"Sabbath Bake" setting on oven?

I finally got my new oven out of the box and installed it into the kitchen today (I bought it last July thinking my kitchen would be done a long time ago).

As I was reading thru the instruction manual, it says it has a "Sabbath Bake" setting for the oven. It doesn't explain the purpose of it, just that this feature is to be used on the Sabbath or holidays.

Can anyone explain what this means?

And btw....this stove has a control panel that looks like a cockpit in an airplane. It has just about every feature you can get on an electric stove. I get to cook on a real stove tonight (first time since early November)!!

Sabbath Bake? That is a strange setting, if I ever saw one! Maybe its just another word for off?

Maybe it puts the oven temperature on low so that you can mingle on the holidays with family?

Originally Posted by Kiwideus

Sabbath Bake? That is a strange setting, if I ever saw one! Maybe its just another word for off?

Maybe it puts the oven temperature on low so that you can mingle on the holidays with family?

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No - it has a separate slow bake, warm bake and a warming drawer.

On the page, it says to use the setting on the Sabbath and other holidays, and I think it only works for the day that you set it.

I understand that Jewish cooking has a lot of rituals, but I've not heard of anything about temperature or the actual process of baking. This stove has buttons for "meat" which triggers the convection, "cakes" which does a different type of air circulation and "breads", which does something around the preheat process. So I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't have to do with how the air is processed around the food, or programmed to raise and lower temperatures at different intervals.

I had never heard of it, but googled it:

http://www.wordspy.com/words/Sabbathmode.asp

If you have a relatively new oven, you may not know that it has a built-in safety feature that automatically shuts off the oven after 12 hours or so. This is sensible, but it has been problematic for Jews keeping kosher on the Sabbath and on Jewish holidays because they're forbidden to turn ovens (or any electrical appliances) on during that time. However, it is permissible to use electrical appliances that are already on. Hence the need for a Sabbath mode that keeps an oven on at a specified temperature for as long as it's required. The cook can whip up a meal prior to the Sabbath or holiday and then leave it in the always-warm oven until it is ready to be eaten.

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It's a "time bake" feature. I had one on my old stove. You could set it to come on at a certain time and temperature then shut off at a scheduled time.

I'm not Jewish but I do know that it is not proper to do things on the Sabbath like cooking and what not. The basic rule is to prepare the food before the Sabbath begins in such a way that it will be ready when you need it to be and not cause you to compromise your beliefs.

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

I had never heard of it, but googled it:

http://www.wordspy.com/words/Sabbathmode.asp

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Funny - I called a friend who is a chef and when I asked her what it was, she said "You have a Kosher oven!! How cool!!".

Since you can't start a fire/spark/electric igniter on Sabbath, it will turn on at say 11:59 the night before at a warm temperature, ready to heat up as needed on the Sabbath. So technically, you can cook, you are just not starting an igniter.

The oven also has a slow cook feature that they compare to cooking with a crockpot. It's beginning to all fit together now. This is a complicated appliance!!

That's actually really cool and very thoughtful of the companies...