Tuesday 11 January 2011

Good Shabbos or Shabbat Shalom, How to Wish A Fellow Jew.


From time to time we take a look at what brings others to our blog. What are you the reader looking for, searching for? What will help your Aliyah and Klita to be more successful.

A common phrase looked for in various variations has to do with Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos or how to wish a fellow Jew for Shabbat. Here are a few answers we hope will satisfy you. If you still have questions, please post a comment, we love feedback and are always happy to answer questions or to post an article to help find answers to your questions. 

Shabbat is the seventh day of the week. According to the Torah, G-d created the world, universe and everything that is in 6 days and on the seventh day He rested. He gave a commandment to Jews to rest on this day too. 

Shabbat is this seventh day and it is Hebrew. Shabbos is the way that Ashkenazi Jews pronounce the Hebrew word Shabbat, following a certain rule to pronounce the final letter as a 's' sound rather than a 't'. Those who speak Yiddish call the day Shabbos too. 

Shalom means hello or peace or complete from the Hebrew word Shaleim, complete. Hence a common greating is Shabbat Shalom, may your Shabbat be peaceful and complete.

Good Shabbos probably comes from the Yiddish greeting which would be "Gut Shabbos". Wishing the other that their Shabbat day be good.

To answer the question as to how to greet a Jew for Shabbat. In terms of words used, Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbos, Gut Shabbos, A Gutten Shabbos are all appropriate greetings. In terms of the how, it is best to greet a Jew with a smile and happy countenance always and Shabbat is no exception. 

For those wanting to know how this is written in Hebrew, Shabbat is שבת
Shalom is שלום
And together you get Shabbat Shalom or שבת שלום

3 comments:

  1. I have seen Shabbat spelled Shabat also. Are both correct?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The correct spelling is שבת. The word is actually Hebrew and hence the correct spelling is in Hebrew.
    Due to the Hebrew Grammar, if one is to spell the word transliterated into English, the correct Transliterated English spelling would probably be two b's. This indicates that there is emphasis on the b, due to a dot being in the letter ב in the Hebrew.
    The spelling that you might see of Shabbos, is due to the Ashkenazi pronounciation.

    I hope this helps.

    Shoshanah

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for this article. I conduct business with a Jewish Gentleman, I respect Holidays celebrated by others, and I didn't want to sound silly if and when saying anything in another language. i choose to read about it before opening my mouth. thank you for this much helpful site.

    Shabbat Shalom!

    ReplyDelete

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