Jewish Customs Part II --The Day of Rest!

Then there is Shabbos! I'm really amazed by people who keep Shabbos. It is so much fun and really relaxing. I like having a day out of the week where you don't think about work at all and you hang out with a lot of other people who aren't thinking about it either. Because of all the specific rules it's hard for observant Jews to get around having to be together. I feel like this part of Judaism is what brings people together the most in a very consistent way. No driving, no electricity, no writing, ect. The closest I can do to do work is read and think but without being able to write anything down to remember these things, it really doesn't get me very far.

So I should explain where the rules for Shabbos come from. So a long long time ago, the Jewish people sat down and had to decide what doing work meant, this being because in the Torah God commanded the Jews to keep the Sabbath day holy or basically to not work. So the Jewish people at the time agreed that work would be defined by the 39 actions described in the Torah of the building of the temple. These included lighting fires, carrying things, ect. And for modern times, all these rules have to be made to fit the things that we do today. Some of the funnier ones include not ripping things on a seam, not turning lights on and off, and not biting your nails. Right before Shabbos starts one should light candles and say a blessing. There are also lots of different prayers that you do on Shabbos including Kiddush which you do over a glass of wine before starting your Shabbos meal. The meal is always prepared before Shabbos starts since it is a rule to not cook during Shabbos and it usually includes Challah which is a braided type of bread that is really yummy but can use other types of bread too. All these rules give Shabbos a certain spirit that makes it so much more different than any other day of the week.

My personal experience with Shabbos is mixed. While I love everything we do, especially when/if we sing, I find it difficult to keep Shabbos completely. It can be frustrating to other people who do not want to keep Shabbos (but who I am with on Shabbos) because I don't want to drive places. When I used to go to church it was a lot simpler since it was just one hour out of the day. So I would go and come back and could do whatever. But Shabbos is about 25 hours long and on the weekend when everyone else is off too and wants to go out and do things. This makes me a little sad because I do not want to distance myself from people who I love who are not Jewish but I am suddenly more burdensome for them because I am keeping what seems to them very strange practices. But I think and hope that they will come to love Shabbos too because there are so many things you can do on it like play boardgames and just sit around and talk or read or eat or sing. Or take walks together...