About Sabbath

It's being said that "The Jews didn't protect the Sabbath as much as the Sabbath protected the Jews"... and rightly so.

You can't forget who you are, you can't ignore your roots when the seventh day arrives, the most wonderful day.

Between the sunset (shkya) - when there is still light outside - and the time that stars come out (tzet a kochavim) - when it's already dark - there is a period of about 15-20 minutes, the twilight (bein a shmashot).

The Sabbath begins when the stars come out, but in order to be sure, the lighting of the candles is being done 15-20 minutes earlier. First the candles are being lit and only then the prayer will be said (the candles symbolizing the beginning of the Sabbath).

So many countries, so many customs: the number of lighted candles varies. The candles are usually lit by women, but if they aren't home (trip, hospital, widowed husband) the candles can be lit by men also.

An unmarried woman will light a single candle, a married one will light at least two candles. There are women that light the two Sabbath candles and one candle for each child, others add one candle for all the boys and one for all the girls in the family.

The number of lighted candles depends also on the number of Sabbaths in which you forgot to light the candles. For each forgotten Sabbath, one more candle will be lighted every Sabbath, all the life.

The forbidden occupations on Sabbath are mostly those related to creation (melacha mahshevet) and are based on the 39 occupations (avot melacha) that were needed to build the Temple in the desert (Mishkan): 11 occupations for bread making, 13 occupations for making cloth, 9 occupations for writing on skin (claf) and 6 occupations for building a house.