Shabbat

Shabbat is the name of the day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat happens on the seventh day (Saturday) of every week. In Judaism, the day is defined with the cycle of the sun: The day begins and ends at sunset, not midnight. So the seventh day of the week, Shabbat, begins Friday when the sun goes down, and ends Saturday night after it gets dark. The idea of Shabbat comes from the Bible's story of Creation.^[1] In that story, God creates the Universe and everything on Earth for six days. On the seventh day, he stops work. In the same way, Jews work on the first six days of the week and rest on the seventh day, Shabbat.

The word Shabbat began as a Hebrew word (שַׁבָּת). The English word "Sabbath" comes from the word "Shabbat". The English word can also be used to refer to Shabbat. The Christian idea of Sabbath came from the Jewish idea of Shabbat. Now, there are many differences between them.

The first part of the Jewish Bible, the Torah, says that work is not allowed on Shabbat.^[2] It is a day to rest and study the Torah.

In Jewish law, Shabbat is the most important Jewish holiday. It is even more important than Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.^[3] Jewish mystics say that the Shabbat day is meant to be like a perfect world. In this world, everyone knows about God and loves him. They believe that kind of world has not been seen since the Garden of Eden, and will not be seen again until the Messiah comes.^[4]

1. ↑ Genesis 2:1–3. Simple English of 2:2: "On the seventh day God finished all his work. He rested on the seventh day from all his work."
2. ↑ See, for example, the Ten Commandments, at Exodus 20:7–10 and Deuteronomy 5:11–14. Simple English of Exodus 20:8–9: "Do all your work the first six days of the week. The seventh day is God's Shabbat. That day do no kind of work."
3. ↑ "Shabbat". Judaism 101. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
4. ↑ Friedman, Rabbi Theodore (Fall 1967). "Shabbat as Preview of the Perfected World". Judaism. 16 (4). Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.