The Sabbath-A Study On It’s History And Function

Ahad Ha-am once said:"More than the Jews kept the Sabbath,the Sabbath kept them." In Jewish tradition, Sabbath is an important symbol of Judaism. it is closely related with the concept of "the Chosen People". Since the people of Israel entered into a covenant with God, Sabbath has become a symbol of the covenant. As the chosen people, the Jewish people was not only blesses by God, but also supposed to observe the Mosaic Law, as interpreted in the Talmud, and face more challenges. Sabbath is a gift which God gave to Jewish People. Jewish People can have rest in that day, get close to the Lord. There are many viewpoints on the origin of Sabbath, Etymology, Astrology, Anthropology, etc. But as we all know,one religious phenomenon always has complicated elements which affect it’s origin.Exploring the origin just in one particular point is inadequate.For the Judaism,Sabbath is sacred holiday. The Jewish people follow the example of God, work in six days, and rest in Sabbath day. They keeping Sabbath also to commemorate the Exodus. On the Sabbath day, they can foretaste the happiness of the Messianic age. Sabbath can also consolidate their belief of God, sanctify their life. On the historical measures, Sabbath makes people stand firm in the faith of "the Chosen People ". Sabbath also helped Jewish people through the hard times, preserved the Judaism.For the Jews,Sabbath is their traditional holiday, can keep Jewish families harmony, strengthen the communication of the whole community, unite the whole Jewish people. For the Jewsh individual, family, community and the whole Jewsh people,Sabbath is an unique,sacred day. Keeping Sabbath strictly is the precondition of keeping Jewish life style and institutions.Sabbath is a garden in which Jewish people get close to God, learn the truth of human and society, in which they acquire the theological basis of keeping Sabbath day, and only in which can they turn them into excellent people in the kingdom of God. For the secular Jews,Sabbath is their traditional holiday, although in which many secular details have formed, as a holiday on the general sense, Sabbath is irreplaceable.Sabbath is not only the way that Jewish people seeking for truth and ideal, but an important contribution to the whole world.Sabbath and the Lord’s day have closed bond with each other, this is an important influence to the world. In ancient times, Sabbath showed basic concern over human beings, that is giving every person the right to rest.What more valuable is, the concern last fore thousands years,eventually become a spirit of Judaism. In mdern times,people have a industrialized and informationalized life. But we modern people feel more and more stressed. Sabbath makes modern people review the meaning and value of modern work. After enthusiastic persuing of modern life style, we begin think about what the real meaning and true value are in our life. We begin to slower our step for wealth, pay more attention to the quality of our life. At the same time, Sabbath is a way to respect and protect human rights, it enlightened and modeled the idea of "protect human right".