Jason's Blog (Have fun and Enjoy): Song of the day and Happy Friday 7/8/22

Shabbat Shalom !

(What Does That Even Mean?)

Taken from chabad.org:

If you walk down the street in a Jewish neighborhood anytime between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon, you will notice Jews of all stripes wishing each other a peaceful, enjoyable Shabbat. In fact, as early as Wednesday, you can bid farewell with wishes for a good Shabbat.

But what to say? As always, different Jews have different ways of doing things.

The traditional Yiddish greeting of Ashkenazi Jews is “Gut Shabbos,” which means “Good Sabbath.” This greeting is used in place of both “hello” and “goodbye.” However, when used in parting, it is modified slightly to “Ah gutten Shabbos.” If you cannot remember the Yiddish nuances, just say “Good Shabbos” every time, and you’ll be in very good company.

This greeting is preferred by chassidic and traditional Jews of European descent.

The Hebrew salutation, used by Sephardim of Eastern descent and those who favor modern Hebrew, is “Shabbat shalom,” which means “Sabbath [of] peace.”

(Just to add to the mix, there is also the Aramaic version of “Shabbata tava,” “Good Sabbath,” that appears occasionally in writing. No need to memorize this for when you meet an Aramaic Jew, because there are none.)

Today’s song of the day comes from Mordechai Ben David. On my way to work I was listening to Yakov Schwekey singing a medley that had this song in it. That was the inspiration of today!