What happens on Shabbat in a religious Jewish household?

Answer 1

Rules of Shabbat

There are 39 Categories of work that are not allowed on Shabbat. Remember that these are general categories; for instance, mowing the lawn could fit into plowing, reaping and harvesting.

1. carrying 2. burning 3. extinguishing 4. finishing 5. writing 6. erasing 7. cooking 8. washing 9.sewing 10. tearing 11. knotting 12. untying 13. shaping 14. plowing 15. planting 16. reaping

17. harvesting 18. threshing 19. winnowing 20. selecting 21. sifting 22. grinding 23. kneading

24. combing 25. spinning 26. dyeing 27. chain-stitching 28. warping 29. weaving 30. unravelling

31. building 32. demolishing 33. trapping 34. shearing 35. slaughtering 36. skinning 37. tanning

38. smoothing 39. marking

Things that happen on Shabbat

The Jewish treat the coming of Shabbat as an arriving queen. They wear their best clothes, thoroughly clean the house and prepare a festive feast in celebration. Also, candles are lit exactly 18 minutes before sunset. Anyone not married will light only one candle, while anybody that is married lights two or more.

Answer:

The Jewish Sabbath is from Friday sundown until Saturday after twilight. Its origin is in the Torah (Genesis ch.2, Leviticus ch.23, Exodus ch.20 and many other passages).
The Sabbath is considered in the Jewish religion to be a day blessed by God (Genesis ch.2), a day of rest (Exodus ch.20, ch.31), and a day of strengthening ties with the family, the community, and with God.
Here is further background information:
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).
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).
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 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 have a chance 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 2

Baiscally we just light the candles at sundown & then usually, on Friday night, the men go to shul. However for some reason, with the really non-religious, secular jews you see a lot of them ALL go at night. I think for the women (orthodox & more religious) its just like....not really all that important to go at night. So they dont.

There are quite a few rules about what you can & cannot do on Shabbos. From sundown Friday til an hour after sundown Saturday. Will get into that in a minute.

After shul, there's a meal which begins with Kiddush, which is the blessing over a cup of wine. Normally, the head of household pours the wine & says kiddush then everyone gets a pour of wine from the big kiddush cup. (smaller ones or maybe tiny little shotglasses or whatever you want to use. My parents usually just throw it into little disposable plastic cups & chug away)

THEN the next part is always the challah. You go wash your hands - which is done the following way: fill up a cup of water and pour 3 times on one hand & pour 3 times on each hand. There's a blessing on that, too. It's about blessing God for allowing us to wash our hands. The head of household makes a blessing over the challah (the bread) & we all get a slice.

Youre not supposed to speak in between washing your hands & eating the challah. Not sure the reason, honestly but I think it has to do with respecting the challah. Oh by the way, when Kiddush is recited, the challahs are supposed to be covered up. People usually use a decorative cloth.

So we go back to the table, cut the challah & eat it then just eat the meal. The only things that differ from a regular meal are that

a. there are some foods that are commonly eaten, such as gefilte fish (carp)

b. the end of the meal there's another, long blessing that is sung. Each person who has eaten bread is supposed to say this. Its actually called "birchat hamazon" but at some point in time, the name of the bracha was sort of perverted into a Yiddish word that most people call "benching". There's really no logic behind calling it that. Its sort of one of many, many words that have become habit since the days our great grandparents were in Europe.

I say that because Yiddish isnt even a language. Its a combiination of German & Hebrew and is basically slang....yet terms like benching are used very, very commonly.

Anyway, thats Friday night. Then Saturday up til an hour after sundown, you can do whatever you want BUT there are some major restrictions. OK you cant do whatever you want....here are some of the 39 rules. Now keep in mind this 39 rule set was written over 5000 years ago so many of them are just totally irrelevant.

At some point, modern rabbis around the world got together & adapted the rules to what we have/do today.

#1. Nothing involving electricity. So because you cannot operate a light switch, they (I'd say we, but I'm not at all religious anymore. Not since teenagedom) can leave certain lights throughout the house on & just leave them that way. My grandparents used to use timers so at a certain time of night the lights would go out automatically & then nobody would have to worry about them being on.

#2 No driving or operating machinery. No, there is no medicating involved. The idea if I remember correclty, is something about creating sparks and more specifically its about not WORKING.

#3 No cooking

#4 Usually people dont bathe on shabbos because of the hot water thing. Turning on & using hot water apparently makes some kind of use of electricity....this is another of those things that is not really written in stone (literally) but is widely used.

#5 There are many others....writing with pens & pencils, believe it or not.

So with all of the restrictions, people use it as a day to relax. A lot of reading, playing games (as long as they dont involve batteries or electricity or writing)....napping....etc. I know i used to go to shul on Saturday morning and then go back to my grandparents' house for lunch....lunch would also have the wine & challah just like Friday night and a big meal.

Its not at all unheard of to invite some guests over & make a big deal out of it. Nothing fancy or whatever but people do dress up for shabbos. So you have lunch & chill & like I said, you can do whatever you want as long as it doesnt violate the rules.

Oh BTW - going with what I was saying about incororating a lot of Yiddish words into the vernacular....the cup that we use to wash hands before the meal is called a "negelvasser" which is obviously some kind of German mix.

You do whatever til one hour after sundown. To end Shabbos, there's a ceremony called Havdalah. Light a candle & do some other stuff.....I dont know if I'm the best at explaining that one though!

Answer 3

The Jewish family prepare a meal, on the friday, and the Woman lights the Sabbath Candles. Then on the Saturday they attend a service at the synagogue followed by the Rabbi.

Answer:

The Jewish Sabbath is from Friday sundown until Saturday after twilight. Its origin is in the Torah (Genesis ch.2, Leviticus ch.23, Exodus ch.20 and many other passages).
The Sabbath is considered in the Jewish religion to be a day blessed by God (Genesis ch.2), a day of rest (Exodus ch.20, ch.31), and a day of strengthening ties with the family, the community, and with God.
Here is further background information:
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).
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).
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 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 have a chance 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 4

The Jewish Sabbath is from Friday sundown until Saturday after twilight. Its origin is in the Torah (Genesis ch.2, Leviticus ch.23, Exodus ch.20 and many other passages).

The Sabbath is considered in the Jewish religion to be a day blessed by God (Genesis ch.2), a day of rest (Exodus ch.20, ch.31), and a day of strengthening ties with the family, the community, and with God.

Here is further background information:

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).

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).

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 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 have a chance 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 5

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

• Link: 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.

• Link: The Shabbat meals
  

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.