Jewish Shabbat
Question
Hello,
I am a gentile with question about Shabbat. Thank you for your time and emotional energy
A friend of mine, whom is a Christian, uses the term Shabbat to describe his Christian prayer group, that gathers on Sunday night. They read the Old Testament and talk about g-d and rest. They gather and spend time as friends. I argued with him that using this phrase and this practice is inappropriate. In my understanding, Judaism is a closed practice and there are certain elements that should not be performed or used by non-Jews.
It morphed into a pretty big argument between us with his point being that Jews cannot “own” the concept of rest and Shabbat.
I want to be sure I am not incorrect. I do not want to be sharing false information. I have googled extensively and I am seeing so many Christians talking about Shabbat or Sabbath. I don’t remember this being a thing when I was growing up Christian.
Thank you for your time.
Answers
The Jewish Shabbat is just that – Jewish. It belongs to the Jewish nation. As described in the Torah, it is a sign between ourselves and God. But the Shabbat that other religions practice – whether they call it Shabbat or the Sabbath or whatever – is theirs to do as they wish. That means that what you thought is essentially true, but there is no intrinsic problem with non-Jewish belief systems calling their day of rest Shabbat.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team