IV. Sabbath and Festivals.
The daily work which has chiefly the well-being of the body as its aim must be interrupted on certain days which the Almighty has appointed for the promotion of man’s spiritual well-being. Sabbath and Festivals are the days thus appointed, and are therefore called מועדי יי “the seasons of the Lord,” and מקראי קדש “holy convocations.” The blessing derived from the observance of Holy-days in the true spirit is described by the prophet as follows: “If thou keep back thy foot because of the sabbath, from doing thy business on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own business, nor speaking thine own words: then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father” (Isa. lviii. 13, 14). To those who fail to observe the seasons of the Lord in the true spirit, the prophet says in the name of the Almighty: “Your new-moons and your festivals my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them” (ibid. i. 14).
Maimonides[27] comprehends the various duties and observances of the Holy-days in the following four terms: זכור “remember,” שמור “take heed,” כבוד “honour,” and עונג “delight.” The first two are found in the Pentateuch, and form the beginning of the fourth commandment in Exodus and Deuteronomy respectively; the other two occur in the above description [[340]]of the Sabbath quoted from Isaiah (lviii. 13, 14). Following the example of our great teacher, we shall likewise treat of the laws and customs of Sabbath and Festivals under these four heads:[28]—
a. זכור “Remember.”
Remember the Sabbath-day; speak of it, of its holiness and its blessings. We fulfil this duty when Sabbath comes in, by the Kiddush, “the sanctification of the day,” in which we praise the Almighty for the boon bestowed upon us by the institution of the Sabbath; and when Sabbath goes out, by the Habhdalah, in which we praise God for the “distinction” made between the holy and the ordinary days. We have both Kiddush and Habhdalah in a double form: (a) as a portion of the Amidah in the Evening Service; the Kiddush being the middle section of the Amidah, the Habhdalah consisting of a prayer added to the fourth paragraph beginning אתה חנן; (b) as a separate service especially intended for our homes. It is this home-service that we generally understand by the terms Kiddush and Habhdalah, and in this sense they are employed in the following.[29]
Kiddush.
There is a traditional explanation of the term zachor: זכרהו על היין “remember it over the wine.” As “wine [[341]]gladdens the heart of man” and forms an important element in a festive meal, it has been ordered that our meal on the eve[30] of Sabbath and Festival should be begun with a cup of wine in honour of the day, and that mention should be made of the holiness of the day before partaking of the wine. The Kiddush consists of two blessings (ברכות): one over the wine,[31] and one that refers to the holiness of the day. On Holy-days—except the last days of Passover—a third blessing (שהחינו) follows, praising God for having granted us life and enabled us again to celebrate the Festival. On Friday evening a portion from Genesis (i. 31 to ii. 3) is added, which contains the first mention of the institution of Sabbath. If a Festival happens to fall on Sunday, we add part of the Habhdalah to the Kiddush on Saturday evening,[32] [[342]]referring to the distinction between the holiness of the Sabbath and that of the Festivals.
The Kiddush is part of the Sabbath or Festival evening meal, and in the absence of the latter the Kiddush is omitted.[33] In Synagogues of the German and Polish Minhag the Reader recites the Kiddush at the conclusion of the Maarib Service. This custom is a survival of the ancient way of providing for the poor and the stranger. In the absence of better accommodation lodging and food were given to the needy in rooms adjoining the Synagogue, or even in the Synagogue itself. It was for these that the Reader recited the Kiddush, before they commenced the evening meal, as most probably wine was not served to all. Although circumstances have changed the mode of maintaining the poor, and the latter find no longer lodging and board in the Synagogue, the Kiddush has been retained as part of the Maarib Service, except on the first two nights of Passover, when there had never been an occasion for reading Kiddush in the Synagogue. The poor were treated on these nights with four cups of wine each, and they recited Kiddush by themselves as part of the Seder. [[343]]
Habhdalah הבדלה.
Habhdalah is recited in the evening following Sabbath or Holy-day, after the Evening Service. A cup of wine is raised, and the ברכה over wine is followed by another ברכה, in which God is praised for the distinction made between the holy and the ordinary day (בין קדש לחול), or between two kinds of holiness (בין קדש לקדש) in case Sabbath is followed by a Holy-day.—On Sabbath night we take a candle and a spice-box, and add two blessings after that over wine; in the one we thank God for the enjoyment of the fragrance, in the other for the benefit He bestowed on us by the creation of light. A few verses from the Bible, especially the Prophets, precede the Habhdalah.