What Is Shabbat?! Shabbat 1O1 - Shabbat Series Episode 2

Welcome back to my summer series all about Shabbat. In today's video, I'm going to be sharing what I like to call Shabbat 101, which is just a very basic introduction to what Shabbat is and how we celebrate Shabbat. This video will be a great introduction if you've just heard about Shabbat but have always wondered how people actually celebrate Shabbat or even if you've celebrated Shabbat your whole life but might not really know things like why do we have two candles and why do we call on Shabbat. So I hope you guys will love this video. Please make sure to give it a big thumbs up, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel because I have a bunch more Shabbat content coming out for this series, including recipes, crafts, Shabbat with kids, etc. If there's anything that you'd really love to see that I haven't mentioned, then definitely let me know on Instagram or in the comments down below, and I can try to include it in the series. Okay, so let's jump in. What the heck is Shabbat? Shabbat is the day of rest that the Jewish people observe. It is 25 hours from sundown to just after sundown, Friday night to Sunday. Saturday night. And it really is a day of rest, a day of joy. It's one of the most basic and fundamental traditions in the Jewish religion. And it's also in the Ten Commandments. It's in the Torah. So it's kind of a big deal. In the story of the Torah and creation, God created the world. It took him six days and on the seventh day he rested. So it's like the culmination of creating the world. And it's this basic human divine necessity in life, which is to rest and And to have joy in your life. When I was getting ready for this video. It actually occurred to me for the first time that it's kind of amazing that we have to be commanded to rest. You don't have to tell me to go to bed twice but these laws that were created in ancient times when people were like shepherds and things like that still totally apply to life now and for me I think really enhanced my life to celebrate Shabbat in the way that I like to do it in my home. So depending on where you are in the world, how religious you are, what community you grew up in, Shabbat might look a little bit different in every person's home but there are some really basic fundamental things that you'll see wherever you go in every Jewish home for Shabbat. So what people do on Shabbat. On Friday night it's traditional to go to synagogue and there's a special service called Kabbalat Shabbat which has Really beautiful melodies and you sort of welcome the Shabbat in together as a community. Then folks go home and have a delicious dinner with their family and you're not supposed to do any work on Shabbat. So this basic premise has sort of expanded into not using electricity, not lifting things. Like I could go on and on about the laws and rules of Shabbat, but for me personally, what I do is I celebrate Friday night dinner. I sometimes go to synagogue. And then on Saturdays, I tend to do things like not go shopping and spend money. I wouldn't host a party on Saturday. It's kind of, it's hard to explain in a lot of detail what things feel right to me and what feel... wrong to me for Shabbat, but a really religious Orthodox person will not do anything like them on Shabbat. They will only go to synagogue and then be in their home or, you know, in a friend's home, not drive, not work, nothing like that. And less religious folks will just have a normal Saturday, but will maybe do a Friday night dinner. So you'll see a whole level of observance of Shabbat. If you do go to synagogue on a Saturday, you're going to see the Torah being read. That's an important component of the Shabbat service. You'll often see a bar bat mitzvah. Shabbat and the bar bat mitzvah child will read from the Torah. And it's also traditional to enjoy a meal right after the service and eating is a really big part of Shabbat. So let's jump into what happens at the Shabbat meal. So there are three basic components that are necessary for Shabbat and the Sabbath meal and those are the candlesticks, the challah, and the wine or kiddush. There are also other components which I just want to mention first. One is tzedakah. This is a tzedakah box. There's lots of different Judaica by the way. You'll see all different artistic representations of what these different items can. This is a tzedakah box, and it's traditional to give tzedakah before Shabbat starts. So what we do in our family is we just kind of empty our pockets and purses and put all the coins in here. It's one of my son's favorite things to do, of course, because he's two. He loves to put the tzedakah coins out and in and out. You see how that goes. It's really important to take this moment in the week and remember to give back to others. It's a mitzvah, which is a core obligation in Judaism to do. Another thing you might see is washing of the hands. It's a tradition between saying the kiddush over the wine before eating the challah bread to wash your hands and then to be silent before you say the prayer over the challah bread. And there are also some other traditional blessings in the home. It's traditional to bless the wife or the mother in the home as well as the children. And it's also traditional to sing some nigunim or melodies or special Shabbat songs before you jump into the play. If you're uncomfortable doing those things and you're just starting out, you don't need But it's nice to just start off with a with a song before you jump in. In our home, the men wear kippot on their head, or kippas, out of respect for God. And we like to sing the Shalom Aleichem song slash blessing, which can be found in different prayer books as well as printed out online. But again, if you don't know those and you just want to do something, you can just, you know, sing a nice melody together. It doesn't even have to have words just to kind of get you into the spirit of Shabbat. Shabbat is full of joy and love, and that's why there's all this singing and eating and drinking, et cetera, involved in the special holiday. In terms of the three core components of the Shabbat meal on Friday night, the candles, the challah, and wine, I want to start off with the candles. So we light two Shabbat candles to welcome in the Shabbat. The reason that there's two is debated. You'll see this in all of Judaism, basically. Anytime there's, like, the reason we do something is, there's all these different explanations that rabbis over the years have given. But the one that I like best is that it's said that on Shabbat we receive a second soul and we're holier than we are the rest of the week. Two candles represent the second soul. There's also the idea of the husband and wife of the people and their Shabbat bride or the people and God sort of coming together for the Sabbath. And it also serves as a reminder that in the Torah we're told to Remember the Shabbat and keep it holy as well as observe the Shabbat or guard the Shabbat and keep it holy. So because there's those two different commandments in the Bible, that's why we have the two different candles. But Shabbat kicks off a few minutes before sunset, traditionally 18 or 20 minutes before sunset, by lighting the Shabbat candles and reciting the prayer, which goes like this for anyone who's interested. I'm starting to speak. So, lehadlik means to light, ner is a candle, and shel Shabbat is for Shabbat. So, you're literally blessing, lighting the candles for Shabbat. After you light the Shabbat candles, the next prayer is over the wine, or the kiddush. The root of the word kiddush in Hebrew means holy, and wine is always part of Jewish celebrations. It lifts us up, it makes us happy, and it's a... Physical expression that this is a joyous, festive meal. It's unlike all the other meals of the week. Unless you're drinking wine with all the other meals of your week. The blessing over the wine is a very simple short one. Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech Haolam Borei Pri Hagafen Pri means fruit and hagafen is of the vine. So fruit of the vine is for the grapes, for the wine. Then the last... The third component is the challah. You may be wondering why we cover the challah with a challah cover. When I was little, we said that it was because he's last, he would be jealous of the candles and the wine, so we cover him up so he doesn't get jealous that he has to wait for his blessing. But under the challah cover is the challah, and it is a delicious sweet bread. If you've never tasted challah before, I highly recommend you go out and try it because it's my favorite bread there is. I mean, it's more like a dessert-y kind of bread. If you live in the U.S., the thing I could mostly compare it to is a Hawaiian roll, but a Hawaiian roll is much sweeter, so honestly, there's no perfect comparison, but yes, you'll see it braided. Challah is a very spiritual bread. When you bake it and braid it, it's a time to say prayers for your family, yourself, et cetera, and it's just unlike any other food in Jewish tradition because it, again, is so symbolic of the Sabbath meal. Often, you'll see people dip it in salt because it's said that there is no meal without salt, Dip it in the salt, then you have your meal, and having a meal on Shabbat is one of the core commandments. So after you've said the blessing, lifted up the challah cover, and eaten the challah, then you are good to go. You're ready for your Shabbat meal. It's nice to just have this be a sort of longer, more extended, relaxed meal. You know, not rushing in and out to go be somewhere or do something else, but just time to spend with family and enjoy each other's company. The blessing over the challah is Baruch Atah Adonai Elohim El Chalam Hamot. So lechem is bread, min ha'aretz is from the earth, so you can actually say this prayer over any type of bread. It doesn't need to be challah if you don't have a specific challah bread in your home or don't have somewhere near you that sells one and don't have the time to make it. I get that. I've been there. My first video in my Shabbat series was all about Shabbat hacks, so things like not having challah and what you can use instead, so if you want to check that out, I will link it down below. So that is my introduction to Shabbat, my Shabbat 101. I know I haven't covered every single possible thing about Shabbat because, of course, there is just an endless amount to say about Shabbat, how people observe it, what are the meanings behind it, etc., etc. There are so many beautiful books written about the Sabbath, lectures given. I mean, it's just such a core component of Judaism that it's really hard to sum up in a short YouTube video. But I wanted to just give this quick introduction for anyone who wants to learn a little bit more, and I hope for anyone who celebrates Shabbat already that this is just a nice little refresher. And some interesting tidbits to take home. If you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to my channel because I have a bunch more Shabbat content coming out and I would love for you to see it. I'll see you next time, bye.