Bat Kol and the Sabbath
Bat Kol Institute's goals and objectives are:
1. To promote the study of Torah (the Word of God), both oral and written, as transmitted today through Jewish Traditions. These living Traditions, which formed the consciousness of Jesus and the Early Church, are an ongoing source of revelation for the nations.
2. To foster an understanding and appreciation of Jewish prayer and the Jewish biblical cycle, with the Sabbath as its central festival.
3. To facilitate the integration of these studies into a Christian self-understanding in a manner that respects the Jewish people and reveres the integrity of their traditions.
4. To extend the riches of the Hebrew Scriptures and Traditions in regular study of the Bible by Christians. [see About Us/Purpose Statement]
Bat Kol Institute, therefore, encourages Christians to develop a Sabbath spirituality that can incorporate the Sabbath as a holy day with its own divine blessing. Bat Kol emphasizes that Sabbath and Sunday are two separate days; each day has its own intrinsic holiness.
Sabbath was given to everyone in the creation:
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their array. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation" (Gen 2:1-3).
Sabbath is associated with the redemption from Egypt:
"Observe the day of Sabbath, by hallowing it, as YHWH your God has commanded you. For six days you are to serve and to do all your work; but the seventh day (is) Sabbath for YHWH your God-you are not to do any work: (not) you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor your sojourner that is in your gates- in order that your servant and your maid may rest as one-like-yourself. You are to bear-in-mind that serf were you in the land of Egypt, but YHWH your God took you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore YHWH your God commands you to observe the day of Sabbath" (Deut. 5:12-15).
Sabbath anticipates the world to come:
"If you call the Sabbath a delightIf you refrain from trampling the Sabbath,from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;if you call the Sabbath a delightand the holy day of YHWH honorable;if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;then you shall take delight in YHWH,and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,for the mouth of YHWH has spoken" (Isaiah 58:13-14).
