Shomer Shabbat

The observant Jew does not cook, spend money, write, operate electrical devices, or carry out other activities prohibited on Shabbat.

[2] The term shomer Shabbat is derived from the wording of one of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy (5:14-15), which instructs the Hebrews to "observe" the Sabbath day and sanctify it.

Similarly, the term is used infrequently in medieval and early modern rabbinic literature: for example, once in Maimonides, never in the Shulchan Aruch and rarely in responsa prior to the 20th century.

[4] Among other factors, Saturday had not yet been established as a day off from work, and many American Jews found that insistence on Shabbat observance would cost them their livelihood.

[7] In total, Sabbath candle-lighting is practiced by 28% of NJPS survey respondents representative of 4.3 million Jews (United Jewish Communities 2003:7).

For example, after extensive appeals on their behalf, the U.S. National High School Mock Trial Championship made adjustments for observant Jews from the Torah Academy of Bergen County who were the 2005 state champions representing New Jersey.

Many municipalities have cooperated with observant Jews in creating a symbolic boundary for a neighborhood (eruv), in which a shomer Shabbat is permitted to carry or move items that would otherwise be prohibited, such as a baby stroller.

Conversely, a person who is not shomer Shabbat is not trusted for kashrut supervision, according to the Orthodox Union, based on a responsum of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Ament 2007).

In the movie The Big Lebowski, the protagonist's best friend is Walter Sobchak (played by John Goodman), a convert to Judaism who refuses to bowl on Shabbos because he is shomer Shabbat.