The family sits down to the best dinner of the week, complete with tablecloth, candles, special food and blessings — this is the Sabbath, the Jewish holiday of rest. It’s considered the holiest Jewish holiday of them all. It happens every week from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset.
A traditional Sabbath meal brings the whole family together. The table is set with candles, wine and special Sabbath dishes on a Sabbath tablecloth. This is the best meal of the week. Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe would save up their money to buy delicacies like eggs and sugar to make challah bread and a kosher chicken to make chicken soup. American Jews are fortunate enough to afford such delicacies daily, but favor such foods for their traditional value.
Seth Rogovoy, freelance writer, cultural critic and author of The Essential Klezmer, celebrates a relatively traditional Sabbath. He said of his experience, “Starting mid-day Friday I get ready by studying the weekly Torah portion so I can teach my family a bit about it or discuss it with my community on Saturday morning. I also prepare our home for the Friday night ritual, which is the one meal where we set out a table cloth, special dishes, and I make a pretty elaborate meal. It is a very traditional meal usually of roast chicken, matzo ball soup and challah. There’s no religious significance but some of the dishes were from my grandmother so it does tie us to our past and inheritance. Friday night we sing songs welcoming the Sabbath, light candles, say the Kiddish (blessing over wine) and wash our hands ritually.
Then for the next 24 hours I don’t do any work. I read and study Jewish texts, attend worship services, take walks, I spend time with my family and I do what I can to recognize the separation of Shabbis from the rest of the week. This is a day of very different quality, this is a day of spirituality, so i do a bit of a mental flip into Shabbis mode.â€
Of the Sabbath food and rituals Rogovoy said, “The food and the rituals are really just vessels to channel the inherent spirituality that’s present during the Sabbath.â€
Diane Weinstein, of Pittsfield, was raised in a religious home. For her, the Sabbath is about taking “that deep breath for the first time in a week.â€
Diane takes this day of rest literally and is famous amongst her friends for taking Shabbis naps each Saturday afternoons. She described her ritual, “By the time early afternoon comes around then my body and mind are very at peace, very quiet and tired, and ready to rest. And that’s what I do for a couple of hours. Everyone who knows me knows my Shabbis nap is an integral piece of my week.â€
She also keeps more universal traditions. These include gathering with her family Friday nights to say the traditional prayers over the Sabbath meal, including the candles, bread and wine, and attending Saturday morning services at Knesset Israel in Pittsfield.
Rachel Barenblatt, the author of a book in progress on the art of Jewish ritual craft called Disorganized Judaism and the executive director of Inkberry, has created Sabbath rituals to bring out the true spirit of Shabbat for modern souls. She said, “The theme of my adult Jewish life is discovering that even if I don’t have exactly the right materials, even if I’m not doing it exactly the way my parents did, that it can be special because of what I bring to it and because of what I find in it.â€
Rachel shared this story, “I lived through a period of time in college where every week my friend David and I would gather in my dorm room for the Sabbath. We were on a meal plan so we couldn’t have a Sabbath meal. But we would get together and light candles and we would chant the Kiddish (the prayer over wine) over whatever alcoholic beverage we had in the dorm at the time. Sometimes it was cheap wine, a few times we did it over fruit juice, once or twice we even said the Kiddish over a bottle of beer which is not technically the way you are supposed to do it. But standing together, over my window, at twilight, singing the Hebrew words together — it didn’t matter that it was beer instead of wine. It felt like we were really welcoming the Sabbath together. It was special even if it wasn’t the official way to do it.â€
Rachel shed some light on the traditional Sabbath meal. “I know that a lot of families of Eastern European descent have chicken or chicken soup on Shabbat. For their ancestors in Eastern Europe, who were poor, being able to get a kosher chicken and make soup from it was like birthday cake. It was something you only did for Shabbat and festivals. As for the wine — wine in Judaism is traditionally a symbol of joy. Almost every Jewish holiday involves blessing wine.â€
The challah bread, braided, is a symbol of the double portion of manna that is believed to have been given from God to the Jewish people during their time in the desert.
After college, Rachel arranged to have Fridays off. She would spend them baking challah bread. She said, “That was my little connection to the tradition. To me, it’s a real pleasure because you start with such pedestrian ingredients. It involves eggs, some milk, a bit of sugar. Spending half an hour at the kitchen counter using my hands to make this thing is grounding, and almost always puts me in a better mood than I was before.â€
Rachel added — “I want people to get a sense of what a delicious and enriching experience it can be to take a little pause at the end of the week and connect with themselves, their families, their communities, their traditions, their sense of a spiritual or sacred or holy, with God if that’s a term that works for you. When I was a kid I used to think Jewish holidays were special so we did these weird things to show that they were special. What I’ve come to realize as an adult is I had it backwards — Jewish holidays are holy because we make them.â€
Common to all Sabbath traditions is a festive meal together with family, connecting with spirituality and community, and taking a day of peace. Ultimately, the Sabbath isn’t about the chicken in the pot or the blessing over the wine but the spirit brought to the moment.
Elissa Shevinsky is a freelance writer pursuing the connections between the mystical Jewish and Yogic traditions.
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Winter Storm Warning Issued for Berkshires
Another snowstorm is expected to move through the region overnight on Friday, bringing 5 to 8 inches of snow. This is updated from Thursday's winter weather advisory.
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., has posted a winter storm warning for all of Berkshire County and parts of eastern New York State beginning Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 1 p.m.
The region could see heavy to moderate snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour overnight, tapering off Saturday morning to flurries.
Drivers should exercise caution on Friday night and Saturday morning, as travel conditions may be hazardous.
Saturday night should be clear and calm, but warming temperatures means freezing rain Sunday night and rain through Monday with highs in the 40s. The forecast isn't much better through the week as temperatures dip back into the teens with New Year's Eve looking cloudy and frigid.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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