What can’t you do on Shabbat?

Where the list comes from

The Torah forbids “work” (melachah) on Shabbat but does not define it. The Talmud learns from the juxtaposition of Shabbat with the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus 35) that the forbidden labours are those used to build it. The Mishnah lists 39: from sowing, harvesting and baking, through shearing, spinning and sewing, to writing, building, lighting and extinguishing fire, finishing an object and carrying between domains.

Modern applications

Driving involves burning fuel; switching electric devices on or off is forbidden by the authorities as building, lighting or other prohibitions. Cooking includes heating liquids that cooled down. Writing, typing and handling money (a rabbinic prohibition) are also avoided. Lights and hot plates are set before Shabbat or on timers.

What is encouraged

Shabbat is not only restrictions. It is a mitzvah to honour and enjoy the day – nice clothes, good food, rest, study, time with family and friends (Isaiah 58:13).

Life first

Any danger to life overrides Shabbat completely: one calls an ambulance, drives to hospital and does whatever is needed, without delay.

Rabbinic additions

Around the Torah’s 39 labours the sages added safeguards: muktzeh (objects not used on Shabbat, such as tools and money, are not moved), not asking a non-Jew to do forbidden work, not doing weekday business or planning (“your words should not be like weekday words”), and not preparing on Shabbat for after Shabbat.

Carrying and the eruv

Carrying in a public area is forbidden. Many cities have an eruv – a symbolic enclosure of wires and poles – that turns the area into a shared private domain, so keys, a pram or a book may be carried inside it. Check that the local eruv is up before relying on it.