Shabbos 7

In order to understand the Kedushas Shabbos, we certainly have to have some insight into issur melacha on Shabbos. What issur melacha represents, what issur melacha expresses. A little bit we've discussed this topic already, but let's return to it. Let's begin with a mashal. You have a husband and wife. The majority of the time they're working in different areas, in different domains. יצא אדם לפעלו ולעבודתו עדי ערב. The husband goes out to the field, has to be choresh, zoreia, has to be mashkeh zroim. And the woman is attending, the wife is attending to her responsibilities. She's baking, she's cooking, sewing. At night, their responsibilities also diverge. He has a chiyuv to be koveia ittim l'Torah, to be learning. She's putting the children to sleep, preparing for the challenges of the next day. But there is a mitzvas onah. There is a mitzvas onah literally, right, onah means time. That there are times set aside when both take respite from their melacha which preoccupies them the rest of the time, and they spend time together. And there's a in its more specific halachic sense, there's a type of yichud and hisachdus which happens at that time. Now we know from the sifrei Neviim, Hoshea, others, sifrei Neviim as the mashal appears many times that the relationship between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and Knesses Yisrael is compared to the relationship between a husband and a wife. According to one understanding, this is what Shlomo Alkabetz had in mind in לכה דודי לקראת כלה. According to one pshat, the kallah is Knesses Yisrael. According to another pshat, it refers to the Shechina, Shechintah b'galusa. And according to one pshat, it refers to Knesses Yisrael. The Ramban writes in Parshas Yisro on זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, says the Ramban, שיהא זכרוננו בו להיות קדוש בעינינו. We should remember it to appreciate its kedusha.

כמו שאמר וקראת לשבת עונג לקדוש השם מכובד והטעם שתהא השביתה בעינינו,

the fact that we're shoveis mi'melacha

בעבור שהוא יום קדוש להפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות והבלי הזמנים.

So we're supposed to free ourselves of our mundane responsibilities. ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתך. Six for six days, so the wife doesn't spend that much time with her husband. She's busy attending to her responsibilities, the obligations which devolve upon her. But there is a time when again, when there's a time of yichud. Says the Ramban,

והטעם שתהא השביתה בעינינו בעבור שהוא יום קדוש להפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות והבלי הזמנים ולעשות בו עונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם.

Shabbos is a day when the issur melacha means... Shabbos is a day when the issur melacha means that we're freed from all the myriad mundane responsibilities to be alone with Ribono Shel Olam without distraction. Imagine if in the, imagine chassan and kallah in the yichud room and while they're in the yichud room, so he, right so you can't, it's impossible to, you can't sit for one, two minutes without taking out your cell phone and he's going over his accounts, his ledgers and if a person has 30 seconds and so you have to make a call and call someone, you can't, what else are you gonna do with a free 30 seconds? So he's going to sit in the yichud room and he's punching the buttons and he's checking his stocks and Haiyitachen? Haiyitachen? It's a time of yichud. A time of yichud. Haiyitachen? That's what the Ramban says: וטעם שתהיה השביתה בעינינו בעבור שהוא יום קדוש. And therefore so what do we do? What do we do? ללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם. So that's the pshat:

ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתך ויום השביעי שבת להשם אלקיך.

It's a time of yichud. Chassan and kallah, shiva yemei mishteh also have a type of issur melacha. Now the Ramban here very interestingly indicates that there's a special chiyuv Talmud Torah on Shabbos. Special chiyuv Talmud Torah on Shabbos. The Sforno, I think other meforshim as well have it, I think I wrote down the lashon. No, I didn't. The Sforno, you take a look in Parshas Emor in perek chaf gimmel, pasuk bet, so he talks about mikra kodesh and he writes לעשות כולם בתורה. That Shabbos, Shabbosos v'Yom Tovim to be osek b'Torah. And of course ultimately the makor for this is actually the same Yerushalmi that we mentioned last week in perek tes vav of Shabbos, halacha gimmel, that לא ניתנו שבתות וימים טובים אלא לעסוק בהם בתורה. But to fully appreciate this, I think we have to notice an astounding, astounding implication in the Ramban. The Ramban says that on Shabbos again,

לצאת בעונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם,

Kemo shene'emar, what's the proof text?

מדוע את הולכת אליו היום לא חודש ולא שבת. שהיה דרכם כן וכן אמרו רז"ל מכלל שבחודש ושבת באים אצלם.

So the Ramban says what's the raya that you're supposed to go to a chacham and a navi and lishmoa divrei Hashem? That her husband says to her, she doesn't tell him that the baby died from heatstroke, she just runs off without telling him what happened. So her husband says, why are you going? It's

לא חודש ולא שבת. מכלל דבשבת וראש חודש באים אצלם.

But, but we're talking about a chiyuv Talmud Torah and this is his wife, and נשים פטורות מתלמוד תורה. So how can that be the implication of the pasuk? That the implication of the pasuk is that there's a special chiyuv of Talmud Torah on Shabbos when he's addressing his wife? Meaning, had it been Shabbos I would have understood why you are going. Why would you have understood that?

מקרא צווח ואומר ולמדתם אותם את בניכם בניכם ולא בנותיכם וכל שישנו ללמד ישנו ללמוד וכולי וכולי נשים פטורות מתלמוד תורה.

And yet the Ramban quotes the pasuk. Ramban says so. So apparently the Ramban is saying like this: this special chiyuv Talmud Torah which exists on Shabbos, the Sforno says on Yom Tov as well, the Yerushalmi says on Yom Tov as well,

לא ניתנו שבתות וימים טובים לישראל אלא לעסוק בהם בתורה,

is not just מצד מצות תלמוד תורה, not just mitzad ושיננתם לבניכם ולימדתם ולימדתם. Shabbos is a time for yichud. Shabbos is a time for yichud between the oheiv and the dode, between Knesset Yisroel and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's a time for yichud. So how are we misyached and misached with the Ribbono Shel Olam? How does that happen? Shabbos is—that's the avodah of Shabbos. That's what Shabbos is mesugal for. But how does it happen? How is that yotzei lapoal? So we all know the midrash thanks to Rav Chaim Volozhiner, thanks to the Nefesh HaChaim, so that we all know the midrash in the beginning of Parshas Terumah, Veyikchu Li Terumah, that generally when a moicher or nosein matanah gives something, so you don't get the moicher himself, you don't get the nosein matanah with the matanah. And but the Ribbono Shel Olam is not like that: Veyikchu Li Terumah. That with Torah, so a person—a person becomes daveik in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Oh, so that's the pshat. So Shabbos is a time, יום השביעי שבת לה' אלוקיך, there's no melachah. The same way there's no melachah in for chosson and kallah, Shivas Yemei HaMishteh, there's no melachah because it's a time—it's a time of yichud. A time of yichud, but how—how is one misyached, how is one misached with HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Through Torah. Eiba zos says the Ramban, so the chiyuv is not Toras Talmud Torah. The chiyuv is מצד זכור את יום השבת לקדשו. There's a chiyuv to learn on Shabbos

מצד זכור את יום השבת לקדשו. כל שישנו בשמור ישנו בזכור.

So the Ramban is a rayah to—to organize, whether it's a shiur in Pirkei Avos seasonally or, once upon a time in Europe, it was reading Tzenah u-Re'enah, but that there should be a component of Talmud Torah for the nashim also, because that's the mitzvas hayom of Shabbos. It's not mitzad Talmud Torah. Mitzad Talmud Torah, it's Baneichem velo benoseichem. But mitzad the kedushas hayom of Shabbos, kedushas hayom of Shabbos is to be misyached and misached. Now, implicit in this, that there is a special chiyuv Talmud Torah on Shabbos, implicit in this is that Shabbos, the zman of Shabbos, is especially mesugal for Talmud Torah. When the Torah tells us to intensify our avodah in a particular area at a particular time, because it means that the Torah is saying that this time is especially mesugal, especially conducive, especially propitious for that avodah. So it means that Shabbos is a time which is especially mesugal. In fact, this Yerushalmi that—that we've been discussing from Perek Tes Vov in Shabbos, the Yerushalmi, Gilyon HaShas is matzyan, the Beis Yosef quotes it in reish peh ches, the Rema quotes it in reish tzadi. So if you take a look there in Siman Reish Tzadi where the Rema quotes this Yerushalmi, so the Shaarei Teshuvah there tells you to look up the Shelah HaKadosh. So the Shelah HaKadosh, he refers to this as well, others quote it as well, that it says in the Zohar HaKadosh that when the neshamah yeseirah goes back up to shamayim in Motzei Shabbos, so the neshamah yeseirah is asked what chiddushei Torah, what chiddushei Torah the neshamah was mechadesh on Shabbos. It can't be that the neshamah yeseirah comes back to shamayim without—it has to come with chiddushei Torah. And the poskim then say, I think the Shelah HaKadosh himself goes on to say, I don't remember now, or maybe it's the Shaarei Teshuvah quotes this from other acharonim, if a person is not mesugal to be mechadesh chiddushei Torah, he should at least learn something on Shabbos which is new for him, something that he hasn't learned before, because how can there be an expectation—again, how can there be an expectation of davka chiddushei Torah? Again, so part of it is with the neshamah yeseirah a person has a greater capacity, but it's—it's both the capacity as well as the zman which make it mesugal l'kach. וחס וחלילה אין הפירוש שיבלו כל היום בתענוג, says the Shla, רק ימשיכו בתענוג יותר משאר הימים. There is a mitzvah of oneg Shabbos,

אבל חלילה לפרוש מן התורה. וכולי עלמא מודים בשבת ניתנה תורה, ואדרבה חייב אדם לראות בכל שבת ושבת לחדש חידושי התורה

kmo shekasuv bazohar,

שבמוצאי שבת בחזרת נשמה יתירה למקומה שואל אותה הקדוש ברוך הוא מה חידוש היה מחדש בתורה.

The emes is that that al pi nigleh from Rashi in Kiddushin is mashma that Shabbos is more a time for a chazarah than it is for chiddushei Torah. Ela mai, the day is long enough for both, boruch Hashem. Rav Pinkus also has this idea, not exactly with the same hakdama.

ואמנם זה גופא איך מתחברים עם קודשא בריך הוא, כשמגיע הזמן ליתן תורה לעולם, היינו להביא קדושת השם יתברך לתוך עולמנו, דרך איזה שער יבוא כבוד שמים,

derech shaar hashabbos,

שזה ממש המהות של השבת, השער לבואו של השם. ומה נפלאו דברי חז"ל לא ניתנה השבת אלא לתלמוד תורה שזה ממש המהות של שבת להגיע אל התורה שהתורה היא קדושת השם יתברך בעולם. ונמצא זה ממש המציאות של שבת, השער להגיע לקודשא בריך הוא ותורתו.

Now previously in previous shiurim we had a slightly different angle and a slightly different perspective on issur melacha of Shabbos. I think then we gave a mashal, I don't remember perhaps if Rav Pinkus has this, I don't recall now, that when the melech comes, so all of a sudden everyone stops everything they're doing and just focuses totally and entirely and exclusively on the melech. Man malkei rabanan, if a big talmid chacham walks into the room right now, so everyone would stop, we'd stop, we'd freeze. And that's how we understood issur melacha. Again, a reaction to malchus. It was apparently a different perspective that we had on issur melacha of Shabbos. Tonight we've been discussing more how the issur melacha, again, in the yichud room there's no melacha being done. During shivas yemei hamishteh a chosson and a kallah there's no melacha being done. Ela mai, hakol echad. The inyan that on Shabbos is a zman where Knesses Yisrael is misyached with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Unlike sheishes yemei hamaaseh of

ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל מלאכתך ויום השביעי שבת להשם אלוהיך.

What underlies that? What underlies that is the reason on Shabbos, on Shabbos Kodesh, that a Jew is misyached and tries to be doveik by Hakadosh Baruch Hu is because ultimately ein od milvado. Ultimately there is nothing else. So on Shabbos why is it, why is it that we... one is misyached with Hakadosh Baruch Hu? It's not that we're blocking other things out, it's because we have a hakara that there is nothing else, that ein od milvado. Ein od milvado is what the essence of malkhius is. The Gemara in Rosh Hashana says that the pasuk of ein od milvado is a pasuk of malkhius, even though it doesn't have, even though the word melekh doesn't appear in the pasuk. But that gufeh is the essence of malkhius. Nimtzeinu lemadim the two meshalim are one and the same. The mashal of the king comes in and everything freezes, everything stops, everything is focused on the king. The mashal of the yichud room is one and the same, is one and the same. The essence of malkhius is ein od milvado. Ein od milvado, so again we don't have to neglect kol melachtecha, but it's pashut that the ein od milvado and that's the inyan of Shabbos and that's the zman to be focused on it. And the truth is that the special chiyuv Talmud Torah on Shabbos also. Again, so we presented it initially as enabling, as facilitating the yichud, the yichud to the extent that one can talk about that, it's probably not the right term, let's substitute dveikus instead. But there is another perspective on it also, and that is the Rav zichrono livracha often called attention to the Rambam in the beginning of Hilchos Kerias Shema where the Rambam apparently is saying pshat in the Mishna in the beginning of Haya Korei of למה קדמה פרשת שמע לפרשת והיה אם שמוע. So the Mishna says because parshas Shema has קבלת עול מלכות שמים and vehaya im shamoa is kabbalas ol mitzvos. So the Rambam elaborates that to say because there are three major principles in the parsha of Shema:

יש בו ייחוד השם ואהבתו ותלמודו שהוא העיקר הגדול שהכל תלוי בו.

The way the Rav understood this last line of ותלמודו שהוא העיקר הגדול שהכל תלוי בו is that the third element contained in parshas Shema, which is why makdimin parshas Shema is mitzvas Talmud Torah, is the והיו הדברים האלה ושיננתם לבניך, and that there is a kiyum of קבלת עול מלכות שמים through Talmud Torah. Talmud Torah is a kiyum in קבלת עול מלכות שמים. So again, it's the same, right? The same, we had the two meshalim. The issur melacha because the king comes and everything freezes, everything stops, everything is focused on the king. The issur melacha as the instrument for yichud, for dveikus. Talmud Torah also, Talmud Torah again, is how vayikchu li terumah, but Talmud Torah also קבלת עול מלכות שמים. Why? Because they're one and the same. The impetus, the strive for the dveikus, the essence of malkhius is the realization, is the recognition that ein od milvado. And Shabbos is a zman, is a zman every second, every precious second of the day is a zman when it's mesugal for a Jew to strive to have that yichud with the Ribono Shel Olam.