This Shabbat Jews around the world are participating in The Shabbat Project so they can ‘Keep It Together’. But what is Shabbat all about, and what are we supposed to do on Shabbat? The Torah begins by describing how God created the world, and how God rested on Shabbat. This means that Shabbat is about stopping and resting, or as Rabbi Sacks beautifully puts it, ‘Shabbat is the day we stand still and let all our blessings catch up with us.’ To achieve this goal we avoid the performance of forbidden acts (called Melachot), and we sanctify and share our time with others through eating together, praying together and talking together. In fact, these two aspects of Shabbat are hinted to in the Torah when we are told to ‘guard’ (Shamor) the Shabbat day and also to ‘remember’ (Zachor) the Shabbat day. To learn more about Shabbat, download Jewish Interactive’s ‘Shabbat Interactive’
THE SHABBAT PROJECT
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