Joe Bobker's easy-to-read, indispensable and educational tour de force of the complexities of the laws of Shabbas and the beauty of the lores of Shabbas!

Did you ever wonder?

Is long-life relative to Shabbas? What s the essence of Shabbas? How did Shabbas observance become the standard of Judaism itself? What s the difference between to remember and to observe? How is it possible to suddenly become holy just because it s Shabbas? Is Shabbas good for the Jews or are the Jews good for Shabbas? What does Shabbas have to do with God s DNA? Why candles? Why not start the Shabbas with cake or herring? Why do Jewish women get the mitzva of lighting Shabbas candles? What does Sheki a mean? Why does my mother cover her eyes when lighting Shabbas candles? I only have enough money to buy Shabbas candles or wine? Which one do I buy? What if I can t light candles on time? Can I make ice cream for the kids on Shabbas? Can I go to a baseball match on Shabbas if someone else carries my ticket for me? Can I go jogging on Shabbas? Can my children build lego sets on Shabbas? Can I pet my dog on Shabbas? Can I set a mouse trap on Shabbas? I was raised in the outback of Australia and we often came across rattlesnakes on Shabbos. What were we supposed to do? Have you seen the price of fish lately! It s more than a barrel of oil! Must I buy it for Shabbas? Can I make ice cubes on Shabbas? Can I open a beer bottle on Shabbas?

Auteur

JOE BOBKER was born in 1947 in Ulm, a displaced persons camp in Germany, to Polish Holocaust survivors Chaskel, of blessed memory, and Ida Bobker. On May 21, 1949, the family arrived in Sydney, Australia, as Holocaust refugees. Joe Bobker received his early Jewisheducation in an after-school cheder witha handful of other boys from Holocaust homes. His teachers, Rav Hertz and Rav Barzel, werefl own in especially from B'nei Brak to teach Torah tothe handful of children of survivors. Joe s main mentor was HaRav Osher Abramson, of blessed memory, also a Holocaust survivor. After graduating from the University of New South Wales, Joe Bobker pursued his Judaic studies at the famed Mercaz HaRav Kook Yeshivain Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem. Over the years he has spoken frequently and written hundreds of articles about Jews and Judaism for a variety of newspapers including the 100-year-old Los Angeles Jewish Times, of which he is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. His work covers a wide variety of Jewish subjects from a very personal, philosophical and often whimsical perspective. Since 1980, he has lived in Los Angeles and New York with his wife Miriam, a barrister from Melbourne and herself a child of Holocaust survivors, Baruch, of blessed memory, and Rivka Cohn. When asked whatacts as his inspiration, Joe replied, Eli, Avi, Benny, Dovi, Hadassa, Baylie, Layella, Devorah, Dalia, Toby, Chesky, Yoni, Baruch, Ze evi, Mattie, Mordechai, Henny, Dovid, Shira and Osher my sons, daughters-in-law, granddaughters and grandsons [as of Chanukah, 2006].