(NOTE: These answers are not presented in a particular order, just in the order that they arrived from our contributors. Feel free to add your comments. If you have a burning question send it to steve@saltshakers.com or if you feel able to answer these type of questions email us to join our panel of "messianic rabbis".)

BOB DOTY answers

Keeping the Sabbath is a controversy that has been argued both ways for years and years, and certainly won’t be settled here. Good arguments can be given for both views. My opinion is simply this: if a believers feels that he should keep the Sabbath, then by all means he should do so, but he should do it correctly. For instance, Mishnah Shabbath 7:2 lists the 39 classes of work that are forbidden on the Sabbath. It is also supposed to be a time of rest, study, prayer, and personal reflection by the person on his relationship with the Lord. A lot of people today say they keep the Sabbath, but really don’t. Also, a particular denomination uses the Sabbath observance to separate themselves from the body of the Messiah. THIS IS WRONG.

RABBI JOSEPH KRESEFSKY answers

Yes! Absolutely positively without a doubt, yes!! The Sabbath is for everyone, not just the Jew. G_d gave the Sabbath to man as a gift, so that man would have a day where he/she and G_d to spend together. Sunday or any day, is a nice day to worship G_d on; however, the Sabbath is always the Sabbath!

SANDRA JEFFERY answers

The Sabbath is about family and reflection on our Creator and life itself. As Jesus stated in Mark 2: 27, 28, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.’ During the French revolution, work weeks were changed to 9 days and as a result animals became sick and died, and men didn’t fare that well health wise either, bringing about the reinstituting of the 7th day rest once more. Also, without strong family ties, the foundation of good societies crumble and along with it, nations, as united we stand, but divided we fall. The Jewish tradition involved God and family, and it was the family that taught the laws to their children so that they would teach them to their children, and so on, making for a good and just society. ‘Charity begins at home’ is a worthwhile saying, because what happens in the home is reflected in our conduct outside of it in many ways. We all lead by the example and we tend to follow the examples set for us in the home by our parents with regards to morality and beliefs. Earthly family and heavenly family are both priorities in God’s eyes, and this is why the Sabbath is of utmost importance.

RABBI NEAL SURASKY answers

Yes. Even if you fall into the camp that holds that the day you worship God doesn’t matter. Even if you fall into the camp that says that we should be worshipping every day. There is still the command that says that we are to honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Yeshua never taught against the observance of Shabbat. He simply moved it from being a mere outward expression to being one that is heart-driven. In doing this, He adjusted the manner in which we observe the Sabbath, and not whether we observe it at all. In fact, He was what we would call shomer Shabbos, in that He Himself kept Shabbat. No matter where He was, He could be found in the synagogue or Temple on Shabbat. What He was speaking against is the rabbinic interpretation of what should and shouldn’t be allowed on Shabbat. What He was teaching is that there are some things that are just more important than the 39 categories of work prohibited on Shabbat. Even today, the rabbis agree that life supercedes Shabbat. This is no different from what Yeshua taught in His time. This is what He was teaching when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (See Mark 2:27)

And in Acts 15, when the talmidim were trying to decide what the non-Jew should do in order to begin worshipping in the community, the 4 things listed were related to idolatry, which couldn’t be allowed in the synagogue. But the intent was always that those who came to faith would attend the synagogue on Shabbat, as noted in Acts 15:21. So the observance of Shabbat was never in question. The only issue was how to do it. And for the first century believers, that always involved going to synagogue.

MOSHE COHEN answers

Short answer-YES.

Keeping the Sabbath is a commandment, a mitzvah, that has never been repealed. The fourth commandment is quite explicit and unambiguous. See Sh'mot (Exodus) 20:8.
This is a separated day for Adonai,for His people to rest and worship Him, seek His face, and study His Word.

The day has always been and always will be what the Gentiles call Saturday. Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown on Friday (Erev Shabbat, Yom Shishi) and finishes when 3 stars are seen in the sky after sunset on Saturday (Yom Shabbat).

It is well known that Jews don't keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath keeps the Jews. Messianic Jews keep the Biblical Sabbath. Sunday is a day substituted after 150 CE by Gentile followers of Messiah, who wanted to blend in with the Roman empire and not be associated with Jews, who were being annihilated after the Bar Kochba revolt. It was later adopted by what became the Roman Catholic church. Some call it the "Lord's Day" but this in nonsense, the Lord's Day is the day of His wrath and vengeance. Read the later chapters of Yesha Yahu (Isaiah). The Sabbath will be restored and the L-rd will have His Day of wrath. Many sincere Christians keep Sunday as the sabbath, not knowing the truth of how the day was changed, or realising the consequences of disobeying Adonai's Commandments.

EVETTE LEWIS answers

In terms of Creation, our Creator ‘rested’ or ‘ceased to work’ on the 7th day and the pattern was set for us - not G-d - to take time out from our work / ordinary lives. He does not weary, but we do - and observing the Sabbath does mean we can pump some energy back into our tired bodies and spirits.
Tiredness is a sure way of enabling the wrong kind of energies into our lives - getting fractious, spiteful with each other and if you just keep going rather than resting, then physically and mentally, sooner or later you can get ill.

You get distracted when you’re tired, and if you don’t read your Bible and have some ‘you’ time with G-d at least once a week, then you see your defences crumble and can start to backslide.
Our Father wanted us to always have access to Him, to commune with Him - we can do this anytime of course, but since most of us lead busy lives, work takes up a lot of our time, and we don’t all get Sundays off! For your own sake, though, it is good to keep the ‘Sabbath‘, a day where you can sit down and pray, talk and meditate with the Lord. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord and in the Bible we are told to observe it, so not doing so won’t do you much good, and it is there to be a blessing -
www.bibleq.com is a great site for looking things up - I looked up ‘keeping the Sabbath’ on it and you can see it was a bugbear for the Israelites throughout the Old Testament as they continually got steered away from Him and went their own way, taking on other peoples’ religions and cultures. When Prophets and Kings steered them back they were told to keep the Sabbath - so it is important.
In between the Old and New Testament, a change gradually crept in with regards to understanding the purpose of the Sabbath. In the synagogues the Law was studied and spoken.

Yeshua was condemned by the religious leaders of the day for healing people and for taking ears of corn on the Sabbath - the fact that they were religious and unloving would not prosper these leaders, and Jesus was against their many burdensome traditions. Jesus came to ‘do away’ with religion and show us how to love each other - He was not against the Old Testament Teaching, but opposed the Pharisees who made the Word of G-d of non effect with their oppressive observances and He pointed out their complete misunderstanding of the Old Testament commands. The Sabbath belongs to Him in effect and necessary work was not unlawful. It would be a good thing if we could all observe the Sabbath by lifting up His name and loving each other, by getting close to Him, rather than getting embroiled in religious traditions.

(Any good farmers will also rotate their crops and give the land a rest every 7th Year- rather than working the land year after year, and putting synthesised fertilizers into the earth).
The answer in short, is - yes - we should celebrate the Sabbath - it is there for us. Choose a day a week and get up close and personal with your Lord. See how His blessings get poured into your life and how much better the rest of your week becomes!! It could be your next testimony!