The Sages compare Shabbat to a queen, in that one must prepare for its arrival both practically and spiritually. The Talmud relates that many Sages personally participated in cooking and other household chores to prepare for Shabbat. Rabbi Hanina would don his Shabbat clothes on Friday afternoon a bit early, saying, “Come, let us go out to greet Shabbat, the queen” (Shabbat 119a).

On each Shabbat, the Torah portion for that week is read in the synagogue. In order to be prepared for this reading and to be properly familiar with the text of the Torah, the Sages mandated that prior to Shabbat, everyone should read that week’s Torah portion twice, and in addition read Targum Onkelos, the authorized Aramaic translation of the Torah, once. This process is called shenayim mikra ve’ehad targum, meaning “Scripture twice and translation once.” Since Jews no longer speak Aramaic, it is recommended to also read a thorough commentary, such as that of Rashi, in addition to or in place of the Aramaic translation.