| Author | Message | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 208 Registered: 3-2014  |
Hi All, I sent an email out to a few Jewish rabbis, in an effort to further clarify some things about the Sabbath. I will post the questions here, and the answers I got from rabbis that were gracious enough to give me some of their time. For those who know Adventist teaching about the Sabbath, you will see that the Jewish understanding of the Sabbath contradicts the teachings of Ellen White on this subject. Jewish teaching also highlights the errors of Seventh-day Adventist theology and their misunderstandings of history. The questions in my email were as follows: "Shalom, I have a few questions about Shabbat, your answers would be appreciated. 1. Would you consider the commandment in the Decalogue to observe Shabbat to be a moral/ethical command, or a ritual/ceremonial command? 2. Is Shabbat a universal requirement (for Jews and non-Jews)? 3. Would Shabbat have been observed by Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Noah? Thank you for your time." | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 209 Registered: 3-2014 |
"In the world of mitzvot [commandments], the traditional understanding is that they are just all together, it doesn't matter if it is civil, ethical or ritual. However, to answer your question, I would consider it a ritual mitzvah [command]. Shabbat, like all the other mitzvot, is only incumbent upon Jews. Historically, there was no need for anyone to observe Shabbat until the laws were given at Sinai. There are some who claim that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob observed the mitzvot even before Sinai, but not everyone ascribes to that belief. Personally, I am not aware of any tradition that would have biblical characters prior to Abraham observing the mitzvot." - Rabbi Randall Mark, Shomrei Torah - Wayne Conservative Congregation, NJ, reproduced with permission. | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 210 Registered: 3-2014 |
Question: Would Shabbat have been observed by Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Noah? Answer: "I am not aware that they did!" -Rabbi Yosef Sanders | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 211 Registered: 3-2014 |
Question: Would Shabbat have been observed by Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Noah? Answer: "The Shabbat laws were given historically later than the stories of the first chapters of Genesis; so the answer is no." -Rabbi Jonathan Maltzman | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 212 Registered: 3-2014 |
Shabbat is a ceremonial/ritualistic command. While it definitely has many major moral benefits to having an "island in time" for G-d and your family, the day dedicated to that, and the commemoration of G-d resting in creation is one that is not done because of its benefits, but because of a command from G-d. It falls under the category of mitzvot called "edut"- testimonies. Those are mitzvot that one would not think to do on your own, but make sense once commanded. So, they are only for those that were commanded, namely the Jews. In fact, Shabbat is unique among many other commands in that it is presented as a uniquely Jewish ceremony: "The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time. It shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:17) So, Adam probably kept that first Shabbat, as G-d did that first week, but it is not a ceremony that was kept by all people. The commands that are for the entire world are called the Noahide Laws, and you can read up more about them at https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/62221/jewish/The-7-Noahide-Laws-Universal-Morality.htm and https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1313/jewish/Discovery-of-Planet-Earth.htm. -Rabbi Mendel Adelman, Chabad.org | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3561 Registered: 7-2007 |
Good point. Also, the fact that Adam and Eve were not commanded to keep it; that in fact it wasn't given until God gave manna to Israel in Exodus 16, shows it wasn't given to anyone before Israel.  | ||
| Leifl Registered user Username: Leifl Post Number: 213 Registered: 3-2014 |
"The commandment of Shabbat in the Ten Commandments is a religious obligation. Two reasons are given in the Torah for Shabbat: to remain continuously aware of the creation of the world, wherein God ceased working on the seventh day, or alternatively to remain continuously aware of the fact that we were redeemed from slavery. (There is a more social element of allowing one’s slave to rest, although the Torah writes that this is in order to remain aware of our past as slaves). Shabbat is a commandment explicitly for Jews, not non-Jews, and indeed, our Sages instructed that non-Jews should not observe Shabbat. Shabbat wasn’t practiced amongst the aforementioned people [Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah], since they weren’t part of Israel. Indeed, with regards to Noah, the Torah writes “Day and night they shall not rest” (Genesis 8, 22). From here our Sages of blessed memory learnt that non-Jews should not observe Shabbat." - Eretz Hemdah, Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem | ||
| Randiehm Registered user Username: Randiehm Post Number: 12 Registered: 6-2018 |
wow thanks for sharing that Leifl. That was so good to read from a Jewish perspective. | ||
| Terryohare Registered user Username: Terryohare Post Number: 38 Registered: 2-2012  |
Leif, What a great first-hand research project to accomplish! There are a few minor differences between your responders, but the consensus is that the Sabbath is a ritual command for the Jewish people. The CONTEXT for the Sabbath command is specific to the experiences of the Jewish people at the birth of their nation. It cannot logically be extended to the nations from which God delivered the Israelites. It is a sign between God and Israel. One rabbi mused that Adam “probably” observed it along with God, but confirmed that it was unknown to the generations of the faithful saints prior to the exodus. Biblical scholar Samuel Meier stated “The failure of Genesis 2 to identify the seventh day of creation as the Sabbath is curious and deserves further attention.” He states that all the days of creation are referenced only by the sequential number by which they occur. Given the poetic freedom to choose a different name (if indeed it had a different name) it is “an unusual oversight to neglect the fact that the seventh day has a name.” He continues, “The many opportunities for the writer to identify the seventh day of creation as a Sabbath rest are not exploited.” [“The Sabbath and Purification Cycles,” 1-11, The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions Ed. Tamara Eskenazi, Daniel Harrington, William Shea; Crossroad, 1991; p. 5] It is my position that it is inaccurate to refer to the seventh day of creation as a “Sabbath” of God. Therefore, the Sabbath commandment is not a “creation ordinance.” |
