Shalom and Welcome back to Israel with Aline! We are in Jerusalem, or rather, here at my house in Jerusalem, you can go right in because today's subject is a Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. We are going to talk about its biblical origins, what you can and can't do, and how Shabbat is celebrated in a Jewish house.
So if you are ready, let's get started! The origin of Shabbat comes from the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, when God creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh, the seventh day being Shabbat, the Saturday, the question is why am I talking to you about the Sabbath on a Friday? Well I don't know what day you are watching this video, but today here in Jerusalem is Friday.
Genesis 1:5 is written. Which means: And it was the afternoon and the morning of the first day What do you mean the afternoon and the morning? This means that in biblical times and even today in Judaism, the day begins at sunset, so at sunset on Friday Shabbat, the Sabbath, already begins.
And with the beginning of the Shabbat, we also stopped creating. I'll now put here on the screen a list of the 39 activities forbidden by Shabbat, anyone who wants can stop the video also and read it calmly. This is the list of activities used to create the tabernacle over 3,000 years ago and that is why these creation activities and their derivatives are prohibited in Judaism today on Shabbat, For example, it is forbidden to cook so that all food will be prepared before sunset but how do we eat hot food if we can't cook and we can't light a fire?
For this we have the Shabbat plate, which is used to heat food on Saturday, so there is literally an electric heating element, but the most important thing is the clock. Here we put the time of the meals and say where we want it to heat up between noon and 2 pm or dinner time too. And so it heats up the food, but it's not us who are turning it on and off, but everything will already be programmed before sunset.
I want to show you one more example that I think is even more impressive, which is a special elevator for Saturday, so for that let's now go out into my hallway. Among the forbidden activities is the lighting of fire, and nowadays derived from that is the use of electricity and so here you can see that there are two elevators in my building and this one is a Shabbat elevator. This means that it automatically stops on the floors according to the schedule times that are here, so why doesn't the Orthodox Jew press the button?
Because that means that he is generating an electrical command, but as you can see there are two elevators, a Shabbat elevator and a "normal" elevator, because not all Jews are Sabbath practicing in the way that I am telling you. I am telling you the story of Orthodox Judaism at this moment, but it is important to remember that there are Jews of different groups and different denominations. Well, back here at home, Skoll and I are going to talk a little bit about the practice that, yes, is done on Shabbat.
The first thing that is done on Friday just before sunset is the lighting of the candles, I brought here to show you the candelabra that belonged to my grandmother Clara. The tradition is that usually the women light two candles and besides illuminating the house, they bring the "Shalom Bait": peace to the house. Also on Friday when we meet people, we say "Shabbat Shalom" we wish them a peaceful Saturday and Shabbat Shalom to you too!
After the lighting of the candles the family goes to the Synagogue and when we come back from the Synagogue, everybody gathers around the table, so come to the table with me. Before the meal starts we sing a few songs, my favorite one is called "Eshet Chayil" which is the virtuous woman, an excerpt from Proverbs Chapter 31, which is a thanksgiving to the woman and the women of the house for all the beautiful work they do, and after that we do the "Kidush" which is the recitation of the wine. Traditionally it is the men who do it, and I wanted to call my husband Sefi, but since he is a bit shy, what we are going to do, today we are going to call Mochi, who is my cameraman behind the camera, he is also a guide, so we are going to switch places.
[Mochi] Shalom to everyone! I will now show you how Kidush is done. The sixth day: And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished.
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made, and ceased on the seventh day from all his work which he did. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, For therein ceased all his work, which God created to do. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, King of the Universe, who created the fruit of the vine Blessed art Thou, Eternal, our God, King of the Universe, who sanctified us with Thy commandments and willed us having lovingly and gladly granted us Your holy day of Shabbat, in remembrance of the work of Creation, for it is the first of the holy dates, in remembrance of the departure from Egypt because You chose us and sanctified us out of all peoples, and Thy holy Shabbat, with love and with delight, hast given us an inheritance.
Blessed are You, Eternal One, who sanctifies Shabbat. Lechaim! Cheers to everyone and now we are going to wash our hands together.
The hand washing is done with this mug that is called "Natla" and has two handles and after that, we say a prayer and then we don't say anything else until it's time to eat bread and since I am doing a demonstration, I will keep talking to you. Let's take our loaves of bread to do the next prayer. This prayer about the loaves reminds us of the forty years that the Jews wandered in the desert, after leaving Egypt, because during this time God sent the Manna and every day a Manna arrived, except on Friday, since on Shabbat you couldn't go out to get Manna, on Friday everyone had to get two and that is why during the week the prayers are with one loaf and on Shabbat they are with two.
And they are as follows: "Blessed are You, Eternal, our God, King of the Universe, who brings out bread from the earth. " And we will eat the bread with salt, the salt reminds us of the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem which was destroyed two thousand years ago and today our Shabbat table works as a small temple, like a small altar. And now we begin the meal.
Shabbat is a very special day and I don't want us to focus on what we can't do, but on what we do in practice, it is a day of connection; to connect with God, but also with friends and family, to do so many things that sometimes with the rush and technology we end up not doing. To visit friends, to have family meals, to walk in a park, to have conversations. So Shabbat, for those who know how to enjoy it, is really a very special day!
These are some of the Jewish traditions of Shabbat, if you want to know more Jewish traditions or have questions, you can send them here in the comments. A kiss and Shabbat Shalom to everyone, and see you next time!
