In addition to prayer obligations (see Women: Minimal Prayer), women and girls 12 years old and up are required to keep these time-dependent positive commandments, among others:

• Candle-lighting for Chanuka (see Chanuka: Candles: Who Should Light )
• Candle-lighting for Shabbat, Jewish festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur.
• Havdala (say or hear) after Shabbat, Jewish festivals, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur.
• Kiddush (say or hear) on the first night (or first two nights outside Eretz Yisrael) of every Jewish festival, and also the next morning.
• Passover (all commandments, including eating matza at the Passover seder).
  Note Because she must eat matza, she must therefore say birkat ha'mazon afterward (so if a woman omits ya'ale v'yavo in birkat ha'mazon at the seder, she must repeat birkat ha'mazon!).
• Megila on Purim.
• Shabbat (For why women must keep time-dependent, positive commandments on Shabbat, see Introduction to Shabbat )
• Shofar on Rosh Hashana.
  Note Jewish women universally accepted upon themselves to hear shofar on Rosh Hashana, but they only need to hear 30 blasts.
• Hearing the reading of Parashat Zachor.

Owning a business that has any violations of Torah laws is forbidden.

Tachanun is related to judgment. Tachanun is NOT said at times of din/judgment:

• At night,
• On Tish'a B'Av,
• In a house of mourning, and
• Yom Kippur.

Tachanun is also NOT said at times of simcha/happiness:

• Shabbat,
• Jewish festivals,
• Rosh Hashana, and
• Rosh Chodesh.

• Isru chag (the day after each of the Jewish festivals),
• Entire month of Nisan.

• All of Chanuka, Purim, Shushan Purim, Tu B'Shvat, Rosh Chodesh, and from Rosh Chodesh Sivan until the day after Shavuot.
• Tishrei from shacharit before Yom Kippur until after Simchat Torah (Shmini Atzeret in Eretz Yisrael). Resume saying tachanun:
  • Second day of Cheshvan, or
  • Day after isru chag of Simchat Torah (this is the more prevalent custom among Ashkenazim). Each person should follow his or her family or community custom.

• Mohel,
• Sandak, or
• Father of a boy having his circumcision.

If you receive an aliya to the Torah on Shabbat and Jewish festival mornings, it is customary give a donation to the synagogue, but you are not required to do so by halacha (and you may not give the donation ON Shabbat!).

It is a non-binding custom to braid challa as a reminder of the 12 showbreads (lechem ha'panim) in the Temple that were changed each Shabbat. Proper practice is to braid each challa from six pieces of dough, as there were two columns of six loaves each.
Note Since these showbreads were not changed on Rosh Hashana and Jewish festivals, we may use round challot for those holidays (unless they fall on Shabbat or the holiday is Passover!).

The dead person benefits if his/her son or sons lead public prayer services, whether during shloshim or the entire year (11 or 12 months). However, if the mourner is uncomfortable leading the minyan or is not a good reader or will be embarrassed, he should not feel obligated to do so.

 

A mourner does not lead a minyan on:

• Shabbat;

• Jewish Festivals (including chol ha'moed);

• Purim;

• Rosh Chodesh.

Opinions differ concerning Chanuka, so follow your local custom.

You may separate challa after baking (on weekdays only) if you forgot to separate challa before baking.
Situation You forgot to separate challa from dough made of at least 2.5 lbs. (1 kg) of flour, it is now Shabbat or a Jewish festival.  You want to eat the bread.
WHAT TO DO

• If you are outside Eretz Yisrael:  You may leave part of the challa until after Shabbat or Jewish festivals.  After havdala, separate the challa from the part that you had set aside.
• If you are in Eretz Yisrael:  You may not use bread from which challa was not separated. Once Shabbat or the Jewish festival ends, you may separate challa and then eat the bread.

Begin saying L'David Adonai ori v'yish'i (Psalm 27) on the first day (at night) of Elul, not the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul (the 30th of Av). The last day to say this Psalm is 22nd of Tishrei (Shmini Atzeret). This Psalm is recited twice daily, in shacharit after shir shel yom and in ma'ariv after alenu, including on Shabbat and Jewish festivals.

It is a custom for fathers to cover their sons' heads with their talit while the priests/cohanim bless the congregation.

You must separate a small portion of dough for the cohanim/priests whenever you make bread, rolls, or pizza of the Five Grains in certain quantities. This separated portion is called “challa.”
Note Since there is no Temple at present, we burn the portion of dough.
The requirement to separate challa applies to dough baked at home or commercially (such as a pizza shop), whether for eating on weekdays or for Shabbat/Jewish festivals. For more details, see Challa.
 

You must tear four vertical inches at the neck of your shirt (and jacket, too, if you wear one) when seeing the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem for the first time in more than 30 days. You do not need to be close by; do kri'a even if you see the mosques that are on top of the Temple mount.

The minimum amount of prayer that women and girls 12 years old and up must say varies according to several opinions:

• Opinion that RMH approves of:
  • Birchot ha'shachar (from al netilat yadaim--to u'maflee la'asot)
  • Birchot haTorah (from la'asok b'divrei Torah--to notein haTorah)
  • Yevarechecha/Eilu divarim she'ein/Eilu divarim she'adam
  • Elohai neshama
  • Asher natan 'sechvi... gomel chasadim tovim l'amo Yisrael
  • Shema (first line of shema plus Baruch shem kevod malchuto l'olam va'ed)
  • If they choose to say the morning amida, they should precede it with emet, v'yatziv until ga'al yisrael.
• Ramban: Women should say at least the amida of shacharit and of mincha.
• Another opinion: Women must say some prayer every day (but it may be any type of prayer, not only the fixed prayer services).
• Another opinion: Women do not need to say the amida and emet v'yatziv on Shabbat and Jewish festivals (that is, whenever we are not asking for anything). 
• Women who have small children who require the mother's constant attention should not say any prayers except for birchot ha'shachar and birchot haTorah.

For more on women and the shema, see Women and Shema in Shacharit.

Shabbat was the goal of Creation. Just as God completed the world's creation on the sixth day and ceased His work on the seventh, so Jews are supposed to imitate God and not do any creative work on the seventh day. Everything we need for living through Shabbat must be prepared ahead so that we do not do any creative activities on Shabbat.
Our observance of Shabbat thus testifies that God created the world. In the Shabbat kiddush, we mention the Exodus from Egypt, too, to testify to the world that God is continuously involved in our lives.
By ceasing our normal efforts to dominate the physical world, we can appreciate the spiritual aspects of our existence.
On Shabbat, all observant (shomer Shabbat) Jews receive an extra “soul.”

Zachor and Shamor

Remember (Zachor) the Sabbath day to make it holy—Exodus/Shmot 20:8
Observe (Shamor) the Sabbath day to make it holy—Deuteronomy/Devarim 5:12
Shabbat has two dimensions:

• Zachor  “Remember,” encompassing positive (“to do”) commandments, and
• Shamor  “Observe,” encompassing negative (“refrain from”) commandments.

Zachor:  Positive Shabbat Commandments
What Are Positive Shabbat Commandments
Positive Shabbat commandments include:

• Lighting candles,
• Making kiddush evening and morning,
• Making havdala,
• Honoring Shabbat (Kivod Shabbat), and
• Enjoying Shabbat (Oneg Shabbat), including eating three meals on Shabbat.

Honoring Shabbat: Special Food and Clothes
Honoring Shabbat includes eating tasty food and wearing nice clothes.

Shamor: Negative Shabbat Commandments
Shabbat Laws from the Torah (Shabbat D'Oraita)
What Are Melachot
On the Jewish day of rest, we refrain from 39 creative activities (melachot) that had been used to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness. These 39 melachot, prohibited by the Torah, are listed in the mishna of Shabbat and in later halacha books.

The word melacha is frequently mistranslated as “work,” but work has nothing to do with the Jewish concept of melacha. Some melachot are physically strenuous (plowing, grinding wheat, skinning an animal) and some are easy to do (drawing, baking). The defining point is whether the activity is one of the 39 creative, value-adding labors. Emptying your pockets before leaving an eruv (so you are not “carrying”) may seem confusing to someone who thinks that resting on Shabbat means refraining only from hard physical labor!

What Are Toldot
Toldot are variations of the 39 melachot. These types of melacha are also prohibited by the Torah.

Intention and Other Considerations
Most Torah (d'oraita) prohibitions of melacha on Shabbat are for cases in which you:
            1) Intend a permanent change.
                Often, actions that may be forbidden when they cause permanent change, will
                be permissible by Torah law if the result is only temporary. Or
            2) Intend or act for a specific purpose.
                Random or unintended actions are generally not prohibited by Torah law.
                (However, actions that are not prohibited by the Torah, may be prohibited
                by Chazal.)

Whether you may benefit from a melacha done on Shabbat depends on intention:

• A Jew who intentionally does a melacha on Shabbat may never benefit from that melacha.

            Note Any other Jew may benefit from that melacha as soon as Shabbat is over.

• A Jew who does melacha on Shabbat by mistake (shogeg) may benefit from that melacha immediately after Shabbat ends.

In order to violate a prohibited melacha d'oraita, the melacha must be done as follows. If any of these do not apply, then the melacha is forbidden d'rabanan but not d'oraita:

• K'darko--The action must be done in a normal way.
• Tzorech tikun—The action must be done for a constructive purpose.
• Tzricha l'gufa--You must need the normal result of that action.
• Asiya b'yachid—The action must be done by one individual (if commonly done by just one person).
• Mit'aseik--You must realize that you are doing a melacha.

 
Shabbat Laws from Chazal (Shabbat D'Rabanan)
Chazal instituted additional restrictions, such as:

• Activities that might lead directly to violating a Torah prohibition.
• Use of items not designated for Shabbat use (muktza). For a good explanation of muktza from the TorahTots website, please click here.
• Activities that might lead one to think that a prohibited activity is permissible (mar'it ayin--the appearance of the eye).
• Activities that are not appropriate for Shabbat, even though they are technically permissible according to the Torah (“uvda d'chol”).
• Tircha--Exerting a physical effort to accomplish a result that is not required for Shabbat.

Enjoying Shabbat/Oneg Shabbat
Chazal instituted laws to engender a positive Shabbat atmosphere and experience.  Beyond the actual halachot of shamor and zachor, we have a concept of enjoying Shabbat (oneg Shabbat)—of enhancing our experience of Shabbat by doing whatever each person finds to be enjoyable and relaxing--as long as it is neither destructive nor violates the laws of Shabbat. The criteria are subjective. To fulfill the idea of honoring Shabbat, do things you would not do just for yourself if it were not Shabbat. Take essential life activities such as eating and sleeping and do them more and better and make them especially enjoyable.

Meals as Oneg
On Shabbat, we eat better foods and more types of food than we would normally do on weekdays.
The main idea behind meals for Shabbat is enjoyment (oneg; by contrast, the main idea for Jewish festivals is joy--simcha), so on Shabbat you should eat bread and either fish, poultry, or meat (but only if you enjoy them).
In order to have a special appetite for our Shabbat evening meal, we don't eat a full meal with bread on Friday afternoon.

Special Shabbat Songs (Zmirot)
Special songs (zmirot) are sung at the various Shabbat meals. Some zmirot have an aspect of prayer to them.

Studying Torah
Studying Torah on Shabbat is another way of increasing our spiritual experience. It honors the Shabbat and should bring about enjoyment of Shabbat.

Shabbat and Muktza
For information on Shabbat and muktza, see section below, Shabbat: Muktza.

Weekday Talk
Don't talk about subjects that are forbidden to do on Shabbat (weekday subjects); for example, don't talk about what you will do after Shabbat is over. There is no prohibition about discussing actions from the past as long as no planning is discussed.

Introduction to Missed Amida/Tashlumim
If you accidentally miss any amida, you may make up for it (tashlumin)--unless you intentionally missed it.

Amida: Errors: Missed Amida/Tashlumin: Regular Days
Missed Ma'ariv Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for ma'ariv:

• Say the normal shacharit amida the next morning with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.
• When the leader begins his repetition of the amida, say the amida along with him, word for word, including kedusha.
• After saying ha'el ha'kadosh, finish your amida at your own pace.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei and then repeat the shacharit amida.

Missed Shacharit Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for shacharit:

• Say the normal mincha amida with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.

• When the leader begins his repetition of the amida, say the amida along with him, word for word, including kedusha.
• After saying ha'el ha'kadosh, finish your amida at your own pace.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei and then say the mincha amida a second time.

Missed Mincha Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for mincha:

• Say the normal ma'ariv amida with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.
• Say the ma'ariv amida a second time. Skip modim.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei a second time and repeat the ma'ariv amida.

Note At the next prayer service, say whatever is the correct amida for that later prayer service, even if it is not the same amida that you missed.
If you miss mincha on Friday, say the ma'ariv service for Shabbat and repeat that amida again.
Note Once the time for the next amida has passed, you may not make up the missed amida.
Example
If you missed mincha on Thursday, you may only say tashlumin for mincha as long as you may still say ma'ariv, which is daybreak of Friday morning.

Amida: Errors: Missed Amida/Tashlumin: Shabbat/Jewish Festivals
Even if you forgot to say a prayer service on Shabbat and Jewish festivals, say the next prayer service amida and repeat THAT amida to make up (tashlumin) for the one you missed--even if it is no longer Shabbat or the Jewish festival.
Exception
There is no tashlumin for musaf. However, you may say musaf until sunset, even if you already said mincha.
Note If the time for mincha has arrived (½ hour after halachic midday), you must say mincha before saying musaf (but if you could join a mincha minyan later, you may say musaf now).
Situation
You miss Shabbat mincha.
What to Do
Say ata chonantanu in ma'ariv, but only for the first time you say the amida, not the second time (which is tashlumin).
Situation
You forget to say ma'ariv on Saturday night.
What to Do
Say ata chonantanu on Sunday morning in the second amida (which is tashlumin).

If Doubt about Whether You Said Amida
If you are not certain whether you said an amida:

• On a weekday, assume that you did not say the amida and say it anyway.  Intend that:
  • If you forgot the previous amida, this makes up for it, and
  • If you did say the previous amida, the second one is a nedava (free-will “offering”).
• On Shabbat and Jewish festivals, do not say the amida twice as tashlumin.

            Reason You may not say a voluntary prayer service (nedava) on these days.
Men who intentionally delayed saying shacharit past the fourth halachic hour of the day still say that amida until midday but if they did not say it by midday, they may not say tashlumin. See Minyan: Keeping Pace: Shacharit Minyan.

Three Shabbat Meals
We are required to eat three Shabbat meals, as a rabbinic (d'rabanan) enactment to enjoy Shabbat (oneg Shabbat). The first Shabbat meal must be at night and the remaining two must be during the day (the third meal must be eaten after halachic midday). Friday night dinner and the first meal on Saturday are preceded by kiddush. For the first two Shabbat meals, say ha'motzi over two complete loaves of bread, each of which is at least 1.3 fl. oz. in volume. For the third meal, the ideal is to use two complete loaves of bread, but the requirement of eating the third meal can also be fulfilled by eating any food other than salt or water.

Source of Saying Shabbat Kiddush

• Saying kiddush on Shabbat night is a commandment from the Torah (d'oraita).
• Saying kiddush on Saturday morning is a rabbinical (d'rabanan) enactment.

Note If you did not say Friday night kiddush, you must say that version of kiddush on Shabbat morning and it is then a requirement from the Torah (d'oraita). Do not begin with va'yechulu; instead, begin with borei pri ha'gafen and say the second blessing of kiddush.

Source of Kiddush Location
Saying kiddush at the place where you will eat your meal is a rabbinical (d'rabanan) enactment.

Shabbat Kiddush-Meal Quantities: Evening

• For evening kiddush, a minimum of 4 fl. oz. (119 ml) of wine must be blessed on and at least half must be drunk.
• For the evening meal, as on Shabbat lunch and all required Jewish festival meals, a minimum of 1.9 fl. oz. of bread must be eaten within four minutes.

Shabbat Kiddush-Meal Quantities: First Meal on Saturday
Shabbat day first meal has two separate eating requirements.  They may be combined (say/hear kiddush and start the main meal right away) but are often done separately (say/hear kiddush and then eat some mezonot; the main meal is eaten later in the day).
Note Since eating and drinking requirements on all morning kiddushes (both Shabbat and Jewish festivals) are d'rabanan, the required beverage amount for morning kiddush is only 3.3 fl. oz. (99 ml) instead of the d'oraita 4 fl. oz. (119 ml), which is required for kiddushes for Shabbat evening.
1) Morning kiddush requires a halachically legal “meal” with these elements:
      a) Blessing on a minimum of 3.3 fl. oz. (99 ml) of wine (or other beverage),
      b) Someone's drinking at least 2 fl. oz. of the beverage, followed by
      c) Eating at least 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) of some type of mezonot (or bread) within four minutes.
Note If you drink at least 3.3 fl. oz. (99 ml) of wine within 30 seconds, you do not need to eat mezonot.
Note You do not need to drink the wine or other kiddush beverage to fulfill “establishing a meal.” You may hear kiddush and then simply eat the required amount of bread or mezonot. This applies to Shabbat or Jewish festivals, evening or morning.
The kiddush “meal” does not have to satiate.
Note If you have not fulfilled the requirements for kiddush, you may not eat other foods, such as fruit or fish at a kiddush.

2) The real meal (kovei'a se'uda) of Shabbat lunch requires eating at least 1.9 fl. oz. (56 ml) of bread (or matza during Passover!) within four minutes. It should include enough food to satiate.
Note You can simultaneously fulfill the requirement to “establish a meal” and to “eat a meal” by eating one (the same) piece of bread.
For details on fulfilling the first two meals' requirements, see Shabbat: Kiddush.

Shabbat: Eating a Meal Requirement: Third Meal
For details on fulfilling the third meal's requirements, see Shabbat: Third Meal (Se'uda Shlishit).