WHAT IS ALLOWED TO DO DURING THE
SHABBAT?
During the Shabbat it is not allowed to light fire (Exodus 35:3).
Therefore, if you will need fire during the Shabbat, you must light the fire
before the beginning of the Shabbat .
Some people say that for this reason is not allowed to turn on the light
or to call the elevator during the Shabbat, because when we move the switch a
sparkle is produced.
However, the sparkle is not fire, because the fire is only produced if
the sparkle enter in contact with fuel, so that when somebody turns on an
electric lamp or calls the elevator, he is not lighting fire.
Therefore, it is licit to turn on electric lamp and to call the elevator
during the Shabbat.
During the Shabbat it is not allowed to do any work (Exodus 20:10).
The work that we must not do in the Shabbat is the economic activity,
because the verse Exodus 23:12 shows that the objective of the Shabbat is to
give rest to the servants and to the employees and to the traction animals and
to the pack animals, and the verses Numbers 28:9-10 show that God commanded
that during the Shabbat the priests, in
the Temple, offer him holocausts and offerings, what shows that certain activities,
that are not economic activities, must not be interrupted because of the
Shabbat .
Therefore, the owners of stores or of factories or of businesses in
general must not open their shops in the seventh day of the week, that is the
Shabbat, from the sunset of Friday until the sunset of Saturday.
In the same way, the owners of farms or of mines must give rest to all
their employees during the Shabbat .
And at home, during the Shabbat, we must not make any work of domestic
administration, as, for instance, to do purchases, or to cook, or to do
cleaning in the house, or to do reforms or repairs in the house.
However, if an emergency happens, a problem that needs to be solved
immediately, we can solve this problem during the Shabbat. For instance: if
during a meal somebody collide with a glass and spill drink in the table, it is
allowed to immediately clean the place that became dirty, it is not necessary
to spend all the rest of the Shabbat
with that dirt on the table, because that is different from doing the
cleaning in the house, that is just to solve an emergency.
During the Shabbat it is allowed
to heat the food that is already ready, because this is not to cook.
It is also allowed to do during the Shabbat what is necessary to save
the life of a person, or to cure a sick person.
Therefore, it is necessary that there are some doctors and nurses and
drugstores on duty during the Shabbat .
And there are certain essential public services that also have to
function during the Shabbat, because they cannot be interrupted, as, for
instance, the service of electric power supply, because without electric power
the hospitals cannot work.
During the Shabbat it is allowed
to hear music, to watch television or to hear radio and to read web pages in
the internet, because this is not work, because it is not economic activity.
But the owner of the television or radio broadcasting station only can
broadcast during the Shabbat programs recorded before the beginning of the
Shabbat, and must start the reproduction and
the
broadcasting before the beginning of the Shabbat.
For the same reason, it is allowed the spouses to have sexual relations
during the Shabbat, and it is allowed to take bath during the Shabbat.
During the Shabbat it is allowed
to go to the synagogue, to read the Bible,
to pray, and to play and sing praise songs to God, because this is not economic
activity, and God commanded, in Numbers 28:9-10, that the acts of service to
Him be not interrupted because of the Shabbat.
Summarizing: it is allowed to do during the Shabbat all that is not
economical activity and that is not to light fire, and all that needs to be
done to solve emergency situations or to save people's lives or to cure sick
persons, and everything that is act of worship to God.
Yahveh bless you.
Joćo Paulo Fernandes Pontes.
Published in February 25, 2009.
Updated in October 18, 2015.
IN ENGLISH EM PORTUGUŹS בעיברית