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HASHEM spoke to
Moshe, saying: “And you, speak to the Children of Israel and say: ‘Only
keep My Shabbos! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations,
to know that I, HASHEM, make you holy. Therefore, keep the Shabbos, for it
is a sacred thing for you. Those who desecrate it shall be put to death,
for whoever performs work on it, that soul will be cut off from the midst
of its people. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a
Shabbos of complete rest, holy to HASHEM; whoever performs work on the
Sabbath day shall be put to death.’ And the Children of Israel observe the
Shabbos, to make the Shabbos for their generations as an everlasting
covenant. Between Me and the Children of Israel, it is forever a sign that
[in] six days HASHEM created the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh
day He ceased and rested.” (Shemos 31:12-17)
Shabbos is a serious
business. The warning here is quite severe. How do we understand the
weightiness of Shabbos Kodesh? Firstly, we see a curious description.
HASHEM refers to Shabbos, not just a day in the week but as “My Shabbos”.
It’s not my Shabbos or your Shabbos. It’s HASHEM’s Shabbos! What does that
mean? Then we see something very curious. Shabbos is called “The Shabbos”.
Are there not many days of Shabbos in a person’s lifetime and over the
course of history? Which is “The Shabbos”? Next we are informed that the
Jewish People keeping Shabbos over generations is an everlasting covenant
and that HASHEM made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. What
is the connection?
I have a wild theory.
The world is only six days old. Allow me to explain please. HASHEM made a
world in six days and then He rested and that seventh day was Shabbos.
Before the first day of creation, before time, what day was it? It was
Shabbos, albeit in a heavenly domain. Every week, after six days, our orbit
of time brings us back to that Shabbos of pure Divine intent that now we
are experiencing in this realm of physicality. Shabbos is “M’ayn Olam Haba”
– “something akin to the Next World”. Here we are intersecting that same
original Shabbos in an earthly setting again and again.
Maybe in that way
Shabbos is “The Shabbos”. It’s not many different Shabbos(es). It’s all the
same glorious Shabbos experienced by different Jews in various ages and
settings. The Jewish People keep that Shabbos as generations past did and
as generations futures will. We are not only keeping Shabbos for ourselves.
The verse states, “And the Children of Israel observe the Shabbos, to make
the Shabbos for their generations…” We are to keep Shabbos in such a way
that future generations will keep it too. We are not keeping only for
ourselves but as a part of a national project, which is an everlasting sign
between HASHEM and the Jewish People.
It would seem that we
are all working, as in the building of the Mishkan, over time building and
creating Shabbos to Shabbos, year to year, generation to generation a
beautiful multi-dimensional mosaic, an everlasting collage of Shabbos,
filled with song, food, Torah learning, family time, and millions of other
delights the greatest of which is Kirvas Elochim, delighting in HASHEM.
That’s the sign! We can never imagine the grandeur and magnitude of that
spiritual monument that was created throughout the gauntlet of human
history by the Jewish People. Missing and shattered pieces of Shabbos would
be obvious by their absence or carelessness and the mosaic would be
lacking. It is a glorious tribute and an everlasting testimony to our holy
mission in this world.
My wife and I asked a
truly great educator, Rabbi Hershel Mashinsky ztl. how to keep our kids at
the Shabbos table and interested in participating. He offered us priceless
advice that we put into practice. He suggested that we make a family album
and to write down before Shabbos who prepared what food Divre’ Torah and
song. Then to inscribe after Shabbos, who were the guests, some quotable
statements, and much more. The favorite pastime of the children on Shabbos
became studying the books from years past. This was the record of our
unique family culture keeping HASHEM’s Shabbos and contributing to “The Shabbos”
our best impressions of Shabbos, to be included in what is promising to be
the most magnificent mosaic.
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