No matter how strict the prohibitions against, say, turning on lights or starting a fire, Jews don’t spend Shabbat in cold, dark rooms. The Sabbath puts Jews in a divine paradox. “On the one hand we have to be away from the mundane world,” says Rabbi Levi Garelik of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “On the other hand, we have to eat on Shabbos. It’s a mitzvah to eat. We have to eat meat and fish and soup and challah and wine, right?” Someone needs to warm the soup.

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