Subject Guide: Holidays

Shabbat, also known as Shabbos or the Sabbath, is a weekly 25 hour observance from just before sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, when three stars are visible. It is a day to rest from labor and enjoy our spiritual and physical lives. The notion is established from Bereshit (Genesis) G-d worked six days creating the world on the seventh day G-d rested, blessed the day, and declared it holy. Shabbat celebrated at synagogue and in the home with special blessings and rituals such as lighting candles, saying Kiddush (a prayer over wine sanctifying Shabbat), and eating challah. People enjoy special meals with friends and family, studying Torah, attending services, talking walks, enjoying naps. The end of Shabbat is marked by a Havdalah ceremony.

Records of the Jewish Sabbath Alliance of America, I-282

This collection contains correspondence, reports, addresses and statements issued by national organization with the objective of promoting the observance of the traditional Jewish Sabbath through legal and economic efforts.

Lights in Action Records, I-560 (Subseries 3: Shabbat and holidays, 1990s-2001)

Lights in Action (LIA) was a network of students dedicated to inspiring Jewish pride and unity among college students. LIA reached approximately 100,000 students on over 120 campuses. They designed and coordinated national student projects like Shabbat Leumit, a guide to lead students across North America through the rituals during Shabbat. The Shabbat service sourcebooks, created for students to celebrate Shabbat in their dorm rooms, include text studies, songs, writings on various historical and contemporary subjects, songs, rituals, and recipes that could be made in dorm rooms without kitchens.

Art Nouveau-style Kiddush Cup. 2019.33. [Digitized and available online]

A ceremonial cup with some Art Nouveau-style decoration on the side.

Candleholder for Shabbat. 1994.436 [Digitized and available online]

Object origin: Cyprus, 1946-47

Challah Cover (tassel fringe). 2010.39. [Digitized and available online]

Burgendy velvet with embroidery in gold metallic thread done over parchment (couching). Embroidered elements include: "L'Shabbat Yom Tov" [Good Shabbas] in Hebrew in center.

Handpainted Challah Cover. 2009.036. [Digitized and available online]

Cloth has hand painted red and gold flowers, two menorahs, and a Star of David. Genesis 1,31, "And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” written across the top; and Genesis 2,1, “And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” written across the bottom in Hebrew. Object is part of Steven Schwarzschild Collection AR 25376.

Kiddush cup. 1977.024. [Digitized and available online]

Stemmed silver goblet from 1877 engraved with architectural motifs and floral motifs; on pedestal with round base.

Kiddush cup. 1983.018. [Digitized and available online]

Kiddush cup. 1987.106. [Digitized and available online]

From 1845.

Shabbat candleholder. 1997.543 [Digitized and available online]

Woman's apron worn on Shabbat. [Digitized and available online]

Creation date estimated 1914-1920

Woven Challah Cover. [Digitized and available online]

Red and white woven challah cover with Hebrew text in the center and the date "1838." Object is Part Of Frances Bacharach Collection, AR 4463

Blessing Shabbos Candles. 1970.014. [Digitized and available online]

Watercolor by Chaim Gross, 1960.

Carrying home cholent. 1991.238. [Digitized and available online]

1970s painting on canvas

Oneg Shabbos (Friday evening) in Plotsk. RG 1270 Alter Kacyzne Photographs.

Photograph of women wrapped in shawls sit or stand together in front of a building.

Remember the Shabbat and keep it holy. 1997.494. [Digitized and available online]

Paper & ink drawing.

Shabbat Blessing. 2016.017. [Digitized and available online]

On linen by Ina Rudman Golub.

A Sabbath evening on Sidewalk Street, when 'the public goes for a stroll'. 1920s-30s. RG 1270 Alter Kacyzne Photographs.

A Sabbath evening on Sidewalk Street, when 'the public goes for a stroll'. A sign on the left, reads 'Furs' in Polish.

Shabbat Shalom. 1994.502. [Digitized and available online]

On our spiritual journey: a creative Shabbat service / Women's Institute for Continuing Jewish Education. San Diego: s.n., 1984.

Guide to Shabbat / Irving Greenberg. New York : National Jewish Resource Center, 1981.

Lekha Dodi: Shabbat Stories and Songs of the Sephardim / Abraham Ben Haim.

The Seventh Day: revisiting Shabbat / Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York. ©2013.

Shabbat: Kort afhandling om vigtigheden af at helligholde shabbat / Kobenhavn: Kehot Publication Society, Den Skandinavisk Jodiske Hojskole i Kobenhavn.

Sidur lev shalem: le-Shabat ṿe-yom ṭov = Siddur lev shalem for Shabbat & festivals / New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2013.

[Tadrikh le-Shabat] a Shabbat manual. / New York: Published for the Central Conference of American Rabbis, by Ktav Pub. House, 1972.