Shabbat (UK: /ʃəˈbæt/, US: /ʃəˈbɑːt/, or /ʃəˈbʌt/; Hebrew: שַׁבָּת, [ʃa'bat], lit. 'rest' or 'cessation') or the Sabbath (/ˈsæbəθ/), also called Shabbos (UK: /ˈʃæbəs/, US: /ˈʃɑːbəs/) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the creation of the heaven and earth in six days and the redemption from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt. Since the Jewish religious calendar counts days from sunset to sunset, Shabbat begins in the evening of what on the civil calendar is Friday.
Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities, often with great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Judaism's traditional position is that the unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution. Variations upon Shabbat are widespread in Judaism and, with adaptations, throughout the Abrahamic and many other religions.
