Letter on the Sabbath

Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Letter on the Sabbath (Iggeret ha-shabbat), written in England near the end of his life, takes the form of a reply on behalf of the Sabbath. Ibn Ezra recounts that the Sabbath came to him in a dream and bemoaned the heretical view that the Sabbath starts on Saturday morning rather than the previous evening (i.e., Friday night). This view read and there was night and there was day, repeated throughout Genesis 1, to mean that after night ended a new day began. Scholars have long debated whether this heretical interpretation should be ascribed to Samuel ben Meir, Rashi’s grandson. Ibn Ezra rebuts this view in three chapters that address the year, month, and day. Some have suggested that the opening to this letter was not written by Ibn Ezra.