When does the weekend Sabbath start and end?

On the seventh day of creation, God rested from all the work of the previous six days of creation (See the Book of Genesis). The Torah tells the Jewish people that they also should rest on the seventh day.

In Judaism, days are counted from sunset on one day until sunset on the next day. So the seventh day of creation corresponds to sunset on Friday evening to sunset on Saturday evening


The Jewish Sabbath day of rest, called Shabbat in Hebrew, begins on Friday evening and ends on Saturday evening.

During the first week of Creation, the Torah defines each day with: "it was evening, and it was morning..." (see Genesis).

Accordingly, Judaism counts a day from evening until evening.

When it comes to the Sabbath (or Shabbat), we want to maximise the spiritual opportunity of this special period, so we start the Shabbat from 18 minutes before sunset (the earliest defined time for "evening"), and end it after nightfall, when you can see three medium-sized stars (the latest defined time for "evening").

Shabbat is heralded by women lighting Shabbat candles. Once the women light their candles, Shabbat begins for the family. While these candles may not be lit later than sunset, they may be lit as early as mid-afternoon.

This means that a family can choose to bring the Shabbat in earlier than the "official" time.

Shabbat observance includes certain restrictions (like not driving, turning on lights, using the phone etc.). So, practically, someone who chooses to accept the Shabbat earlier would adhere to these restrictions from that time.

Likewise, Shabbat is formally concluded with "Havdalah", which is essentially a statement you make to distinguish between the Shabbat and the rest of the week.

One can choose to delay making the "Havdalah" until many hours after nightfall, and be bound by the Shabbat laws until that time.

The sabbath starts on Friday night, 18 minutes before sundown. The reason for the 18 minutes is to ensure that you don't make a mistake and you can start the sabbath early. It ends on Saturday night, 72 minutes after sundown (or when you can see three stars.) Again for the same reason, you can end late, but you can't end early.

In Israel, people generally work Friday morning, but not Friday afternoons and they return to work on Sunday morning.

Sunday is the seventh day