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Which activities do many observant Jews avoid on Shabbat?

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Circular diagram of the Jewish religious year showing Hebrew months around the outer ring and Gregorian months inside, with major holidays and fasts such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Passover, and Purim labeled with their dates. — Jewish religious year The months and holidays of the Jewish religious year.

Observant Jews abstain from work on Shabbat as a fundamental aspect of the day's holiness. While the biblical prohibition is broad, the Talmudic rabbis categorized these restrictions into 39 major areas of forbidden activity.12

Commonly avoided activities include:

Domestic tasks: Baking, cooking, and kindling fire.12
Commerce and travel: Buying, selling, and traveling.12
Labor and construction: Agricultural work (such as plowing and reaping), manufacturing cloth (such as spinning and weaving), and preparing documents (such as writing).12
General exertion: Gathering wood and bearing burdens from one domain into another.12

These prohibitions are rooted in the concept of ceasing constructive work to honor the Jewish religious year. However, it is an established ethical principle in Judaism that the preservation of life and health takes precedence over these rules; the Talmud explicitly states that these prohibitions are suspended when life or health is seriously endangered, affirming that the Sabbath was given to humanity, not humanity to the Sabbath.3