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Everyone Must Drink at Seder
At the Passover seder, all Jews above the age of bar mitzva or bat mitzva (including women--unlike on other Jewish festivals) must drink wine for kiddush and for the other three times in the seder when the borei pri ha'gafen blessing is said.
Note On the other Jewish festivals, only one person needs to drink the wine when kiddush is said, and that will cover and fulfill everyone else's requirement for that kiddush.
Note Only children and people who will get sick if they drink alcohol are permitted to drink grape juice at seder.
How To Fulfill Eating Jewish Festival Second Meal
You must eat a second meal on Jewish festival (or Shabbat) day with 1.9 fl. oz., or 56 ml, of bread--even if you already said ha'motzi and ate bread at kiddush.
Note There is no essential time limit for eating the second meal, but it must be before you get distracted (hesech da'at). Otherwise, you must hear kiddush again and drink wine (or grape juice) or eat bread/mezonot before eating anything.
Returning Lost Objects (Hashavat Aveida)
You are required to return a lost object (hashavat aveida) to its Jewish owner if you can. This is a Torah commandment.
Note It is saintly behavior to return lost objects to non-Jews, too, if it will be a kiddush Hashem.
Note You should tell a person if his or her cigarettes fall out of a pocket, even though the cigarettes are dangerous to the smoker's health.
How To Fulfill Eating Shabbat Second Meal
You must eat a second meal on Shabbat (or Jewish festival) day with at least 1.9 fl. oz. (56 ml, 1/4 cup) of bread--even if you already said ha'motzi but ate less than 1.9 fl. oz. of bread at kiddush.  
Note Ideally, begin your second meal before halachic midday. But you may eat your second meal anytime after shacharit and before sunset.
Sukkot: When To Say Leisheiv BaSukka
When you sit down in a sukka, only say the blessing leisheiv ba'sukka:
  • If you are going to eat at least 1.9 fl. oz. (56 ml, or about 1/4 - 1/5 cup) of bread or mezonot within four minutes, OR
  • Immediately after saying kiddush and before drinking the wine in anticipation of eating mezonot or bread, OR
  • Before eating any food or beverage (except salt or water) when visiting any other person in his/her sukka.
Women: Exemption from Time-Dependent Positive Commandments
Women and girls are generally exempt from time-dependent positive commandments (mitzvot), but they may perform these voluntary mitzvot and if they do, they do say the relevant blessings:
  • Lulav
  • Sukka
  • Saying the full shema.
Women and girls may NOT do these time-dependent positive commandments (mitzvot):
  • Kiddush levana
  • Tefilin
  • Tzitzit.
Sukka: Blessings: When To Say
Do not say the blessing leisheiv ba'sukka except when you will eat bread or mezonot. Even drinking wine is not an exception, so do not say leisheiv ba'sukka even for havdala (unless you will also eat mezonot at the same time).
Note We do say leisheiv ba'sukka at kiddush, but that is in anticipation of eating bread at the meal to follow.
Eating before Shabbat Midday
Don't fast on Shabbat (except Yom Kippur!) past halachic midday:     
  • If you will not finish shacharit before halachic midday, you should eat or drink earlier in the day, even before you begin shacharit—water can be sufficient for this purpose.
  • If you will finish shacharit but not musaf by halachic midday:
  • Finish shacharit,
  • Make kiddush,
  • Eat some mezonot, and then
  • Return to say musaf.
Sukka: Leaving: First Night: Rain, Cold, Bees
You may leave the sukka due to extreme cold or heat, rain, or bees. You should not stay in a sukka if it is raining or very cold or will otherwise make people suffer.
If it is raining on the first night of Sukkot and the rain is sporadic, wait until midnight before saying kiddush indoors.
If it is raining on the first night of Sukkot and the forecast predicts rain all evening, you do not need to wait to see if the rain will stop before saying kiddush. Instead:
  • Say kiddush in the sukka (without saying leisheiv ba'sukka), even in the rain.
  • Wash hands and say ha'motzi.
  • Eat at least 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) of bread in the sukka.
  • Go inside the house and finish your meal inside. 
Note You do not need to say birkat ha'mazon in the sukka. If the rain stops, go back outside, say leisheiv, eat at least 1.9 fl. oz. (56 ml) more of bread in the sukka, and finish your meal in the sukka.
Eating before Jewish Festival Midday
As on Shabbat, don't fast on Jewish festivals (except Yom Kippur!) past halachic midday.
  • If you will not finish shacharit before halachic midday, you should eat or drink earlier in the day, even before you begin shacharit—water can be sufficient for this purpose.
  • If you will finish shacharit, but not musaf, by halachic midday:
    • Finish shacharit,
    • Make kiddush,
    • Eat some mezonot, and then
    • Return to say musaf.
Introduction to Shabbat: Meals
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).
Women: Time-Based Positive Commandments/Mitzvot: Obligations
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.
Flying through Shabbat for Business
If you fly through Shabbat (permitted for business only), you must keep even Shabbat d'rabanan while flying over the area of the earth that is in Shabbat.
If you fly east (such as from Asia to the US, across the Pacific) after Shabbat is over, you will re-enter Shabbat and may not do melacha on the airplane. Say the Shabbat prayers and kiddush at the appropriate local time where you are flying.
 
Fifth Cup
The fifth cup of wine at seder, for Eliyahu (Elijah) the prophet, symbolizes v'heiveiti--“I will bring them.”
Reason In the future, everyone will drink five cups of seder wine. (Some say the term v'heiveiti is not part of the redemption and some say it is a stage that has not happened yet.)
The cup of Eliyahu (which is not intended to be drunk by Eliyahu) should be used for kiddush the next morning. Various customs dictate when to fill Eliyahu's cup; it may be filled anytime from the beginning of the seder.
Goal of Creation
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 holyExodus/Shmot 20:8
Observe (Shamor) the Sabbath day to make it holyDeuteronomy/Devarim 5:12
Shabbat has two dimensions:
  • Zachor  “Remember,” encompassing positive (“to do”) commandments, and
  • Shamor  “Observe,” encompassing negative (“refrain from”) commandments.
Note Women, who are normally exempt from positive, time-dependent commandments, must do both positive and negative Shabbat commandments since, according to tradition, God said both words simultaneously. This is unlike Jewish festivals, when women are often exempt from positive, time-dependent 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.