Sabbath and Appointed Times
Sefer Zemanim, the Book of Seasons · commandments 87–121
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The Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, the festivals, the unleavened bread, the trumpet, the booths, the half-shekel, the new moon, and the cry to God in distress.
On this page: The Sabbath (87–91) · The Rest of the Tenth Day (92–95) · The Rest of the Festivals (96–107) · Leaven and Unleavened Bread (108–115) · The Trumpet, the Booth and the Branches (116–118) · The Half-Shekel (119) · The Sanctifying of the Month (120) · Days of Distress (121)
The Sabbath
Shabbat · 5 commandments
87. To rest on the seventh day. DO — Christ’s teaching: 13, 14
For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day there shall be rest, so that your ox and beast of burden may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:12
88. Not to do any work on the seventh day. DO NOT — Christ’s teaching: 13, 14, 15
“but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it—you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your beast of burden, any of your livestock, or the sojourner living among you.
Exodus 20:10
89. Not to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day, which the tradition applies to the court’s punishments. DO NOT
“You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. I am the Lord.”
Exodus 35:3
90. Not to go out from your place on the seventh day. DO NOT
“See, the Lord has given you this day, the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day He gave you bread for two days. Each of you shall stay in your houses; no one shall go out from his place on the seventh day.”
Exodus 16:29
91. To remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. DO — Christ’s teaching: 13
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:8
The Rest of the Tenth Day
Shevitat Asor · 4 commandments
92. To rest on the Day of Atonement. DO
It shall be a Sabbath of Sabbaths for you, and you shall humble yourselves. From the ninth day of the month, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.
Leviticus 23:32
93. Not to do any work on the Day of Atonement. DO NOT
You shall do no work on that very day, for this is a Day of Propitiation for you, to make propitiation for you before the Lord your God.
Leviticus 23:28
94. To afflict yourselves on the Day of Atonement. DO
This shall be a perpetual ordinance for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, humble yourselves and do no work, neither the native nor the newcomer attached to you.
Leviticus 16:29
95. Not to eat or drink on the Day of Atonement. DO NOT
Any person who does not humble himself on that very day shall be destroyed from his people.
Leviticus 23:29
The Rest of the Festivals
Shevitat Yom Tov · 12 commandments
96. To rest on the first day of Passover. DO
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work.
Leviticus 23:7
97. Not to do laborious work on the first day of Passover. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 23:7
98. To rest on the seventh day of Passover. DO
You shall bring whole burnt offerings to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall do no laborious work.
Leviticus 23:8
99. Not to do laborious work on the seventh day of Passover. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 23:8
100. To rest on the Feast of Weeks. DO
You shall proclaim this day a convocation; it shall be holy for you. You shall do no laborious work on it. This is a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations in every dwelling of yours.
Leviticus 23:21
101. Not to do laborious work on the Feast of Weeks. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 23:21
102. To rest on the first day of the seventh month. DO
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a rest, a memorial of trumpets; it shall be a holy convocation for you.
Leviticus 23:24
103. Not to do laborious work on the first day of the seventh month. DO NOT
You shall do no laborious work, and you shall bring a whole burnt offering to the Lord.
Leviticus 23:25
104. To rest on the first day of the Feast of Booths. DO
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work.
Leviticus 23:35
105. Not to do laborious work on the first day of the Feast of Booths. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 23:35
106. To rest on the eighth day of the Feast. DO
For seven days you shall bring whole burnt offerings to the Lord. The eighth day shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall bring whole burnt offerings to the Lord. It is a closing observance; you shall do no laborious work.
Leviticus 23:36
107. Not to do laborious work on the eighth day of the Feast. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 23:36
Leaven and Unleavened Bread
Chametz u-Matzah · 8 commandments
108. Not to eat leavened bread with the Passover. DO NOT
Do not eat leaven with it. For seven days eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction, because you came out of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
Deuteronomy 16:3
109. To remove leaven from your houses on the first day. DO
“You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. From the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leaven from the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be destroyed from among Israel.
Exodus 12:15
110. Not to eat leaven through the seven days. DO NOT
Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of here. No leaven shall be eaten.
Exodus 13:3
111. Not to eat anything leavened. DO NOT
“You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”
Exodus 12:20
112. No leaven is to be seen with you in all your territory. DO NOT
“You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. No leavened food shall be seen with you, and you shall have no leaven anywhere in your territory.
Exodus 13:7
113. No leaven is to be found in your houses. DO NOT
“For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be destroyed from among the congregation of Israel, whether a sojourner or a native of the land.
Exodus 12:19
114. To eat unleavened bread on the evening of the fourteenth day. DO
“Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, from evening until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you shall eat unleavened bread.
Exodus 12:18
115. To tell your son on that day what the Lord did when you came out of Egypt. DO
“On that day you shall tell your son, ‘It is because of this that the Lord God acted for me when I was coming out of Egypt.’
Exodus 13:8
The Trumpet, the Booth and the Branches
Shofar, Sukkah ve-Lulav · 3 commandments
116. To hear the trumpet blast on the first day of the seventh month. DO
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall hold a holy appointed assembly. You shall do no laborious work. It shall be a day of signaling for you.
Numbers 29:1
117. To dwell in booths seven days. DO
You shall dwell in tents for seven days. All the native-born in Israel shall dwell in tents,
Leviticus 23:42
118. To take the fruit and branches and rejoice before the Lord seven days. DO
On the first day you shall take beautiful tree fruit, palm fronds, densely leafed tree branches, willows, and branches of the chaste tree from a stream, to rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days
Leviticus 23:40
The Half-Shekel
Shekalim · 1 commandment
119. Each man is to give the half-shekel. DO — Christ’s teaching: 24
Everyone who passes into the census shall give half a didrachma, according to the holy didrachma, which is twenty obols. Half a didrachma shall be the contribution to the Lord.
Exodus 30:13
The Sanctifying of the Month
Kiddush HaChodesh · 1 commandment
120. To reckon the months, this month being the first. DO
“This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
Exodus 12:2
Days of Distress
Ta’aniyot · 1 commandment
121. To sound the trumpets and cry out before the Lord in time of trouble. DO
If you go out to war in your land against the opponents resisting you, give a signal with the trumpets. You shall be remembered before the Lord and delivered from your enemies.
Numbers 10:9
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Saints Translation · The Commandments · the traditional count of 613 after Maimonides; statements in our own words; verses quoted from the Saints Translation · working draft awaiting specialist review.