Sabbath

Doering, Lutz

Zusammenfassung

The Sabbath is the seventh, concluding day of the week in Judaism. It is a day of rest, joy, and study. A major feature of the Sabbath, also noticed by Graeco-Roman writers, is the Jews’ abstention from “labour,” as required by the Sabbath commandment of the Decalogue. What precisely counts as labour developed over time and was not uniform across the various groups in ancient Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism introduced definitions and systematization into Sabbath law. Self-defence and life-saving became generally acknowledged as “overriding” the Sabbath. Because it is a day of joy, most ancient Jews refrained from fasting on the Sabbath. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the Sabbath also developed into a day on which the Torah was studied communally.