The Vibe of the Sabbath

 

The Sabbath, or Shabbat as it is known to the Jews has an ultra-chilled out vibe. Very little goes on during Shabbat aside from resting, praying and meeting friends and family. This beautifully relaxed vibe has its origins right at the beginning of Creation. God has expended so much energy creating the world in six days that he needs a day off, and it is in honour of this self-enforced quiet time that Jews throughout the world keep Saturday free and Christians do their best to keep Sunday special. The original Shabbat was not just to remember God’s incredible creative achievement – there is no record of a Sabbath being kept in Egypt. The Sabbath became a combined celebration of the Creation and the release from Egyptian slavery. Not only that, Jews see this weekly day of calm, peace, idleness and prayer as a foretaste of the vibe to come when the Messiah returns. Nowadays, the Sabbath has an almost exclusively Jewish vibe and many Jews spend part of their day off in a synagogue. That doesn’t mean that Christians are excluded from the party – they just choose Sunday as their special day and often spend some of that day in a church. Officially, Jewish Shabbat begins around eighteen minutes before sunset on Friday and lasts until three stars are clearly visible in the night sky on Saturday. The Jews have a list of thirty-nine kinds of work that may not be carried out on the Sabbath, plus any number of rituals which the faithful must adhere to in order to keep the faith. Christians are less focused on Sunday rituals, though many choose not to work or go shopping unless absolutely necessary. An easy going, not much to see here vibe with a trip to church or temple thrown in.

General vibe of the Sabbath: day of rest

Factvibe: the word sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath

This is the kind of vibe you might expect to come across on the Sabbath