Why is Friday and Saturday a holy day for Jews?

Answer 1

Because that is the Torah's command (Exodus ch.31, Leviticus ch.23).

Saturday is the seventh day of the week, when God, having completed the

Creation, took the day off, told the Israelites to do the same (Exodus ch.20),

and called it the Sabbath Day.

You may take issue with this calculation, and that's certainly your prerogative.

But before you dismiss it as totally archaic and out of touch, you'll need to give

some thought to why Saturday is called "Sabato" in Italian and Esperanto, "Sabado"

in Spain, Portugal and Galicia, "Σάββατο" in Greece, "Sabtu" in Indonesia and

Malaysia, "Sobota" in Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, "суббота" in Russia, "субота"

in Serbia and Ukraine, and "Subota" in Bosnia and Croatia. Could they ALL be

misguided?

Answer 2

Because it is a day blessed by God (Genesis ch.2), which He gave it to the Israelites as a treasured gift to be cherished (Talmud, Beitzah 15b).

The Jewish Sabbath is from Friday sundown until Saturday after twilight.The origin of the Shabbat is in the Torah (Genesis ch.2, Leviticus ch.23, Exodus ch.20 and many other passages). It is a day of rest (Exodus ch.20, ch.31), and a day of strengthening ties with the family, the community, and with God.

There are two main aspects to Shabbat observance: what we do and what we don't do.
What we don't do: we're not permitted to work on the Shabbat (Exodus ch.20). This includes 39 categories of productive interaction with the world, such as planting, writing, kindling fire, etc. (Talmud, Shabbat 73b). (See: More about Shabbat-observance.)
What we do: candles are lit, customarily by the lady of the household, around 20 minutes before sunset on Friday afternoon. We then attend synagogue for the Friday afternoon prayer (mincha), the kabbalat Shabbat (ushering in of the Shabbat), and the Shabbat evening prayer (maariv), consecutively.
On Shabbat morning, we again attend synagogue. The services are longer than on weekdays and include prayers as well as reading the weekly Torah-portion.

There's often a kiddush (refreshments) afterwards, and congregants then have a chance to schmooze (to talk). Towards the late afternoon, there's another (short) service (Shabbat mincha).

After Friday night services and on Shabbat morning after services, we come home, often with guests, make kiddush (blessing over wine), and have a leisurely multi-course Shabbat meal including singing and words of Torah. Customarily, that week's Torah-reading (parsha) will be a topic of conversation; and the children of the family will be asked to speak of what they've learned in school.

After that, Shabbat is a quiet time: no phones, radio or TV (etc.), just schmoozing, taking walks, visiting friends, reading, learning Torah, playing Board Games, etc.

Husband and wife, in particular, finally have a chance to be together after a hectic week.

Answer 3

Friday is not special in Judaism. It has no significance. The special day is the Sabbath, which starts on Friday night, and ends Saturday night. It is the day of rest for Jews.

Answer 4

Friday sundown is the beginning of the Jewish Shabbat (Sabbath).