The implications of placing the Mitzva of Shabbat as the introduction to the making of the Tabernacle.

In Parashat VaYakhel, before a careful description is presented of how the the Mishkan and its vessels were fabricated (see “Keeping in Mind Long-Term Goals”), the Jewish people are once again reminded of Shabbat, as they had been many times before (see the aforementioned essay for citations):

Shemot 35:1-3

1 And Moshe assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them: These are the Words which the LORD hath Commanded, that ye should do them. 2 Six days shall “Melacha” be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever doeth any “Melacha” therein shall be put to death. 3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day.

In his essay on Parashat VaYakhel ( Talks on the Parasha , Shefa-Maggid, Jerusalem, 2015, pp. 175-81), R. Adin Steinsaltz insists that when one specifically reflects upon this Semichut HaParshiot between Shabbat and the Tabernacle, several things become clear:

a) As important as constructing the Mishkan might be, Shabbat is more important—i.e., no work regarding the making of the Mishkan is to take place on Shabbat.

b) The Command to rest on Shabbat does not only apply to “Divrei Reshut” (optional matters that have no direct bearing on the pursuit of holiness) but also to “Divrei Mitzva” (obligatory matters that are defined by Jewish tradition as necessary in order to live a Jewish life—i.e., the Rabbinic principle of “Osek BeMitzva, Patur Min HaMitzva” (if one is engaged in one Mitzva, he is exempt from other Mitzvot) does not apply in this instance.

c) The basis for the activities that are prohibited by the Tora from being carried out on Shabbat, referred to as “Melacha,” are derived from the actions required to manufacture the Mishkan and its trappings.

Two parallel conceptualizations of “Melacha” and rest, which constitute the two main means by which Shabbat observance is carried out.

To more specifically explain the nature of Melacha that is not to be performed on Shabbat and the type of “rest” that results when one refrains from engaging in Melacha, R. Steinsaltz offers two possibilities:

Either 1) Melacha is a function of the physical feeling that results from a forced expenditure of physical effort , i.e., labor and toil, and contributing to bodily sweat and overall exhaustion. Concomitantly, rest is when one does not exert such effort .

or 2) Melacha is a function of the result that is produced/achieved . Consequently, if no results are produced, or only consequences that have no positive, constructive value, Melacha has not been performed. Furthermore, an individual is considered as having engaged in Melacha if he premeditatedly intended to achieve the result that arises from his actions. And it therefore follows that rest is the cessation of planned creative activity .

It is therefore obvious that whereas the first definition could apply equally to human beings and other animate lifeforms, since Melacha from this perspective is exclusively about effort and labor, something that could apply equally to domesticated animals as well as human beings, the second definition will per force be unique to people, albeit if a person uses an animal to carry out his planned activity, it is tantamount to him having directly done it himself. And it is the second definition that Jewish Tora law considers the working definition of Melacha certainly for the purposes of defining Shabbat observance.

Considering the above, emulating God might ultimately be the theological purpose of the Mitzva of Shabbat.

R. Steinsaltz develops the underlying theme by beginning from the rationale that the Tora gives for the Mitzva of Shabbat within the Ten Commandments:

Shemot 20:11

For in six days the LORD Made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and Rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD Blessed the Sabbath day, and Hallowed it.

(It is curious that R. Steinsaltz only addressed the rationale appearing in the first iteration of the Ten Commandments in the Tora in Shemot, but does not include the Tora’s explanation that is contained in the second version of what was written on the Tablets in Sefer Devarim:

Devarim 5:14

And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God Brought thee out thence by a Mighty Hand and by an Outstretched Arm; therefore the LORD thy God Commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.

In order to preserve the methodological approach that is presented in this essay, the more particularistic perspective of the Exodus in Devarim would have to be melded in some manner with the universalistic aspect in Shemot that R. Steinsaltz opts to focus upon.)

Since the Tora explicitly states that observing Shabbat is an attempt to emulate God’s Example, i.e., if He Rested on the seventh day, so should man, the weekly Mitzva becomes an exercise in imitateo dei, one of the meta-principles of Jewish life, as articulated in detail in Sota 14a:

R. Chama son of R. Chanina further said: What means the text: (Devarim 13:5) “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God”? Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechina; for has it not been said: (Ibid. 4:24) “For the Lord thy God Is a Devouring Fire”? But (the meaning is) to walk after the Attributes of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. 1) As He Clothes the naked, for it is written: (Beraishit 3:21) “And the Lord God Made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin, and Clothed them,” so do thou also clothe the naked. 2) The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Visited the sick, for it is written: (Ibid. 18:1) “And the Lord Appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre,” so do thou also visit the sick. 3) The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Comforted mourners, for it is written: (Ibid. 25:11) “And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that God Blessed Ytzchak his son”, so do thou also comfort mourners. 4) The Holy one, Blessed Be He, Buried the dead, for it is written: (Devarim 34:6) “And He Buried him in the valley”, so do thou also bury the dead.

But R. Steinsaltz insists that not only via resting on Shabbat does a person emulate HaShem, but also by carrying out Melacha in a specific manner with a particular intent during the rest of the days of the week, thereby engaging in creation as well. He references a Rabbinic interpretation of a particular verse in the Creation story to establish this point:

Beraishit 2:1-3

1 And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God Finished His Work which He had Made; and He Rested on the seventh day from all His Work which He had Made. 3 And God Blessed the seventh day, and Hallowed it; because that in it He Rested from all His Work which God in Creating “ La’asot ” (to Do.)—double entendre: not only what God already Made (past), but also that man is charged with continuing to make, i.e., improve, perfect (future).

Pesikta Rabbati 23

Everything that was created during the course of the six days of Creation requires improvement (by man): mustard needs to be processed (without man’s involvement, they would be too spicy to consume), lupines need to be sweetened (untreated, they are supremely bitter), wheat needs to be ground (most people would not eat wheat grains in the natural form in which they grow out of the earth), even man requires improving/perfecting . (This final comment is particularly ambiguous and evocative. While it could be a reference to circumcision for males—see Beraishit Rabba 11:6—it could also refer to the existential need for all human beings, male and female, to spend their lives seeking self-perfection.)

Consequently, as important as it is to emulate God by resting on Shabbat, it is equally important to emulate His Creativity during the days when Melacha is permitted to be carried out!

An additional dimension of when one rests from his creative activities on Shabbat.

R. Steinsaltz adds that just as at the end of each individual day of Creation, God Evaluated, as it were, what had been accomplished, the totality of the Creation and how its individual parts interacted with and complemented one another was associated with the time leading up immediately before Shabbat:

Beraishit 1:31

And God Saw everything that He had Made, and, behold, it was very good . And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Just as HaShem “Took stock” of the Creation when it was completed, at least temporarily—Creation continues even after each Shabbat—so too man should see to it that he considers what he has achieved and what may remain to be done in the future.

Discussion.

While Achad HaAm commented in his essay “HaShabbat VeHaTziyonut”: More than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews, what “keeping Shabbat” signifies is in need of clarification. The most basic understanding would suggest that the observant individual has to make sure that he avoids performing Melacha and that he rests on Shabbat. But there is the tension between the letter and spirit of the law. R. Steinslatz, when he discusses how Shabbat observance entails both emulating yet another aspect of God’s Involvement with the world, as well as encouraging one to evaluate what he has just accomplished in the past week in order to better be prepared for the week to come, encourages a more holistic approach to Shabbat than simply making sure that one is careful about the various do’s and don’ts that are recorded in Jewish Halachic sources. While one must start somewhere, and hopefully the Rabbinic principle of “MiToch SheLo LiShma Ba’in LeShma” (from a state of doing things for ulterior motives, over time a person will come to do things for the “right”/pure reasons), R. Eliyahu Dessler in Michtav MeEliyahu vol. 1, notes that not every Lo LiShma has a “happy ending.” Sometimes the one can become entrapped in a Lo LiShma approach to things, and never move beyond such a stage. Reading essays such as R. Steinsaltz’ will hopefully encourage individuals not to allow this to happen to the manner in which they observe the Mitzva of Shabbat.