Shabbat

Contemporary Jews have adapted traditional Shabbat practices in non-traditional and sometimes surprising ways.

In modern times, non-Orthodox Jews have largely abandoned Shabbat observance, despite many innovations intended to encourage it.

The masters of Kabbalah explained all of the elements of the Sabbath rituals as a consistent thematic drama of the reunion of the Shekhinah the Sabbath bride, with her mate--and in so doing exerted considerable influence on the shape of those rituals.

The Rabbis used requirements and prohibitions to shape a Shabbat experience in which creative activity is set aside to make time for matters of the spirit. Second of two parts.

Rabbinic literature and medieval Kabbalah describe the day as a foretaste of life in the perfected "world to come" that traditional Judaism anticipates.

The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals, the Jewish equivalent of sacred architecture.

The Bible has no problem giving both cosmic and social reasons for Shabbat. Creation and liberation are tightly connected.

Sabbath services throughout the year highlight upcoming holidays.