Page 112 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

Brothers and sisters, what is being described here is a summoning of unclean spirits into the home.
The “Shabbat Queen” is known to the Orthodox Jews as Shabbat Hamalka. At the Encyclopedia
Mythica website the following information is provided about this being which is invited into the home
and souls of those who perform the Jewish Sabbath rituals.

Shabbat Hamalka
by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.
Among the goddesses representing either the female side of Yahweh or his consorts, such as Asherah,
Shekhina, Anath, and Lilith, Shabbat Hamalka has a unique personality and origin. Her myth
strongly influenced Jewish thought, and contributed to the strength of home and family that had
improved the odds for physical and spiritual Jewish survival.

The name means Queen of the Sabbath, and the entity is the personification of the Jewish day of rest,
Saturday. She still possesses a prominent position in Judaic mythology. For example, Israeli children,
even in completely nonreligious surroundings, still sing songs to her every Friday afternoon (in
Hebrew "Erev Shabatt" meaning the Sabbath Eve) before the Queen "descends" from Heaven to
grace the world for twenty-four hours. When the Jews started their return to Palestine, long before
the state of Israel was declared, new mythology had to be created or recreated. Shabbat Hamalka,
prominent and romantic, was one of the first candidates. The great National Poet Chaim Nachman
Bialik, who was an expert on folklore and mythology, had a lot to do with preserving the image of
the Queen in the renewed home of the Jewish People. He invented "Oneg Shabbat," meaning
"Sabbath Joy," and combined the customs of group study, festive dinner, lectures, and singing of both
old and new songs. The custom spread to the United States and is still observed by many.

Her origin is extremely ancient, and as the centuries rolled, Shabbat Hamalka acquired magical
qualities, combining the character of Queen, Bride, and Goddess. In addition, she took on strong
erotic/romantic and cosmic/spiritual significance. The usual Judaic connections to Akkadian myths
exist in her image, because the word Shabbat resembles the name of the Akkadian feast of the full
moon, Shabbatu. The romantic character of the two holidays also had much in common. For example,
marital intercourse on Friday night was considered a sacred duty, exactly like the sacred sexual
activity during Shabbatu. However, the Akkadians never had a weekly day of rest - the idea seems
to start in the second chapter of Genesis.

In the thundering, dramatic first chapter of Genesis, God spends six days engaged in the creation of
the world. In chapter 2, the story continues in a gentler fashion: "Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made." (King James Version)...

Some Judaic ancient sects put a different interpretation on the Sabbath, but for traditional Judaism,
it was a day of glowing joy from the very first. The general prohibition to work, mentioned in the
Bible, was expanded in the Talmud, which listed all the forbidden activities with its usual
thoroughness. It solidified the strong attachment between the Jews and the Sabbath by emphasizing
that God forgave sinful, even wicked individuals if at least they loved and honored his Day of Rest.

It described the need for beauty and order in the home on the Eve of the Sabbath in almost poetic