rule,
after each verse, by an appointed methurgeman.—In communities which
only understood Greek the Greek version was read. A Spanish translation
of the haphtarah is still added at present on the Fast of Ab in the
Portuguese Ritual; but otherwise the practice of adding a translation
to the text has long since been discontinued.
b. שמור “Take Heed.”
The negative commandment concerning the Holy-days is: לא תעשה כל
מלאכה, “Thou shalt do no manner of work.” The very name Sabbath
(שבת, “rest”) implies absence of labour. We are commanded to rest on
the Sabbath, but not to indulge in laziness and indolence, which are by
no means conducive to the health of the body or the soul. The Sabbath
rest is described in our Sabbath Afternoon Service as “voluntary and
congenial, true and faithful, and happy and cheerful.” Moderate
exercise, cheerful reading, and pleasant conversation are indispensable
for a rest of this kind.
What is to be understood by the term “labour” or “work” in the
prohibition “Thou shalt not do any manner of work”? The Pentateuch
gives no definition of the term. But the Israelites, when they were
told that work was prohibited on Sabbath, and that any breach of the
law was to be punished with death, must have received orally a full
explanation of the prohibition. A case is mentioned of one who profaned
the Sabbath by gathering sticks, and was put to death; this could not
have been done if any doubt had been left in his mind whether the act
of gathering sticks was included in the prohibition.
A few instances of work prohibited on a Sabbath-day are met with in the
Bible. In connection with the manna, the prohibition of cooking and
baking is mentioned; also the commandment, “Let no man go out of his
place on the seventh day” (Exod. xvi. 29); i.e., we must not travel or
go beyond a certain distance [64] on the Sabbath. Another act
distinctly forbidden is contained in the words, “Ye shall kindle no
fire in all your dwellings on the day of rest” (ibid. xxxv. 3). The
prophet Amos (viii. 5), in rebuking the Israelites for cheating their
fellow-men, puts the following words into their mouth: “When will the
new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may
open our stores of wheat?” This shows that the Israelites conducted no
business on New-moon and Sabbath. Jeremiah (xvii. 21 sqq.) says as
follows: “Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no
burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day,
neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day.”—Nehemiah
relates (xiii. 15): “In those days saw I in Judah some treading
wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses;
as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they
brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them
in the day wherein they sold victuals. Then I said unto them, What evil
thing is this that ye do and profane the sabbath day?” As a general
rule, we may say that the work prohibited on Sabbath and Festivals
embraces two classes: viz., (1) All such acts as are legally—i.e., in
the Oral Law—defined as מלאכה “work.” It makes no difference whether
we consider any of them as labour or not. Under thirty-nine different
heads [65] they are enumerated in the Mishnah (Shabbath vii. 2). The
following are a few of them:—Ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing,
grinding, baking, hunting, killing an animal, tanning, sewing, writing,
kindling light or fire, and carrying things abroad.
(2.) Everything which our conscience tells us to be inappropriate for
the Sabbath; acts which come neither under the head of מלאכה nor
under that of שבות, but which would tend to change the Sabbath into
an ordinary day; e.g., preparing for our daily business transactions,
although such preparation does not involve an actual breach of any of
the Sabbath laws.
Whatever we are not allowed to do ourselves, we must not have done for
us by a co-religionist, who deliberately disregards the fourth
commandment. Neither must we employ non-Israelites to do our work on
Sabbath, except in case of need; e.g., in case of illness or fear of
illness.
As regards Holy-days, there is the general rule that work (מלאכה)
prohibited on Sabbath must not be done on Holy-days: “Save that which
every man must eat, that only may be done of you” (Exod. xii. 16); that
is to say, it is allowed on Festivals to cook, to bake, or to prepare
food in any other way. [66] Of course, for the Festival that happens to
fall on a Sabbath, the laws of Sabbath remain in force. The Day of
Atonement is in this respect equal to Sabbath.
c. ענג “Delight.”
The principal and noblest delight yielded by Holy-days is the pleasure
we feel in more frequent communion with the Divine Being, in the purer
and holier thoughts with which we are inspired when at rest from
ordinary work, and able to devote ourselves more fully to the
contemplation of the works and words of God. In this sense the day of
rest is described in one of the hymns (זמירות) after supper as “a
foretaste of the world to come” (מעין עולם הבא יום שבת מנוחה).
But oneg shabbath includes also delight of a less spiritual character.
We are not commanded on the days of rest to forget altogether the wants
of the body. On the contrary. Nehemiah, when on the first day of the
seventh month, that is, on New-year, he perceived that his brethren
were sad, addressed them thus: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink the
sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared: for
this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye grieved; for the joy of
the Lord is your strength” (Neh. viii. 10). The same conception of “the
sabbath unto the Lord” is met with in Talmud, Midrash, and throughout
the whole of the Rabbinical literature. In one of our Sabbath-hymns
(זמירות) we say: “This day is for Israel, light and joy, a sabbath of
rest;” and in our prayers for Sabbath we glory in being shom’re
shabbath ve-kor’e oneg, “observers of the sabbath, and such as call it
a delight.”—With regard to the Festivals, the duty of rejoicing is
repeatedly enjoined (Deut. xvi. 11, 14).
In our regulations, customs, and prayers for Sabbath and Festivals,
this duty is clearly indicated. All fasting and mourning is prohibited.
Care was taken that Divine Service should be free from such prayers as
would be likely to create feelings of grief and sadness. [67] A special
formula has also been introduced for the expression of our sympathy
with the sick and the mourner on Sabbath and Festivals. [68]
When any of the obligatory fasts—except the Day of Atonement—happens to
fall on a Sabbath, the fasting is put off (נדחה) till the next day,
or kept, as in the case of the fast of Esther, on the preceding
Thursday. Tradition has raised the taking of the three regular meals on
Sabbath (שלש סעודות), viz., supper, breakfast, and dinner, to a
religious act—a mitsvah, and the religious character of the meals is
shown by the special prayers and hymns—zemiroth—which accompany them. A
fourth meal is, according to some authority, likewise obligatory;
whilst, according to another authority, it may be replaced by spiritual
food, by reading and studying the Torah.
d. כבוד “Honour.”
We honour the day inwardly by considering it a holy, distinguished
season, which ought to be devoted to higher objects than the wants of
our body. Our mind should be entirely turned aside from our daily
business, in order to be free for loftier and holier thoughts. For the
purpose of effecting this inward distinction of the Sabbath, we honour
it also outwardly by various things, which are partly a symbol, partly
a reminder of the distinction claimed by the day. We honour the
Sabbath, therefore, by giving a festive appearance to our meals, our
dress, and our dwelling. The principal thing required is neatness and
cheerfulness; not luxury. On the contrary, we are guided in this
respect by the principle: Make rather thy Sabbath an ordinary day—i.e.,
omit the distinction in food and dress—than render thyself dependent on
the support of thy fellow-men. [69]
It is customary to have two loaves on the table, over which the
blessing ha-motsee is said. They are to remind us of the double portion
of bread or manna (לחם משנה, Exod. xvi. 22) given to the Israelites
in the wilderness on the sixth day because of the succeeding
Sabbath-day. The cloth spread beneath the loaves, and the cover over
them, represent symbolically the dew which both lay on the ground under
the manna and also over it. [70] The origin of this custom of covering
the bread may perhaps be found in the following Talmudic law: “If a
meal that has commenced on Friday afternoon is continued in the night,
it must be interrupted when Sabbath comes in; a cloth is to be spread
over the bread whilst the Kiddush is recited” (Babyl. Talm. Pesachim,
100a). The spreading of the cloth appears to be here merely a sign of
the pause, and the distinction between the ordinary meal and that of
Sabbath. [71] That which was at first ordained for special cases became
in course of time a general custom. [72]
The loaves are called birchoth (ברכות), taashir (תעשיר), or challah
(חלה). The first name they received as symbols of God’s blessing, the
double portion of manna which the Almighty sent to the Israelites on
Friday because of the Sabbath (see Rashi on Gen. ii. 3). The verse,
“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich” (תעשיר, Prov. x. 22),
suggested the second name. Challah reminds us of the commandment to
give the first part of the dough to the priest (Num. xv. 17–21).
Although at present this commandment cannot be carried out, we separate
a small piece, called challah, of the dough which we prepare for bread,
and burn it, after having recited an appropriate blessing. [73] It is
customary to prepare the dough for the Sabbath loaves at home, in order
to be able to act in accordance with this custom. This is one of the
religious acts which it is the special duty of women to perform, and
some of the pious women of Israel (נשים צדקניות) have the
praiseworthy custom to lay something aside for charity when performing
this or similar religious acts.
Another act performed in honour of Sabbath and Festivals is the
kindling of special lights before the holy day comes in, to indicate
symbolically the approach of a day of light and cheerfulness. This duty
is likewise the privilege of the housewife [74] or her representative.
Before [75] kindling the lights the following blessing is recited:
ברוך אתה … וצונו להדליק נר של שבת “Blessed art thou ... and hast
commanded us to kindle the sabbath lights.” יום טוב, יום הכפורים,
שבת ויום טוב, or שבת ויום הכפורים is substituted for שבת
according as a Holy-day, the Day of Atonement, or these days when they
happen to fall on a Saturday, come in. On Festivals, except the last
days of Passover, the following blessing, called שהחינו, is added:
ברוך … שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה “Blessed art thou ... who hast
kept us in life, preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.”