Shabbat is sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday. It is a most important day for Jews all over the world because they all stop work and carry out the same rituals for the Shabbat which makes them feel all part of one huge family.
Before sunset on Friday the house is cleaned and special meals prepared.
They tidy up the house, the mum cooks the meals they vacuum the stairs and make it like a special person is coming. Everyone stops homework, piano practice, dad stops work and comes home early and at sunset they are ready to celebrate shabbat. James and Ben
The mum lights the candles, she covers her eyes and says a blessing. The candles are white. After the blessing they eat their meal. They have two candles, one to remember the shabbat and one to keep the shabbat. Natalie and Frances
They put a fresh white table cloth on the table to make it look like an altar.Andrew and Daniel
They have lots of delicious food, sweets, cakes, special bread and ice-cream, all to celebrate the Shabbat. They all have wine as part of the blessing. Tim and William
On the day of the Shabbat the father (or maybe grandfather) blesses the children. There are different prayers for if it is a boy or a girl.Karrie
On the Shabbat the family goes to the synagogue for a special service. The Rabbi reads a passage from the Torah scroll which is the scripture. It is in Hebrew so he reads it from right to left. If they were opened out the scroll is longer than a football pitch. The scrolls are beautifully decorated with velvet and gold. Anna and Jenni
Jews light the Havdalah candle which is a plaited candle with five wicks. It is a symbol to show the family all together for the festival. It has a special candle holder. It is not blown out until the end of the Shabbat because it marks the separation of the Shabbat from the other days, and is symbolic of the family splitting up to go back to work or school. Matthew and Lewis (with a little help).
At the end of Shabbat they pass round the Havdalah spice jar which has little holes in the lid. Every one breathes in the smell of spice and it stays in the body to remember the lessons of Shabbat for the whole week.
Also to mark the end of Shabbat they fill the havdalah wine cup, but it overflows into the saucer, again so that some of the wine carries the learning forward into the next week. Daniel and Richard
During the afternoon the Jewish family will visit friends and enjoy being together. Sometimes they might tell stories or sing songs. A favourite story is "The Shabbat Lion."
Joseph was going on a trip to Cairo in Egypt. His mother had paid a group of people to take him. They had promised to stop on Shabbat, but when it came to the Shabbat they said that they were too busy and needed to carry on. Joseph said that he was going to stop, so they carried on without him. He prayed and when he opened his eyes there was a lion there. The lion was good to Joseph and eventually Joseph realized that the lion was there to protect him. At the end of Shabbat the lion carried Joseph to the rest of the people. They were frightened and gave him all of his money back. Josh and Paul
During Shabbat Jews all over world wish each other Shabbat Shalom, Peace on the Sabbath. They visit friends, talk, sing and enjoy being together without working. They enjoy the gifts given to them by G*d.