Why can't Jews go out on Friday and Saturday?

Answer 1

A Traditional Jewish Sabbath observance includes many requirements, features, and traditions, including the following:

DO'S

• Be showered, shaved, and dressed, in time to welcome the Sabbath.
• The right time is shortly before sunset on Friday. Preferably after attending the brief evening service in the synagogue, with a community of others, all preparing to welcome it.
• Be present and relaxed at home to see the lighting of the candles at the moment the Sabbath is welcomed.
• Follow with a better dinner than usual, attended by the whole family, dressed better than usual and pleased to be together.

DON'TS

• No driving or riding cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles.
• No electricity (telephone, computer, GPS, Kindle, Xbox, radio) unless the device is left on and not touched, like a radio or tv.
• No switching electric lights. Not on, not off.
• No laundry, writing, Golf, lawn mowing, gardening, housework
• Perhaps most important among the "don't"s . . . No business. Nothing connected with your job.

To try to go into any more detail would set us off on a journey of many pages. We'll only say that pulling in after dark on Friday night just simply gets the whole thing off on the wrong foot, makes it difficult to catch up and capture the spirit, and to a large extent can literally ruin that particular Sabbath.

We can't leave the subject without a word in response to the unspoken question: "So what ? What happens then ? Does the Jew get struck by lightning if he doesn't do Sabbath ?"

The answer is: No. There is no place in Judaism where it is taught that a Jew would be struck by lightning, for any reason. The result of overlooking, missing, or ignoring a full Sabbath observance is more real than the fear of lightning. The result is certain and very real ... the Jew misses out on the spiritual lift, community and family unity, battery charge, and recalibration of his life and values that come with the Sabbath when it's done right.

Answer 2

If you mean leaving the house and walking outside, that is always permitted. What is not permitted to Torah-observant Jews is doing certain forms of work on Sabbath (which lasts from Friday sundown until Saturday after dark).

Answer 3

Jews do not have to be home before it's dark. You will find great numbers of Jews

out Bowling, or at the movies, or playing Poker, or visiting, or at the evening service

at the synagogue, after dark.

But I do know where you heard that, and I'll explain it to you:

-- The Jewish Sabbath is a day which, if a Jew observes it in the way it's supposed to

be observed, nobody else understands it. The only thing that most people know about

the Jewish Sabbath is that it's the day when Jews can't do a lot of things. By itself,

that concept is about as flawed as it can be, but this is not the place to go into it.

-- It's true that there are many things that a Jew might do on a weekday, but will not

do on the Sabbath. A few of them are driving, riding a bus, carrying stuff in his pockets,

making a phone call, working his job, running his business, just to name a few.

-- Also, the Sabbath is a time when it's especially important for the family to be together,

doing the things that are done to 'welcome' the Sabbath into the home.

-- For religious purposes in Judaism, every day begins at sunset. (That may be where

Christmas Eve and New Year's Evecame from.) That means that the Jewish Sabbath

begins at sunset on Friday night.

-- A Jew who observes the Sabbath is very aware that the way he spends his time,

the things he does on any ordinary day, and his whole mental outlook need to be ready

to change when it gets to be late on Friday and the Sabbath is coming. Just look back

at that list of selected things that he doesn't want to have to do on the Sabbath.

-- He also doesn't want to run the risk of the family being separated when the Sabbath

arrives.

-- And that's why he will be extra careful to be home in plenty of time on Friday night.

Answer 4

In Judaism, the new day comes in at sunset (Genesis ch.1). Thus, the holiday begins at sunset and travel is prohibited after that time.

Answer 5

If you're an observant Jew, you must start observing the Sabbath at sunset Friday. That includes stopping work. Observant Jews will not spend or even carry money during the Sabbath, will not cook, will not drive, and will not walk more than a few miles. Less observant Jews may still drive to and from a synagogue, but they draw the line there. For practical purposes, life is easier if a Jew gets home before Sunset, and it would be unethical for a non-Jew, for example, a supervisor at work, to ask a Jew to violate these rules. But, if an observant Jew leaves home on a two mile walk before sunset and arrives home after sunset, there's no problem, so long as dinner is already arranged and his or her pockets are empty.