Shabbat Readings

The creation of rest . . . Sarah’s miraculous Shabbat lamp . . . Bread from heaven . . . “Work” defined . . . The invention of cholent . . . Sacrifice and martyrdom . . . Candle-lighting campaign . . . The World to Come . . .

As the sun slides down the sky and the air fills with a golden haze, a small crowd gathers in front of a gray house just south of the University of Oregon campus. It’s Friday night, and they are here to celebrate Shabbat

Song of Songs on Friday evening in the little Moroccan shul on Shimshon Street in Jerusalem is a string of multiple solo performances.

With a theater enterprise, tottering is its normal gait. Sometimes it does totter to ruin, and sometimes it totters to great prosperity. But I cannot honestly ascribe either result to my observing the Shabbat.

In the endless conflict between earth and spirit, sheer weight often wins out. Shabbat is a reunion with our inner selves, a return to the primal oneness of our souls

Shabbat is the pause between, the no-man's land, the dark of light, the in of out, the light of dark, the in-between

On Shabbat morning I would sit beside my grandmother in synagogue, and the exhaustion of the week would melt as we prayed. But as soon as Shabbat ended I would go back to my struggle to create a picture perfect life instead of a real one...

She makes a motion with her hands, drawing the heat of the candles to her face. Then her hands are over her face, as she performs the silent prayer

I love the Shabbat experience, but why so many restrictions? All that "don't do this" and "don't do that" -- sounds more like a prison than a day of rest!

How does a seven-day cycle manifest itself in nature? Or does it?

Does man belong to nature, or does nature belong to man?

Shabbat: the holiest day of the Jewish week. Included here are, step-by-step guide to Shabbat candle-lighting, Basics of Shabbat Preparation and even a complete Shabbat menu planner, complete with recipes.

A person invites guests for dinner. He introduces the guests to his family, sits down at the table—and then not three minutes later, before the first morsel of food is served, the guests are shown the door...

Without really even noticing, Shabbat settled in and the vibe of our whole house shifted. It was a quietude that was defined by the fact that we knew it would last, even for only a day. All the pressure was gone...