Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Rabbi London.

Today, we're going to learn about the Jewish laws and observances around Shabbat.

Before we get started, I'll ask you to turn off any apps or notifications if you're able, and to finish any conversations you might be in the middle of.

Try to find a place that you'll have the least amount of distractions.

And today, you're going to need a pen and paper or something to write on and something to write with.

So today, we're going to learn and ask the questions, what is Shabbat according to Jewish faith? And where does the idea of Shabbat come from the Tanakh, from the Bible? What does, or what can Shabbat look like in someone's home? And what can Shabbat look like in the synagogue? As I said, today you're going to need to have a pen or pencil and paper or something to write on or something to write with.

If you don't already have these things ready, press pause, and press play when you're ready to begin.

So what is Shabbat? Shabbat is known as the Jewish day of rest.

It is something that happens every single week of every single year.

It is a 25 hours long.

It starts from sundown on Friday and it goes into an hour after sundown on Saturday.

So that means the start and stop of Shabbat, the time that it starts will look different.

So for example, in the winter time in the United Kingdom, Shabbat can start as early as 3:30 in the afternoon, but it's considered night because the sun is already set.

And in the summertime, it can start as late as almost 9:15.

But no matter what time Shabbat starts, it is always going to go from sundown to sundown.

So for 25 hours, that doesn't change.

the idea of Shabbat can be found in Tanakh.

So the first place where it comes up is in the story in Genesis in the retelling of creation.

So chapter two of Genesis reads as follows, "And the heavens and the earth were finished and God ended on the seventh day His work that was done and He stopped on the seventh day from all the work that He had done.

And God blessed the seventh day and made it Holy because God stopped all the work of creation He had done." So in these three verses, we can read that on the seventh day of creation, God stopped, God rested.

And then God made the seventh day, the day of rest, a day of holiness.

Another place in Tanakh this gets spoken about, and this is not the only case.

It actually gets spoken about quite a few times.

I brought one example from the book of Exodus, from the 10 commandments.

Here, it says, "Remember Shabbat and keep it holy.

Six days, you should do your work.

And on the seventh day is Shabbat to your God.

You and those in your household should not do any work because for six days, God created the heavens and the land and the sea and everything in it, and then rested on the seventh day." So in these verses, we can read that Shabbat is Holy and one should remember it.

That six days we, as people are meant to be working and on the seventh day are meant to be resting.

And people are meant to be resting because God rested.

And what's important and interesting, at least to me in reading this, it's not just me that has to rest, but I need to also make sure those around me are resting.

And if we pay attention to these verses closely, not doing any work.

Before we continue on in analysing these texts and finding out what does work mean, or what does rest mean, let's go over some of what we already covered.

How often does Shabbat happen? Once a month, once a week, once a year or every six weeks.

Once a week, Shabbat happens once a week, goes every Friday night into Saturday night.

According to Tanakh, why does a Jewish person not do work on Shabbat? Is it because God rested on the seventh day of creation? Is it because it was when God spoke to Moses from the burning Bush? Is it because it is the day the Jewish people were freed from Egypt? Or is it the day when God made the covenant with Abraham? Because God rested on the seventh day of creation.

According to Tanakh, the reason why a Jewish person might not do work on Shabbat is because this is the day that God rested after doing six days of creation.

What time of day does Shabbat start? Is it whenever someone feels like it? Is it at sunrise? Is it at sunset or always at 7:00 PM? Sunset.

Shabbat starts at sunset, whatever time that might be.

What is Shabbat known as? Is it the Jewish day of atonement? The Jewish new year, the Jewish festival of lights, or the Jewish day of rest? The Jewish day of rest.

Shabbat is known as the Jewish day of rest.

And according to Tanakh, how many days did it take God to create the world? 14, 365, 900,000, or six.

Six.

According to Tanakh, it took God six days to create the world.

So now let's get into what does any of this look like? We read in those verses that Shabbat is supposed to be a day of rest and one is not supposed to do work, but what does that mean? So some examples that get passed down through the rabbis and discussions in the Talmud, through the oral law, and then further in books of Jewish law, the basic is one should not be creating or destroying.

And there's very long conversations about what does that even mean? But it's important to remember the basics.

So some examples are don't create or destroy.

Whether that's building or anything else you might be creating, cooking, lighting a fire, writing.

The idea of not working looks different in different Jewish communities.

So some communities are going to follow these ideas very strictly, and some communities are going to create Shabbat by still doing these things but by making the day feels special and Holy.

As I said, Shabbat, for many people is primarily a day that's going to feel and function differently than the rest of the week.

So for many people, this might be a time to spend more time with friends and family or to wear nicer clothing or different clothing.

Some people will have what they call Shabbat clothing clothing that they only wear on Shabbat or holidays or special occasions.

Some people will eat different foods.

According to some opinions, it's a day that's supposed to be nicer than the rest of the week.

What I'd like you to do is to pause the video and complete the following task.

Take about two minutes and make a bullet point list.

What are two examples of work that some Jewish people do not do on Shabbat? And what are two examples of activities that some Jewish people do on Shabbat? Press play to resume when you're finished.

We just went over some things that people are doing or not doing on Shabbat.

And if you would guess that if there's a number of things, a person can't do on Shabbat, or if Shabbat supposed to feel different and special and Holy, then there might be things that people do to prepare themselves and their home for Shabbat.

First many people will clean their house to make it look nice for Shabbat.

Now, for every person that looks different, maybe they're going to clean everything.

Maybe they're just going to set their table with a special tablecloth.

But what does happen in most families is making the home look different and special for Shabbat.

For those families who don't cook on Shabbat, on Friday or sometimes Thursday night, people will prepare all the food that they're going to need to eat for Friday night and for Saturday ahead of time.

So some of Friday or some of the time before Shabbat is going to be spent cooking and preparing for those meals that will take place.

When Shabbat finally comes in, so Shabbat, the sun finally sets, the first thing that many families will do is to light two or sometimes more candles with a blessing.

Lighting the candles is the symbol of the start of Shabbat.

It's meant to symbolise bringing light and piece into the homes.

Way, way, way, way, way back when before electricity, these candles were going to be the light that people would have on Friday night if they chose not to light fires.

Many families today, still light two candles.

And sometimes they'll light more than two.

Everyone has their different customs and rituals.

Shabbat dinner will then start.

Many families have accustom of blessing their children followed by singing a song known as Shalom Aleichem.

It's a song welcoming in the Shabbat and the Shabbat angels into one's home.

And that the family should be blessed with peace, this Shabbat, and for all upcoming Shabbats.

Many Jewish people will have a festive meal both on Friday night and or on Shabbat lunch on Saturday.

Some people will have it with just their immediate family.

And some people will have guests over, whether that's friends or family or community members or people that needed a place to eat on Shabbat and they happened to be visiting.

What happens on a traditional Shabbat meal is it'll start out with what's known as Kiddush.

Kiddush is a blessing that's said over grape juice or wine in order to sanctify the day, meaning to make the day holy and to make this meal a special meal that is part of the holy day of Shabbat.

Following, there'll be a blessing over bread.

And it's a bread called challah.

Challah is a plated bread, and it can be sweet.

It can be savoury.

Sometimes, it'll be covered in sesame seeds or poppy seeds or filled with raisins.

Or sometimes it's going to be just plain bread.

It's a little bit sweeter than other breads.

This bread will be taken.

Usually in many homes, they'll have two loaves to remember a commandment from the Bible of taking two pieces of mana when the Jews were travelling through the desert.

They'll the two pieces of bread and make a blessing over the bread.

And each person at the table will get a piece of bread to start their meal.

Then after the challah is passed around and everyone has what they want, then a meal happens and everyone's going to eat all the food that was deliciously prepared.

In some families, they're going to sing what's known as zemirot, which are songs.

They are songs sung specifically at Shabbat meals, and many of the themes of the songs have to do with Shabbat and the restfulness of Shabbat and the beauty of Shabbat and the connection to God on Shabbat.

Because people aren't generally rushing from place to place, meals tend to take a little bit longer and they're more laid back.

And so singing allows for the meals again, to feel special and to feel different than any meal that they're having during the rest of the week.

What I'd like you to do now is I put on the screen a number of Friday night activities.

I'd like you to put them in order of what comes first to what happens last.

They are, say the blessing on the challah, say Kiddush, light two or more candles with a blessing, eat the Shabbat meal and sing Shalom Aleichem.

Make yourself a chart of what comes first and what comes last.

Press pause to do this activity.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on.

Here's the order.

Number one should be light two or more Shabbat candles with a blessing.

Number two is sing Shalom Aleichem, the song welcoming the angels and Shabbat into someone's home.

Three, say Kiddush, the blessing over the wine or grape juice.

Four, say the blessing on the challah, the plated bread, and five, eat the Shabbat meal and enjoy.

Some other activities or things that people do on Shabbat in addition to eating delicious, delicious food is spending more time with family and friends.

Many people will go to synagogue both on Friday night or and on Saturdays.

They might take time to learn Torah, meaning learning the weekly Torah portion, or learning something from the Gemara or something that is interesting to them.

They might play board games or read books, or do something that they find relaxing or meaningful or holy or something that brings them feelings of spirituality.

We spoke a bit about what happens inside someone's home on Shabbat.

Now we're going to look at what happens inside a synagogue on Shabbat.

We'll start with Friday night.

Friday night, there's going to be a special service called Kabbalat Shabbat, which means welcoming the Shabbat.

This service will generally start close to Shabbat when Shabbat starts, and it is a service that is comprised by Psalms, songs and some special prayers, all having to do with Shabbat and bringing Shabbat in.

Following this service, which tends to be done with a lot of lively singing and happiness, the evening prayer known as Ma'ariv will be set.

On Shabbat morning on Saturday is in most synagogues when they have the most amount of people attending.

The shacharit, which is the morning prayers will be said with a few extra additions.

Shacharit what the morning prayer is said, what the morning prayer is known as.

And on Shabbat, there's some things that get added in.

On Shabbat and on holidays, there's a special prayer called the Musaf, which is the additional prayer.

And later in the day, Mincha, the afternoon prayer will be said with Torah reading followed again by Ma'ariv the evening prayer.

One special fact on Shabbat is that there's Torah reading.

Each week a portion of the Torah is read.

The Torah gets read.

The five books of Moses will get read throughout the entire year.

And every year it starts with Genesis at a holiday called Simkah Torah.

And we'll finish again with the last chapters of Deuteronomy, again, on Simkah Torah.

So every single week, a certain section of the five books of Moses of the Torah will be read.

Additionally, a section of Nevi'im, Prophets, will also be read.

And that section will have to do either with part of what was being read from the Torah or something that is connected to what is happening during that time of year.

If there's a special holiday, or if it's a new month, then it sometimes changes.

But in general, a piece of the Torah will be read and a part of the Prophets will be read that's connected to that piece of Torah.

I'd like you to now pause the video to complete this task.

Complete the following sentences.

There's a word bank on the side.

In addition to a festive meal on Shabbat, Jewish people might? In synagogue on Friday night? In synagogue on Saturday morning? Please try to use the words, Kabbalat Shabbat, Torah, Neviim and Shacharit.

Press play to resume when you're finished.

Here's what I have.

In addition to a festive meal on Shabbat, Jewish people might spend time with friends and family, read books or go to synagogue.

In synagogue on Friday night, Kabbalat Shabbat is said.

Kabbalat Shabbat is the part of the service welcoming in Shabbat.

It is made up of Psalms, songs, and special prayers.

In synagogue on Saturday morning, Shacharit he morning prayer will be said with some additions.

A portion of the Torah and Neviim will be written, will be read.

How did you do with that? We went through a lot of Shabbat and that's almost 25 hours worth.

Well, now we'll find out what happens at the end of Shabbat.

At the end or Shabbat, a ritual known as Havdalah will take place.

The ritual is done to mark the end of Shabbat.

The wording of this prayer is separating the holiness of Shabbat from the rest of the week.

As I said, Shabbat is seen as a day that is different and separate from the rest of the week.

So this ritual is going to mark that difference.

The ceremony, we'll use a candle, some sweet smelling spices like cloves or cinnamon and some wine or grape juice.

The wine is used as a blessing, as many blessings in Judaism are said over wine to thank God.

The spices are used as something sweet to lead into the upcoming week.

And a candle is a candle with several wicks, and this idea is to bring extra light into the upcoming week.

I'd like you to now match the words to the definitions.

On the left hand side, I have written down, Shabbat, Havdalah, Neviim, and Shalom Aleichem.

On the right hand side, the definitions are the ritual done to mark at the end of Shabbat, done with wine, a candle and spices, a song sung at the beginning of Shabbat, welcoming the angels, the Jewish day of rest, and the Prophets a section is read every Shabbat.

Let's match them together.

What is Shabbat? Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest.

What is have Havdalah? Havdalah is the ritual done to mark the end of Shabbat, done with wine, a candle and spices.

What is Neviim? Neviim are the Prophets.

A section is read every Shabbat.

What is Shalom Aleichem.

Shalom Aleichem is a song sung at the beginning of Shabbat dinner to welcome the angels.

Here's a few more words with a few more definitions.

The four words are challah, zemirot, Kiddush and Kabbalat Shabbat.

The definitions are songs sung during Shabbat meals to add into the joy of Shabbat, a plated bread traditionally eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

The special prayer service on Friday evenings welcoming in Shabbat, and the blessing said over wine or grape juice at the beginning of Shabbat meals.

So what is challah? Challah is a plated bread, traditionally eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

What are zemirot? Zemirot are songs sung during Shabbat meals to add into the joy of Shabbat.

What is Kiddush? Kiddush is the blessing said over wine or grape juice at the beginning of a Shabbat meal.

And what is Kabbalat Shabbat? It is the special prayer service said on Friday evening, welcoming in Shabbat.

Now I'd like you to fill in the blank.

The word box is provided.

This is also in the worksheet.

So if you've downloaded it or printed it out, you can fill it out that way.

Blank begins on Friday night and goes through Saturday night.

When Shabbat begins, many people will light candles.

Blank is the prayer said to welcome in the Shabbat.

At Friday night meals, parents might give a blessing to their children.

They might sing a song called blank, welcoming the Shabbat angels.

Shabbat meals will begin with blank, a blessing over the wine to sanctify the day and make a blessing on blank a plated bread.

Some families will sing blank, songs to bring happiness to the day.

Every week on Shabbat morning, a portion of the blank and blank is read.

Shabbat ends with the ritual known as blank.

It is done with wine, spices and a candle.

So please fill in the blanks.

Pause the video to complete your task and resume when you're finished.

Feel free to go back a slide to see the passage or to go into the worksheet and look at it there.

Press resume when you're finished.

Let's see how you did.

Shabbat begins on Friday night and goes through Saturday night.

When Shabbat begins, many people will light candles.

Kabbalat Shabbat is the prayer said to welcome in the Shabbat.

At Friday night meals, parents might give a blessing to their children.

They might sing a song called Shalom Aleichem welcoming the Shabbat angels.

Shabbat meals will begin with Kiddush, a blessing over the wine to sanctify the day and make a blessing on challah, a plated bread.

Some families will sings zemirot songs to bring happiness to the day.

Every week on Shabbat morning, a portion of the Torah and and Neviim is read.

Shabbat ends with a ritual known as Havdalah.

It is done with a wine spices and candle.

You did such a great job today.

Thank you for learning with me all about Shabbat and ways that Jewish people celebrate Shabbat every single week.

I'd like you to try to take three things that you learned today and write them down, share them with your parent or carer or a friend or a teacher.

And don't forget to take the end of the lesson quiz.

And if you want to share your work with us here at Oak National, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day and happy learning.