Weekly Sidra: Reeh (See)
Torah Portion: Devarim / Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
Maftir: Bamidbar / Numbers 28:9-15
Haftorah: Yeshayahu / Isaiah 66:1-66:24 (Shabbat Rosh Chodesh)

“For as the new heaven and the new earth Which I will make Shall endure by My will— declares HaShem — So shall your seed and your name endure. And new moon after new moon, And Sabbath after Sabbath, All flesh shall come to worship Me— said HaShem” — (Isaiah 66:22-23)

When I talk to people about the Sabbath I always hear the same argument.  We can worship God whatever day we want or we should worship God every day.  Well there is something we can all agree on!!  We should worship HaShem every day.  Jews actually pray three times per day and four times on Sabbath. 

I think most people do not understand what the Sabbath is all about.  The first mention of Shabbat is in Genesis  “The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. 2 On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done.”(Gen. 2:1-3)(Emphasis Mine)

If you read the beginning of Genesis 2, which is actually a continuation of chapter 1 in the original Hebrew, you get the proper meaning.  The issue is not one of worship, but of rest.  HaShem declared Shabbat to be holy because He ceased from working and He rested.  The fact is HaShem wants us to have a day of rest.

For most Jews Shabbat is a day not only to refrain from working at our jobs, but also to not cause anyone else to have to work.  It is a day to focus on HaShem and His Torah and to spend time with our family members.

People who use Sunday as the day of worship do not hold it with the same holiness as God wants us to have with the Sabbath.  I have seen folks go shopping or go out to eat after their day of worship.   I remember once, prior to my conversion that about ten guys went out to eat after church.  We each had coffee and wanted separate bills.  Afterwards, one fellow had the audacity to tell the waitress:”you should not be working on sunday”.  I was so embarrassed and ashamed.  Here we were supposed to be believers, but our testimony was flawed.   

Yeshua, our rabbi, also kept the Sabbath.  “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day” (Luke 4:6) (Mark 6:2)

Mark 2:7 states “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

HaShem created the Sabbath to be a day of rest for us.  He did not create us for the day of rest.  For those who still want to keep the sun-day as a day of worship think on what HaShem says:

“And new moon after new moon,
And Sabbath after Sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me
— said HaShem —

The End!!