3 Havdalah
On Friday night we begin the Shabbat with loaves of challah,
braided breaf. Shabbat ends on Saturday night with havdalah
(separation or distinction) ceremony. We bless God Who distinguishes
or separates the holy from profane and the Sabbath from the weekdays.
The ceremony is performed over a cup of wine, fragrant spices,
and a braided havdalah candle. The braiding of both the challah and
the candle signifies our desire to unify, to braid together, the holiness
of Shabbat with the more prosaic weekdays - to attach some of the holiness
of the Sabbath to the rest of our lives. This is not unlike Wordsworth’s desire:
«And I could wish my days to be bound each to each by natural piety».
Our spirits flag with the departure of Shabbat, but smelling the fragrant spices
revives them. The spices are called besamim, Hebrew for balsam or fragrant.
Myrtle is traditional, but whole cloves and sticks of cinnamon are more common today.