Question
Please answer for me the meaning of the word Sabbath (Shabbat) in Hebrew. I have read that "Sha" means "The Eternal One," "Ab" is the root word for "Abba" or Father, and "bath" or "beth" means "house of" or "sign of," which would give the meaning of the word Sabbath as = "Sign of the Eternal Father." Is this right? And if not, please correct where it is wrong. For instance, could it be "bat" or "bet" instead of "bath"/"beth"? Thank you!

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Dear Rabbi, Every Friday I make Challah for Shabbat. When asked why I braid them, I had no answer! What is the historical/traditional significance to braiding Challah?

Question
Hello, I hope you are well. I have been searching for an answer to a literary question. It's one that has various answers across the internet and I cannot find a consensus. It's regarding Steinbeck's East of Eden. In the book, he threads the idea of a word he claims has been mistranslated in Christian bibles, Timshel. He says that some scholars translate it as, "thou shalt," and others as, "do thou," but the true translation is "thou mayest." The word appears in Genesis 4:16 according to Steinbeck. Here is a link to the passage in the book, http://timshel.org/timshel.php In my research, I've had scholars tell me that he's correct, or that "thou shalt" is the correct translation, and even that the word Timshel is not a real word in Hebrew. I love the passage and the sentiment in the book and would like to know if I should love it from a historical/faith perspective or only a literary perspective. Thank you for your time

Question
Dear Rabbi, My parents got sick with COVID, and on a Thursday afternoon, while driving to do something for them, I said that I’m was going to start keeping Shabbat. So, I stopped driving on Friday and rested on Shabbat, but I feel like it’s really hard for me. I don’t know if I can keep doing this and I’m truly not ready to give everything up and I feel bad. I want to do things on Saturday, but I feel like something bad might happen to my parents if I stop keeping Shabbat. What do I do? How do I best approach this?

Question
Dear Rabbi, Can I still consider myself as someone who is “Shomer Shabbat” (a Sabbath observer) if I can't help but bite my nails? I always bite my nails and pick my lip and I was wondering if this makes me not considered as a person who is Shomer Shabbat. (I think I have a nail-biting “disorder” since I was only eight years old). Thank you very much!

Question
Can I/Should I consider myself a shomer shabbos if I can't help but bite my nails? I always bite my nails and pick my lip and I was wondering if this prohibits the food that I cook being kosher.( I think I have a skin picking disorder I have been picking since I was around seven or eight years old) ANYWAY thank you very much!