[This was first posted 2013; reposted every year thereafter. Two reasons for this repost: one is as usual–a visitor recently checked it out; the second is our dismay that even among our Sinai 6000 core community, there is a casual attitude toward the Sabbath commandment. Business goes on 7-days a week, some even forget it’s the Sabbath and if reminded, the reaction seems to be Sabbath gets in the way of life. Instead of looking forward from last Sabbath to the next, the thinking goes like this — ‘What? Sabbath already? OK, let’s get our Sabbath obligations out of the way so we can get back to our to-do list.’ Well, what is a “Sabbath obligation” in your view, dear visitor?
Our most prayerful Sinaite (formerly Mormon) who seems to get all her prayers answered and whose eyes tear up when she talks about her love for YHWH, is comparatively the most guilty among us about not resting from her nonstop-dawn-to-dusk management of business affairs. I teasingly ‘cued’ her that there is no commandment in the Decalogue about praying day and night (surprised?) but that the Sabbath is the one commandment that has the emphatic word “REMEMBER”, need we wonder why?
Think about this: for whose good is the Sabbath commandment given? Surely, for the toiler, the worker, the slave to life’s demand which is never-ending! REST is an important health principle that the physical body benefits from, just as it does from right nourishment among other necessities for survival. The 7th Day Adventists incorporate it in their NEWSTART acronym for a healthy balance of what humans (as well as all living creatures) need for health. (For the full meaning of the SDA acronymn, go to their website — NEWSTART – We Bring You Back To Life).
Indeed this is the very reason the LORD of the Sabbath Himself models ‘cease’ and ‘rest’, then teaches it as a lifestyle principle to the “mixed multitude” by instructing ‘manna-gathering’ 6-days a week, adding an extra-day’s portion on the 6th day so that they could rest on the 7th day. The Sabbath principle is applied even to the LAND and in fact a word has landed in the English language-dictionary, “sabbatical”, to apply in other contexts as well. Even academics who use “sabbatical” for time off for further study don’t even know the root word nor bother to learn the significant principle attached to it and simply apply it to time off after accumulated service for any number of years other than ‘7’.
Well, back to basics, since Sinaites should practice what the Sinai REVELATOR instructed in the records attributed to Moses.
The Sabbath commandment is numbered “4” in the Decalogue, immediately after 3 commandments relating to Him: One and only God, no idols please, don’t use Name in vain. How important is the Sabbath Day to the LORD of the Sabbath? You decide after truly understanding the 4th. —Admin1.]
Image from thetribulationtimes.wordpress.com
Here’s a sampling of translations/versions and commentary from 5 different sources:
- 2 Christian
- New American Study Bible &
- NIV/New International Version
- 2 Jewish
- P&H/Pentateuch and Haftarahs,
- AST/ArtScroll Tanach
- 1 Independent {neither Christian nor Jewish}
- EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses
Read through the translations as well as the commentaries, according to Christian or Jewish perspective.
Keep these points in mind as you read:
- Who was the first to sanctify the sabbath and in fact modeled it?
- Is there any significance to the identity of the “first model” or “first observer” of the sabbath— in relation to the importance of the seventh day?
- To whom is the Sabbath important?
- And why should it matter to anyone, Israelite or Gentile—do the texts explain?
- How was the sabbath later re-introduced and developed in the Hebrew Scriptures as a principle and as law?
- Who was to observe the sabbath at each stage of its development in scriptural history?
- When it became a commandment, specifically the 4th in the decalogue, to whom was it given?
- As a sign of the Covenant with Israel, were non-Israelites included among those who should obey the commandment?
- Were there non-Israelites at Sinai when the Torah was given? Is there significance to their presence there at the time of the giving of Torah?
- Are non-Israelites today supposed to observe the sabbath on the seventh day?
- And how is the sabbath commandment to be obeyed in the Wilderness? In the Land?
- How is the sabbath to be obeyed today, in a world that follows the Gregorian calendar?
- How is the sabbath to be obeyed by those who have freedom to obey it 100%?
- How about those who are not able to obey 100% but wish to as much as is possible in their situation?
- Is the Sabbath settled in your mind and life application?
- You know the ‘when’ but do you know the ‘how’?
- Are you doing it the “Jewish” way, or devising your own observance as you understand the Sabbath?
- Are you combining some Jewish sabbath traditions into your own observance?
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EF/Genesis/Bere’shith 2
1 Thus were finished the heavens and the earth, with all of their array.
were finished. The Heb. verb implies not only completion but perfection.
host. lit. ‘army’; the totality of the universe conceived as an organized whole, a cosmos.
2 God had finished, on the seventh day, his work that he had made, and then he ceased, on the seventh day, from all his work that he had made.
seventh day. ‘What did the world lack after the six day’s toil’? Rest. So God finished His labours on the seventh day by the creation of a day of rest, the Sabbath’ (Midrash).
finished. Better, ‘had finished’ (Mendelssohn, M. Friedlander).
rested. Heb. ‘desisted’, from creating. In the 4th commandment (Exod. XX,11) God is said to have ‘rested’ (vayanach) on the 7th day. This ascribing of human actions to God is called anthropomorphism, and is employed in the Bible to make intelligible to the finite, human mind that which relates to the Infinite. The Talmudic saying, ‘The Torah speaks the ordinary language of men,’ became a leading principle in later Jewish interpretation of Scripture.
3 God gave the seventh day his blessing, and he hallowed it, for on it he ceased from all his work, that by creating, God had made.
God blessed. The Creator endowed the Sabbath with a blessing which would be experienced by all who observed it. On the Sabbath, the Talmud says, the Jew receives an ‘additional soul’, i.e. his spiritual nature is heightened through the influence of the holy day.
hallowed. lit. ‘set apart’ from profane usage. The Sabbath demands more than stoppage of work. It is specifically marked off as a day consecrated to God and the life of the spirit.
in creating had made. lit. ‘which God created to make’, i.e. to continue acting (Ibn Ezra, Abarbanel) throughout time by the unceasing operation of Divine laws. This thought is contained in the Prayer Book (p. 39): ‘In His goodness He reneweth the creation every day continually.’ Or, as the Rabbis say, the work of creation continues, and the world is still in the process of creation, as long as the conflict between good and evil remains undecided. Ethically the world is thus still ‘unfinished’, and it is man’s glorious privilege to help finish it. He can by his life hasten the triumph of the forces of good in the universe.
[EF] gave . . . his blessing: Or, “blessed,” here expanded in English for rhythmical reasons. by creating, God had made: Hebrew difficult. Buber’s working papers show numerous attempts at a solution.
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EF/Exodus/Shemoth 16
1 They moved on from Elim, and they came, the entire community of the Children of Israel, to the Wilderness of Syn, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day after the second New-moon after their going-out from the land of Egypt. 2 And they grumbled, the entire community of the Children of Israel, against Moshe and against Aharon in the wilderness. 3 The Children of Israel said to them: Would that we had died by the hand of YHVH in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we ate bread till (we were) satisfied! For you have brought us into this wilderness to bring death to this whole assembly by starvation! 4 YHVH said to Moshe: Here, I will make rain down upon you bread from the heavens, the people shall go out and glean, each day’s amount in its day, in order that I may test them, whether they will walk according to my Instruction or not. 5 But it shall be on the sixth day when they prepare what they have brought in, it shall be a double-portion compared to what they glean day after day. 6 Moshe and Aharon said to all the Children of Israel: At sunset you will know that it is YHVH who brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 at daybreak you will see the Glory of YHVH: when he hearkens to your grumblings against YHVH- what are we, that you grumble against us? 8 Moshe said: Since YHVH gives you flesh to eat at sunset, and at daybreak, bread to satisfy (yourselves); since YHVH hearkens to your grumblings which you grumble against him- what are we: not against us are your grumblings, but against YHVH! 9 Moshe said to Aharon: Say to the entire community of the Children of Israel: Come-near, in the presence of YHVH, for he has hearkened to your grumblings! 10 Now it was, when Aharon spoke to the entire community of the Children of Israel, they faced the wilderness, and here: the Glory of YHVH could be seen in the cloud. 11 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying: 12 I have hearkened to the grumblings of the Children of Israel- speak to them, and say: Between the setting-times you shall eat flesh, and at daybreak you shall be satisfied with bread, and you shall know that I am YHVH your God. 13 Now it was at sunset a horde-of-quail came up and covered the camp. And at daybreak there was a layer of dew around the camp; 14 and when the layer of dew went up, here, upon the surface of the wilderness, something fine, scaly, fine as hoar-frost upon the land. 15 When the Children of Israel saw it they said each-man to his brother: Mahn hu/what is it? For they did not know what it was. Moshe said to them: It is the bread that YHVH has given you for eating.
Note from Arthur Kurzweil, Torah for Dummies: The food appeared each morning in the form of dew with little grains underneath called manna in English; in Hebrew the word is mun (muhn).
17 The Children of Israel did thus, they gleaned, the-one-more and the-one-less,
18 but when they measured by the omer, no surplus had the-one-more, and the-one-less had no shortage; each-man had gleaned according to what he could eat.
19 Moshe said to them: No man shall leave any of it until morning.
20 But they did not hearken to Moshe, and (several) men left some of it until morning; it became wormy with maggots and reeked. And Moshe became furious with them.
21 They gleaned it in the morning, (every) morning, each-man in accordance with what he could eat, but when the sun heated up, it melted.
22 Now it was on the sixth day that they gleaned a double-portion of bread, two omers for (each) one. All the exalted-leaders of the community came and told it to Moshe.
23 He said to them: It is what YHVH spoke about: tomorrow is a Sabbath/Ceasing, a Sabbath of Holiness for YHVH. Whatever you wish to bake-bake, and whatever you wish to boil-boil; and all the surplus, put aside for yourselves in safekeeping until morning.
24 They put it aside until morning, as Moshe had commanded, and it did not reek, neither were there any maggots in it.
25 Moshe said: Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath for YHVH, today you will not find it in the field.
26 For six days you are to glean, but on the seventh day is Sabbath, there will not be (any) on it.
27 But it was on the seventh day that some of the people went out to glean, and they did not find.
28 YHVH said to Moshe: Until when will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?
29 (You) see that YHVH has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day, he gives you
bread for two days. Stay, each-man, in his spot; no man shall go out from his place on the seventh day!
30 So the people ceased on the seventh day.
31 Now the House of Israel called its name: Mahn. -It is like coriander seed, whitish, and its taste is like (that of) a wafer with honey.-
32 Moshe said: This is the word that YHVH has commanded: An omer of it for safekeeping throughout your generations, in order that they may see the bread that I had you eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
33 Moshe said to Aharon: Take a vat and put an omer of mahn in it, and put it aside in the presence of YHVH, in safekeeping throughout your generations.
34 As YHVH had commanded Moshe, Aharon put it aside before the Testimony, in safekeeping.
35 And the Children of Israel ate the mahn for the forty years, until they came to settled land, the mahn they ate, until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan.
36 Now an omer-it is a tenth of an efa.
- [Note from ArtScroll Tanach: The manna fell until the 7th of Adar, when Moses died, before the people had crossed the Jordan into Eretz Yisrael. From then on, remnants of manna remained in their vessels and they continued to eat it until the 16th of Nissan, when they were in the land and were able to eat its produce. (Kiddushin 38a).
From Paul Johnson (Christian historian), A History of the Jews, p. 37:
The Sabbath was the other great and ancient institution which differentiated the Israelites from other peoples, and was also the seed of future unpopularity. The idea seems to have been derived from Babylonian astronomy, but its rationale in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy is variously stated as commemorating God’s rest after creation, the liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery and the humanitarian need to give laborers, especially slaves and beasts of burden, some respite. The day of rest is one of the great Jewish contributions to the comfort and joy of mankind. But it was a holy day as well as a rest day, being increasingly associated in the minds of the people with the belief that the elect nation of God, so that eventually Ezekiel has God present it as designed to differentiate Jews from others: Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. So this, too, became an element in the belief of other peoples that the Jews held aloof from the rest of humanity.
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NASB/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 of the LORD your GOD; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
NASB note: See Gen 2:3. sabbath. [God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it . . . rested. Although the word “Sabbath” is not used here, the Hebrew verb translated “rested” is the origin of hte noun “Sabbath.” (Ex.20:11 quotes the first half of v. 3, but substitutes “Sabbath” for seventh,” clearly equating the two. The first record of obligatory Sabbath observance is of Israel on her way from Egypt to Sinai (Ex 16), and according to Neh (:13-14 the Sabbath was not an official covenant obligation until the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.]
See note on 16:23: [sabbath. The first occurrence of the word itself, though the principle of the seventh day as a day of rest and holiness is set forth in the account of creation.]
Six days. The question of a shorter “work week” in a modern industrialized culture is not in view.
in it you shall not do any work. Two reasons (one here and one in Deuteronomy) are given:
- Having completed His work of creation God “rested on the seventh day” (v.11), and the Israelites are to observe the same pattern in their service of God in the creation;
- the Israelites must cease all labor so that their servants can also participate in the Sabbath rest—just as God had delivered His people from the burden of slavery in Egypt (see Deut. 5:14-15). The Sabbath thus became a “sign” of the covenant between God and Israel at Mount Sinai.
Exod. 31:12-17/The Sign of the Sabbath
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.
NASB Note: covenant . . . sign. In her rhythm of work and rest in the service of God, Israel is to emulate God’s pattern in creation as an ever renewed sign of her covenant with God.
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NIV/Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor our stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
NIV note: Cf.31:12-17. Each seventh day belonged to the Lord and would not be a work day but one set apart (i.e. holy) for rest and for time devoted to the worship of Yahweh. The term “Sabbath” is derived from “to rest or cease from work.” The historical precedent for such a special observance was the creation week; a span of time equal to what man copied in practice. Each Sabbath day should have reminded the worshipper that God whom he praised had indeed made everything in both realms of existence in 6 twenty-four hour days. The Sabbath would also stand, therefore, as a counter to evolutionary ideas prevalent in false religion. Moses, in the review of the Decalogue, also linked the observance of the Sabbath with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and specified that this was why Israel was to keep it (Deut. 5:12-15). Significantly, the command for the Sabbath is not repeated in the NT, whereas the other 9 are. It is nullified (cf.Col. 2:16,17). Belonging especially to Israel under the Mosaic economy, the Sabbath could not apply to the believer of the church age, for he is living in a new economy.
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AST/Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work; but the seventh day is Sabbath to HASHEM, your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, your animal, and your convert within your gates—-for in six days HA blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
AST note: Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath. This day is a constant reminder that God is the Creator, Who created for six days and rested on the seventh. Sabbath observance testifies to this concept.
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P&H/Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
P&H commentary: FOURTH COMMANDMENT: THE SABBATH
remember. The use of the word ‘remember’ may indicate that the institution was well known to the Israelites, long before their manna experiences; that it was a treasured and sacred institution inherited from the days of the Patriarchs.
THE SABBATH CONSECRATES THE WORK AND HALLOWS MAN’S LIFE, is the culminating teaching of the [Genesis/Creation] Chapter. The institution of the Sabbath is part of the cosmic plan, and therefore intended for all humanity. The Sabbath is a specifically Jewish contribution to human civilization. ‘The actual Jewish Sabbath as we know it is without any point of contact in Babylonian institutions’ (Skinner). The ancient Babylonians had ‘a day of cessation’, which they called by a name somewhat similar to ‘Sabbath’, and it was observed on the 7th, 14th, 19th,21st, and 28th days of the months Ellul and Marchesvan. These were considered unlucky days, and on them the king was not to offer sacrifice, nor consult an oracle, nor invoke curses on his enemies. Quite other is the Jewish Sabbath. It is not merely a day of cessation from toil. On the one hand, it has its positive aspect as a day of spiritual recreation; and, on the other hand, it is a day of joy, and is greeted in the Synagogue in the words ‘Come, my Beloved, to meet the Bride, Queen Sabbath’. It banishes toil and sorrow—a symbol of immortality, of that Life which is wholly a Sabbath; see on Exod.XX,9-11. God the Creator and Lord of the Universe, which is the work of His goodness and wisdom; and Man, made in His image, who is to hallow his week-day labours by the blessedness of Sabbath-rest—such are the teachings of the Creation chapter. Its purpose is to reveal these teachings to the children of men—and not to serve as a textbook of astronomy, geology or anthropology. Its object is not to teach scientific facts; but to proclaim highest religious truths respecting God, Man, and the Universe. The ‘conflict’ between the fundamental realities of Religion and the established facts of Science is seen to be unreal as soon as Religion and Science each recognizes the true borders of its dominion.
The Rabbis, however, explain “Remember the Sabbath day’ to mean, Bear it in mind and prepare for its advent; think of it day by day, and speak of its holiness and sanctifying influence. They instituted the Kiddush prayer, praising God for the gift of the Sabbath, to celebrate its coming in; and the Havdalah blessing, praising God for the distinction between the Sabbath and the six weekdays, to mark its going out.
sabbath day. Heb. shabbath, from a root meaning desisting from work.
to keep it holy. To treat it as a day unprofaned by workaday purposes. In addition to being a day of rest, the Sabbath is to be ‘a holy day, set apart for the building up of the spiritual element in man’ (Philo). Religious worship and religious instruction—the renewal of man’s spiritual life in God—form an essential part of Sabbath observance. We therefore sanctify the Sabbath by a special Sabbath liturgy, by statutory Lessons from the Torah and the Prophets, and by attention to discourse and instruction by religious teachers. The Sabbath has thus proved the great educator of Israel in the highest education of all; namely the laws governing human conduct. The effect of these Sabbath prayers and Synagogue homilies upon the Jewish people has been incalculable. Leopold Zunz, the founder of the New Jewish Learning, has shown that almost the whole of Israel’s inner history, since the close of Bible times can be traced in following the development of these Sabbath discourses on the Torah. Sabbath worship is still the chief bond which unites Jews into a religious Brotherhood. Neglect of such worship injures the spiritual life of both the individual and the community.
shalt thou labour. Work during the six days of the week is as essential to man’s welfare as is rest on the seventh. No man or woman, howsoever rich, is freed from the obligation of doing some work, say the rabbis, as idleness invariably leads to evil thoughts and evil deeds. The proportion of one day’s rest in seven has been justified by the experience of the last 3,000 years. The first French Republic rejected the one day in seven, and ordained a rest of one day in ten. The experiment was a complete failure.
work. Heb., that which man produces by his thought, effort and will.
a sabbath unto the LORD. A days specially devoted to God.
thou shalt not do any manner of work. Scripture does not give a list of labours forbidden on Sabbath; but it incidentally mentions field-labour, buying and selling, travelling, cooking, etc., as forbidden work. The Mishna enumerates under 39 different heads all such acts as are in Jewish Law defined as ‘work’, and therefore not to be performed on the Sabbath day; such as ploughing, reaping, carrying loads, kindling a fire, writing, sewing, etc. Certain other things which cannot be brought under any of these 39 Categories are also prohibited, because they lead to a breach of Sabbath laws; as well as all acts that should tend to change the Sabbath into an ordinary day. Whatever we are not allowed to do ourselves, we must not have done for us by a fellow-Jew, even by one who is a Sabbath-breaker. All these Sabbath laws, however, are suspended as soon as there is the least danger to human life, say the Rabbis. The Commandments of God are to promote life and well-being, a principle based on Lev. XVIII,5,’and these are the precepts of the LORD by which ye shall live.’
thou. The head of the house, responsible for all that dwell therein.
manservant . . .maidservant. Or, ‘bondman’ . . . ‘bondmaid’. Not only the children but also the servants, whether Israelite or heathen, nay even the beasts of burden, are to share in the rest of the Sabbath day. ‘The Sabbath is a boundless boon for mankind and the greatest wonder of religion. Nothing can appear more simple than this institution, to rest on the seventh day after six days of work. And yet no legislator in the world hit upon this idea! To the Greeks and the Romans it was an object of derision, a superstitious usage. But it has removed with one stroke the contrast between slaves who must labour incessantly, and their masters who may celebrate continuously (B. Jacob).
thy cattle. It is one of the glories of Judaism that, thousands of years before anything else, it so fully recognized our duties to the dumb friends and helpers of man.
thy stranger. The non-Israelite, who agrees to keep the seven Noachic precepts. though the Sabbath was not included in these precepts, he too is to enjoy the Sabbath rest for his own sake as a human being.
within thy gates. Within the borders of the town.
rested. By keeping the Sabbath, the Rabbis tell us, we testify to our belief in God as the Creator of the Universe; in a God who is not identical with Nature, but is a free Personality, the creator and ruler of Nature. The Talmudic mystics tell that when the heavens and earth were being called into existence, matter was getting out of hand, and the Divine Voice had to resound, ‘Enough! So far and no further!’ Man, made in the image of God, has been endowed by Him with the power of creating. But in his little universe, too, matter is constantly getting out of hand, threatening to overwhelm and crush out the soul. By means of the Sabbath, called ‘a memorial of Creation,’ we are endowed with the Divine power of saying ‘Enough!’ to all rebellious claims of our environment, and are reminded of our potential victory over all material forces that would drag us down.
blessed the sabbath. Made it a day of blessing to those who observe it. The Sabbath was something quite new, which had never before existed in any nation or in any religion—a standing reminder that man can emancipate himself from the slavery of his worldly cares; that man was made for spiritual freedom, peace and joy (Ewald). ‘The Sabbath is one of the glories of our humanity. For if to labour is noble, our own free will to pause in that labour which may lead to success, to money, to fame is nobler still. To dedicate one day a week to rest and to God, this is the prerogative and the privilege of man alone’ (C.G.Montifiore).
and hallowed it. Endowed it with sanctifying powers. The sanctity of the Sabbath is seen in its traces upon the Jewish soul. Isaiah speaks of the Sabbath as ‘a delight’; and the Liturgy describes Sabbath rest as ‘voluntary and congenial, happy and cheerful’. ‘The Sabbath planted a heaven in every Jewish home, filling it with long-expected and blissfully-greeted peace; making each home a sanctuary, the father a priest, and the mother who lights the Sabbath candles an angel of light’ (B.Jacob). The Sabbath banishes care and toil, grief and sorrow. All fasting (except on the Day of Atonement, which as the Sabbath of Sabbaths transcends this rule of the ordinary Sabbath) is forbidden; and all mourning is suspended on the Sabbath day. Each of the three Sabbath-meals is an obligatory religious act; and is in the olden Jewish home accompanied by Table Songs. The spiritual effect of the Sabbath is termed by the Rabbis the ‘extra soul’, which the Israelite enjoys on that day.
Ignorant and unsympathetic critics condemn the Rabbinic Sabbath-laws with their numberless minutiae as an intolerable ‘burden’. These restrictions justify themselves in that the Jew who actually and strictly obeys these injunctions and only such a Jew, has a Sabbath. And in regard to the alleged formalism of all these Sabbath laws, a German Protestant theologian of anti-Semitic tendencies has recently confessed: “Anyone who has had the opportunity of knowing in our own day the inner life of Jewish families that observe the Law of the fathers with sincere piety and in all strictness, will have been astonished at the wealth of joyfulness, gratitude and sunshine, undreamt of by the outsider, which the Law animates in the Jewish home. The whole household rejoices on the Sabbath, which they celebrate with rare satisfaction not only as the day of rest, but rather as the day of rejoicing. Jewish prayers term the Sabbath a “joy of the soul” to him who hallows it; he “enjoys the abundance of Thy goodness”. Such expressions are not mere words; they are the outcome of pure and genuine happiness and enthusiasm’ (kittel).
Without the observance of the Sabbath, of the olden Sabbath, of the Sabbath as perfected by the Rabbis, the whole of Jewish life would in time disappear.