Sabbath
The term derives from the Hebrew shabbat (שבת), "to cease", which was first used in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation. Observation and remembrance of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (the fourth in the original Jewish, the Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions, the third in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions).
The term has been used to describe a similar weekly observance in any of several other faiths; the new moon; any of seven annual festivals in Judaism and some Christian traditions; any of eight annual festivals in Wicca (usually "sabbat"); and a year of rest in religious or secular usage, originally every seventh year.
Jewish tradition
The Jewish weekly Sabbath and High Sabbaths are also observed by a minority of Christians.
Weekly Sabbath
For more details on this topic, see Shabbat.
The original Sabbath, which actually means Saturday (shabbat, shabbos, shabbes, shobos, etc.) is a weekly day of rest for everyone, now observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. Most Sabbath-keepers regard this seventh-day Sabbath to have been instituted as a "perpetual covenant the people" (Exodus 31:13-17), a sign in respect for the day during which God rested after having completed the Creation in six days (Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11); Isaiah extends the term to include even corrupted rest-day traditions (1:13).
(Some prominent rabbis believe the Sabbath was originally kept according to the four phases of the moon, every seven or eight days.) Sabbath desecration was officially punishable by death (Exodus 31:15); thirty-nine prohibited categories of work are listed in Tractate Shabbat (Talmud). Customarily, Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles shortly before sunset, at halakhically calculated times that change from week to week and from place to place.
(In a distinct minority, some European Reform Jews have moved Sabbath observances to Sunday.)
Sabbath as week
For more details on this topic, see Week.
By synecdoche (naming a part for the whole), the term "Sabbath" also came to mean simply "week" in Jewish sources by the time of the Septuagint. Jesus's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican describes the Pharisee as fasting "twice a week" (dis tou sabbatou), literally, "twice of the Sabbath".
Annual Sabbaths
For more details on this topic, see High Sabbaths.
Seven annual Biblical festivals, called by the name shabbaton in Hebrew and "High Sabbath" in English, serve as supplemental testimonies to the plan of the weekly Sabbath.
These are recorded in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy and do not necessarily occur on the weekly Sabbath. They include the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread or Passover (Pesach); Pentecost (Shavuot); Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah); Atonement (Yom Kippur, the "Sabbath of the Sabbaths"); and the first and eighth days of Tabernacles (Sukkoth).
For more details on this topic, see Shabbaton.
The modern Hebrew term shabbaton or shaboson also means a retreat or program for education, and usually celebration, that is held on a weekly Jewish Sabbath or over a weekend with special focus on the Sabbath.
Seventh-year Sabbath
For more details on this topic, see Shmita.
The year of Shmita (Hebrew: שמיטה, literally "release"), also called the Sabbatical Year, is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel.
During Shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity—including plowing, planting, pruning, and harvesting—is forbidden by Torah law. Other cultivation techniques—such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming, and mowing—may be performed as preventative measures only, not to improve the growth of trees or plants.
Additionally, any fruits which grow of their own accord are deemed ownerless and may be picked by anyone. A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption and disposal of Shmita produce.
A second aspect of Shmita concerns debts and loans: when the year ends, personal debts are considered nullified and forgiven. In similar fashion, the Torah required a slave who had worked for six years to go free in the seventh year.
Christian tradition
In Christianity, both those who observe the seventh day as Sabbath and those who observe the first day as Sabbath lay claim to the names "Sabbatarian" for themselves and "Lord's Day" for the Sabbath, each group believing its position to be taught by the Bible; similarly for others who hold to a strong Sabbath principle.
First-day Sabbath
For more details on this topic, see Sabbath in Christianity.
In the majority of Christendom (Roman Catholicism and much Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism), "Sabbath" is a synonym of "Lord's Day" (Sunday), which is kept in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ.
It is often the day of rest, and usually the day of communal worship. The Lord's Day is considered both the first day and the "eighth day" of the seven-day week (or, in some calendars, Sunday is designated the seventh day of the week).
Relatively few Christians regard first-day observance as entailing all of the ordinances of the Jewish Sabbath. The related Latter Day Saint movement generally follows the stronger Christian Sabbatarian traditions, avoiding shopping, leisure activities, and idleness on the first day, and avoiding work unless absolutely necessary.
Sometimes the Lord's Day is observed by those who believe the Sabbath corresponds to Saturday but is obsolete; and in Oriental Orthodoxy, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has observed both a Sunday Lord's Day and a Saturday Sabbath for several centuries. As another minority view, some modern Christians uphold a Sabbath but do not limit its observance to either Saturday or Sunday, instead advocating rest on any chosen day of the week, or advocating the Sabbath as instead a symbolic metaphor for rest in Christ.
Seventh-day Sabbath
For more details on this topic, see Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism.
In several Christian denominations, the Sabbath is kept in similar manner as in Judaism, but observance ends at Saturday sunset instead of Saturday nightfall.
They and others believe that keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is a moral obligation arising out of the Ten Commandments that honors God as Creator and Deliverer. Adventists originally formally identified the problem of defining Sabbath worldwide on a round earth; some seventh-day Sabbatarians make use of the International Date Line, while others (such as some Alaskan Adventists) observe Sabbath according to Jerusalem time instead of local time.
It occurs every seven or eight days, in accordance with the four phases of the moon. On this day, disciples and monks intensify their practice, deepen their knowledge, and express communal commitment through millennia-old acts of lay-monastic reciprocity.
Islam
For more details on this topic, see Jumu'ah.
Jumu'ah (Arabic: جمعة ), also known as "Friday prayer", is a congregational prayer (salat) that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon, in place of the otherwise daily dhuhr prayer.
It is an obligation for men (and is recommended for women) to perform jumu'ah in congregation (jama'ah) at a mosque (or else to pray a regular dhuhr prayer).
Unification Church
For more details on this topic, see Ahn Shi Il.
The Unification Church has a regular day of worship on Sunday, but also has a Family Pledge service every eight days on the day of Ahn Shi Il, considered as a Sabbath that cycles among the weekdays. "Esbat" and "sabbat" are distinct and are probably not cognate terms.
For more details on this topic, see Witches' Sabbath.
European records from the Middle Ages to the 17th century or later also place Witches' Sabbaths on similar dates to the sabbats in modern Wicca, but with some disagreement; medieval reports of sabbat activity are generally not firsthand and may be imaginative, but many persons were accused of, or tried for, taking part in sabbats.
Secular
For more details on this topic, see Sabbatical.
From the Biblical Sabbatical Year came the modern concept of a sabbatical, a prolonged, often one-year, hiatus in the career of an individual.
Such a period is often taken in order to fulfill some goal such as writing a book or traveling extensively for research. Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, or academics offer a paid sabbatical as an employee benefit, called "sabbatical leave"; some companies offer an unpaid sabbatical for people wanting to take career breaks.
For more details on this topic, see Saturday.
Another secularism is the colloquial use of "Sabbath" as a simple synonym of "Saturday", which is a simplification of its use in religious contexts, where the two do not coincide.
For more details on this topic, see Blue law.
Secular use of "Sabbath" for "Sunday", by contrast, while it refers to the same period of time as the majority Christian use of "Sabbath", is often stated to refer to different purposes for the rest day.
(1986), found some blue laws invalid for having no legitimate secular purpose, but others valid because they had no religious purpose.
For more details on this topic, see Calendar reform.
Among many calendar reform proposals that eliminate the constant seven-day week in exchange for simplified calculation of days of the week and other calendrical data, some retain Sabbatical influences. The International Fixed Calendar and World Calendar both consist of 364-day years containing exactly 52 weeks (each starting on a day designated as Sunday), with an additional one or two intercalary days not designated as part of any week (Year Day and Leap Day in the International Fixed Calendar; Worldsday and Leapyear Day in the World Calendar).