If you couldn’t tell by now, I love questions – maybe as much as the entire Jewish tradition does! I’m working on a various lists of questions for you which may turn into another book down the line, who knows. Regardless, see the bottom of this post for the other lists I have written for your use and pleasure.
Speaking of books, my book about Torah is coming out very soon (like, a matter of weeks!) I standby for more details.
For now, please enjoy this very robust list of questions for Shabbat.
Evergreen Questions For Friday Night
What did you learn this past week?
What brought you joy this past week?
Who helped you this past week, and who did you help?
What are you looking forward to this Shabbat?
What are three things you are grateful for?
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg writes, “Caring for and pleasuring the body is a vital part of the re-souling process of [Shabbat].”1 How can you care for your body this Shabbat?
What is something you appreciate about the person sitting to your left (or right, or across from you, mix it up!)
Who is someone you appreciate that you did not see this week?
How do you want to be this Shabbat?
If you could dedicate this Shabbat to someone – you might think of someone in need of healing, rest, or re-souling (as Greenberg writes) – who would you dedicate it to?
Questions That Also Teach
On Friday night we bless the children saying, “May you be like Ephraim and Manasseh (Joseph’s kids), and Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah (the traditional Biblical matriarchs).” Who is one of your role models? Why?
On Friday night we get ready to welcome the “Shabbat Bride” or “Shabbat Queen” as if she is a real special guest. How do you like to welcome guests into your home?
Our Torah teaches us to both shamor v’zachor, “guard” and “remember,” Shabbat. What is the difference between guarding and remembering Shabbat?
Jewish tradition teaches that there are 39 kinds of “work” that one is supposed to refrain from on Shabbat. They are as follows:
Carrying, burning, extinguishing, finishing, writing, erasing, cooking, washing, sewing, tearing, knotting, untying, shaping, plowing, planting, reaping, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, selecting, sifting, grinding, kneading, combing, spinning, dyeing, chain-stitching, warping, weaving, unraveling, building, demolishing, trapping, shearing, slaughtering, skinning, tanning, smoothing, and marking.
These are the 39 kinds of work that our sages assessed were involved in constructing the Mishkan AKA Tabernacle (the big traveling tent for God and ritual sacrifice the Israelites built and used in the desert). What does “work” mean to you?
On Friday night we might sing a song called Shalom Aleichem.2 This song invites angels into our home for Shabbat. In Jewish tradition, angels are thought of messengers of The Divine. Do you believe in angels? Why or why not? If so, what do you think they look like, sound like, and smell like?
On Friday night we might sing a song called Ma Yafeh Hayom. The name of this song (and basically its main lyrics) mean, “How beautiful (or lovely) is today” or “What a beautiful day.” What is something you think is beautiful?
In his book, The Sabbath, 20th Century Sage Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “Just as heaven and earth were created in six days, menucha was created on the Sabbath…Menucha which we usually render with ‘rest’ means [here] much more than withdrawal from labor and exertion, more than freedom from toil, strain or activity of any kind. Menucha is not a negative concept but something real and intrinsically positive.”3 What does “rest” mean to you?
In her poem The Art of Blessing The Day, Marge Piercy writes,
But the discipline of blessings is to taste
each moment, the bitter, the sour, the sweet
and the salty, and be glad for what does not
hurt. The art is in compressing attention
to each little and big blossom of the tree
of life, to let the tongue sing each fruit,
its savor, its aroma and its use.
What does “blessing” mean to you?
On Shabbat we drink wine from a kiddush cup, we say the Kiddush and the Mourner’s Kaddish. All of these “k” words come from the same root word that means “holy.” What does the word “holy” mean to you?
On Saturday morning we read the weekly Torah portion, parashat hashavuah, or whatever special Torah reading is required for that day. Look up this weeks Torah portion and read a few paragraphs. What questions do you have about this weeks’ Torah portion so far? What does it remind you of from your own life or our world today?
Every year we read the entire Torah, one portion at a time each week (more or less). This means, we reread the Torah a lot! What book, besides the Torah, have you reread the most?
Our Torah teaches that Shabbat is a day of rest not just for people but for animals as well. How might you take care of animals this Shabbat? NOTE: if you have pets, this one might be easy. If not, think about animals that live around your house or pets of friends and neighbors.
Traditionally, a Shabbat table is set with two challot (loaves of challah) to represent the double portion of manna (the flakey-coriander-dewy-like substance they turned into little cakes) that the Israelites received in the desert preceding Shabbat. Tell about one of the biggest meals you have ever eaten: what did you eat, when, where were you, and how did it taste?
Before lighting the Shabbat candles, some folks put money in their tzedakeh box as their last financial transaction before the prohibition kicks in, or to prepare their spirit for a day of abundance and good will. If you could donate $1 million to tzedakeh, where would you want that money to go?
Questions That Require Imagination
If you could invite anyone to your Shabbat dinner table, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would you invite? Why? What would you talk to them about?
If you could design your ideal Shabbat, what would it look like?
If you had a special super power that only worked on Shabbat, what special super power would you want to have? Why?
If you could create one new rule for your family to follow only during Shabbat, what rule would you create? Why?
On Shabbat we don’t ask for things in our prayers. Instead, we try to imagine a world in which we (and everyone) have everything we need. Imagine for a moment that you have everything you could ever need. What does it feel like to imagine this?
Shabbat is kind of like a vacation from time – Heschel describes it as a “palace in time.” If you could time travel to any time in history, past or future, to when would you travel?
If the spirit of Shabbat were represented by an animal, what animal would it be?
This Or That
Do you feel more spiritually connected…
when you are alone or with a group of people?
in a forest or a garden?
moving your body or being still?
As Shabbat approaches, we wish each other a Shabbat Shalom! Shalom means: hello, goodbye, and peace (as well as connotes as sense of wholeness). Do you feel more peaceful…
when you are in silence or when there is music playing?
outside in the sunshine or snuggled up on a rainy day?
in the morning or evening?
in the mountains or by the ocean?
Evergreen Questions For Havdalah (the ceremony at the end of Shabbat)
What was the most rejuvenating part of this Shabbat?
During the Havdalah ceremony we smell the sweet spices. What is a smell that you are looking forward to smelling this week?
During the Havdalah ceremony we extinguish the braided candle in a cup of wine/grape juice and it makes a sizzle. We like to say, the longer the sizzle the sweeter the week! What is a sound you are looking forward to hearing this week?
At the end of the Havdalah ceremony we sing about Elijah the Prophet. Elijah is said to return to Earth when the Messiah is coming (meaning, the “world to come” is near!) Who is someone you are excited to see this week?
Havdalah comes from the word that means “separation.” What do you want to release from your mind and heart – “separate from” – as you enter a new week?
L’Dor V’Dor
39. Concerning Shabbat, what advice or hope do you have for the next generation?
What are your hopes for your own Shabbat practice in the future?
And if you love question conversation starters, here are other lists to jump into:
Rabbi Irving Greenberg. The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (Simon & Schuster: New York, NY; 1988), 170.
Here are the lyrics to Shalom Aleichem translated into English
Peace be with you ministering angels messengers of the Most High.
Messengers of the King of Kings the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Come in peace messengers of peace messengers of the Most High.
Messengers of the King of Kings the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Bless me with peace messengers of peace messengers of the Most High.
Messengers of the King of Kings the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Go in peace messengers of peace messengers of the Most High.
Messengers of the King of Kings the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. The Sabbath (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York; 1951), 22.