252 A History of Judaism
As the Sabbath came to an end, a similar form of words marked, over
wine, spices and lighted candle, the passage into the working week in
the ceremony of havdalah (‘separation’):
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who distinguishes
between sacred and secular, between light and darkness, between Israel
and the nations, between the seventh day and the six days of work. Blessed
are You, Lord, who distinguishes between sacred and secular.In several versions of the havdalah services from the later Middle Ages,
mention is made of the imminent coming of Elijah, as harbinger of the
Messiah, following a belief, which seems to have originated in northern
Europe after the Crusades (presumably as a reflection of eschatological
longing in a time of deep suffering), that Elijah’s arrival would be on a
Saturday evening.^18
Observance of the Sabbath was unaffected by the demise of the
Temple, but the rest of the liturgical year evolved greatly now that
thrice- yearly pilgrimage was no longer possible as the focus of worship
and created the rhythm of the annual round of festivals and fasts which
lasts to the present day. The essence of Pesach became the recitation of
the Haggadah at the Seder meal on the eve of Pesach (in the spring), in
which the basic narration of the exodus was augmented by customs,
stories and songs which accrued gradually over the centuries after 70
ce:
Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights we eat
either hametz [leavened bread] or matzah [unleavened bread], but on this
night only matzah. On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on
this night only bitter herbs. On all other nights we do not dip even once,
but on this night twice. On all other nights we can eat either sitting or
reclining, but on this night we all recline.The rest of Pesach was celebrated by the avoidance of leavened food, as
prescribed in the Bible, for seven days, with the first and last days
marked by abstention from work. Calendrical uncertainty in the dias-
pora, based on the notion that it took time to transmit the announcement
of a new moon in the land of Israel, led to the development of a trad-
ition that each of these full holidays should be observed on two days
rather than one, so that Pesach lasted for eight days rather than seven.^19
Shavuot itself came to be seen less as a harvest festival than as a time
to celebrate the giving of the Torah, although the reading of the biblical
book of Ruth in the synagogue on Shavuot may reflect both the theme