There are two important differences between the Jewish calendar and those of the general communities. We name our weeks, not our days; the Gregorian calendar names the days and not the weeks. The Hebrew week is divided into six numbered days leading to the seventh and only day with a name – Shabbat. Each week is named after its Parashat Hashavua, that week’s Torah portion.

The Shabbat Book is dedicated to the idea that a Jew has the capacity to live in Jewish time – Sunday for the Jew becomes Yom Rishon, the first of the days leading to Shabbat. The week itself becomes Breishit, the first portion of the Torah, or Mishpatim, the eighteenth portion and so on. The Shabbat Book, in both form and content, teaches us that a Jew looks forward to and prepares for Shabbat all week. During the week a Jew carries with him the narrative, ideas, mitzvot and emotions of that week’s Torah portion. Over the centuries throughout the world, Shabbat in all its glory and the multi-faceted teachings of the Torah have influenced the lives of individual Jews, their families and their communities.

We hope that as children study the content of a Torah portion each week, along with something new about Shabbat, the influence of these two great Jewish institutions, Shabbat and Torah, will be cultivated in a new generation of Jews.

Dr. Seymour Epstein
Director of Jewish Education,
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee