Havdalah Ceremony
At the end of the Shabbat
day, when three stars appear, it is time for the brief ceremony of Havdalah
(literally, separation or distinction), at which time we take leave of Shabbat.
Our rabbis teach that on Shabbat, we are given an extra soul. At Havdalah
we relinquish that extra soul but hope that the sweetness and holiness of the
day will remain with us during the week. The service can take place in the
home, in synagogue or in a group. Havdalah is a beautiful, brief
ceremony that uses three elements to mark the moment we sadly say goodbye to
the beauty of Shabbat, and pledge to carry its gifts into the week to
come.
We drink from a cup of wine,
which symbolizes the joy we experienced on Shabbat. We take one last sip
of the joy of Shabbat as we bid Shabbat goodbye for another week.
We pass a spice box (full of cinnamon or another sweet-smelling spice), which
symbolizes the lingering scent of the sweetness of Shabbat, whose
pleasant aroma we breathe in one last time that it might last us through the
week to come until we can welcome Shabbat again. We light a multi-wicked candle, which
symbolizes how our busy separate selves come together on Shabbat. The
lighted candle also symbolizes the light of Shabbat and the strands of
the braid have been interpreted as the many types of Jews in the world, all of
whom are part of one unified people. The
light, the wine, and spices all come together to help us carry Shabbat with us
through the week until the next Shabbat. We extinguish the candle
into the wine to conclude the ceremony, as a final moment of “goodbye” to Shabbat. With
the singing of Shavua Tov and Eliyahu
haNavi we wish each other a “good week” to come and long for a day
when Shabbat won’t need to end at all!
These
blessings talk about distinctions between the holy and the everyday, between
light and darkness, and between the seventh day of rest and the six days of
work. Shabbat is a taste of
perfection, but our work in the world is needed to bring it about.
In Judaism, the concept of
making distinctions and separations permeates many facets of religious life.
There are distinctions between holy time and ordinary time; certain books are
holy and distinguished from books which are mundane; holy spaces are also
treated with particular reverence. The Torah teaches that G-d created the world
by making distinctions - first between light and darkness, next between water
and empty space, finally between earth and water. To mark the beginning of Shabbat,
the sacred time, Jews light two candles and recite a berachah (blessing)
which praises G-d who commanded to kindle lights in celebration of the
occasion. We mark the end of Shabbat with Havdalah.
The Havdalah
(“Separation”) ceremony is a multi-sensory ritual employing our faculties
of speech and hearing, sight, smell and taste to define the boundaries that G-d set in creation “between the sacred and the
everyday.” This act of separation is what connects Shabbat with the rest
of the week. When the boundaries between the holy and the ordinary are blurred,
the holy is no longer holy and the ordinary is left with nothing to uplift it.
By defining the separation of Shabbat from the workday week, the relationship
between the two is also established - a relationship in which Shabbat
imparts its vision to the rest of the week and the six days of daily life feed
into the sanctity of Shabbat.
Take a moment before Havdalah
to search for something special that you want to carry with you into the
week. Remember it and reflect on it when
things don’t go according to plan.
Shabbat Shalom!
Sabbath Peace
Shavua Tov!
A good week
Rabbi Stuart A. Paris,
HaKohen
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