Values of, and Capitalizing on, Shabbos

ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קודש שבת שבתון לה' כל העושה בו מלאכה יומת.

Rashi comments

ששת ימים הקדים להם אזהרת שבת לציווי מלאכת המשכן לומר שאינה דוחה את השבת.

The smichas haparshiyos between Shabbos and the meleches hamishkan is to reinforce the tzivuy on Shabbos that meleches hamishkan doesn't docheh Shabbos. It's a little bit of a question when actually when we're not going to focus on this question. I mean according to the way Rashi learns the parsha in Ki Sisa ach shabbosai tishmoru so the Torah already has a drasha there that Rashi learns pshat that the mi'ut of ach verak is

אף על פי שתהיו רדופין וזריזין בזריזות המלאכה שבת אל תדחה מפניה. כל אך ורק מיעוטין למעט שבת במלאכת המשכן.

That's a shtikel kasha why according to Rashi you need two drashos to tell you that that the meleches hamishkan isn't docheh Shabbos. לכאורה לפי פשוטו על דרך אגדה so the pshat in in why the Torah needs to reinforce the tzivuy of Shabbos is as follows. Rashi has earlier in parshas mishpatim in the Torah in the context of talking about shvi'is

והשביעית תשמטנה ונטשתה ואכלו אביוני עמך ויתרם תאכל חית השדה כן תעשה לכרמך ולזיתך.

So the Torah's talking about shvi'is and in that context so then the Torah continues

ששת ימים תעשה מעשיך וביום השביעי תשבות למען ינוח שורך וחמורך וינפש בן אמתך והגר.

So in the context of shvi'is the Torah repeats the mitzvah of Shabbos of Shabbos Bereishis. So Rashi says

אף בשנה השביעית לא תעקר שבת בראשית ממקומה שלא תאמר הואיל וכל השנה קרויה שבת לא תנהג בה שבת בראשית.

I might have thought that since we since we have another Shabbos we have the Shabbos of shmita of shvi'is so then we don't need the Shabbos of Shabbos Bereishis. We don't need the Shabbos of the seventh day of the week. So lechora ke'ein zeh again al derech agada is the hava amina which the Torah is countering by telling us that meleches hamishkan is not docheh Shabbos. Right, the famous Rambam in Hilchos Beis Habechira where the Rambam explains why kedushas mikdash is lish'as-ah u'le'asid lavo and the makom hamikdash remains kadosh le'olmei olamim from the kedusha of David and Shlomo because the kedusha of mikdash is mipnei hashchina and shchina is einah betelah l'olam. The Rambam describes the the Rav zichrono livracha called attention to it. The Rambam describes in Hilchos Shabbos when he talks about being mekabel Shabbos. The Rambam says

איזהו כבוד זה שאמרו חכמים שמצוה על האדם לרחוץ פניו ידיו ורגליו בחמין בערב שבת מפני כבוד השבת ומתעטף בציצית ויושב בכובד ראש ויחכה להקבלת פני השבת כמו שהוא יוצא לקראת המלך.

Right, so the Rambam has the idiom not of Shabbos Hamalka but of Shabbos Hamelach. But clearly the Rav called attention to the parallel to the Rambam in Hilchos Tefilla about omeid lifnei hamelach of shchina that Shabbos also is a day of hashras hashchina. So there is an equation between Shabbos and kedushas zman and mikdash and kedushas makom. And lechora where this is expressed very remarkably is in the Friday night Friday night zmiros in Kol Mekadesh. אוהבי ה' המחכים בבנין אריאל. So bevinyan Ariel means the binyan Beis Hamikdash, right?

אוהבי ה' המחכים בבנין אריאל ביום השבת קודש שישו ושמחו

etcetera. So what's the what's the shaychus? Ohavei Hashem those who are those who love Hashem, who are waiting, who are longing for the binyan Beis Hamikdash ביום השבת קודש שישו ושמחו. So ela mai no, heim heim hadvarim that that what? The Ohavei Hashem who are mechakim for binyan Beis Hamikdash what they're longing for in a different form, in a different format, is available to them through Kedushas Shabbos. Lichora is the the pshat. So mimmela ke'ein the the Toras Hava Amina of not observing Shabbos Bereshis during shmita year, so me'ein that Hava Amina al derech ha'agadda is that one is assur b'melachas hamishkan. The same the there is an equation in terms of kedusha, so then maybe the maybe Shabbos Bereshis could be could be nidcheh. Me'inyan l'inyan. Ach shabsosai tishmoru in in last week's parsha, so the Ramban already comments on the lashon rabbim. What's pshat in the in the lashon rabbim? He says that al pi pshuto it means shabsos hashana and then he says al pi kabbalah it means the shamor and zachor aspects of of Shabbos. In in this context the Ksav Hakabbalah has really dvarim niflaim. So he says that that he thinks I'll just read you a few lines here that the lashon rabbim shabsosai tishmoru ki ta'am shabsosai. First he quotes the Ramban

באבוא כי שבתות השנה הם רבים. ולפי המבואר בשם שבת שיש פי שנים בהוראתו.

He says according to what I explained earlier on the Aseres Hadibros the word Shabbos, the noun Shabbos really has a double mashma'os. Has a double connotation. Listen to this. It's quite remarkable.

בשם שבת נכלל לשון מנוחה ביטול והפסק כמו שכתבו המפרשים.

So first of all Shabbos means cessation. Right not so much I'm not sure why he mentions menucha as well here later when he repeats it he doesn't he just mentions the bittul and hefsek. Shabbos means cessation. It doesn't really mean menucha, it means again to a a stop a break as in vayishbos haman mimochoras. It wasn't that the man was so oisgepotshket, you know how hard it is to fall down from shamayim every day for 40 years, needed a little bit of a vayanoach. It wasn't vayanoach, it was there was cessation it was ענין ביטול ביטול והפסק. So first of all Shabbos means cessation. השני ענין ישוב הדעת לענינים אלוקיים. How does the word Shabbos mean ישוב הדעת לענין לענינים אלוקיים? So let's read a few lines from what the Ksav Hakabbalah says here on on the Aseres Hadibros.

שבת להשם בשם שבת נכלל לשון מנוחה ביטול והפסק כמו שכתבו המפרשים ואפשר לכלול עוד בו ענין העיון והחקירה

to think deeply to and to reflect. כמו אחרי שובי נחמתי שבתי וראוה תחת השמש. So lichora lichora he's suggesting a new pshat here or at least I'd have to check if if any of the meforshim in nach say it but but the way the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah interpret the pasuk of acharei shuvi nichamti. So Rabbeinu Yonah discusses in the beginning of Sha'arei Teshuva what the sequence in teshuva is. Whether or not the charata comes before the azivas hachet or first there's azivas hachet and only later there's there's charata. So he says there's a stira in psukim and he says that this pasuk of acharei shuvi nichamti is after I repented which means that there was an azivas hachet. I changed my ways so acharei shuvi so shuvi translates according to Rabbeinu Yonah as after I repented so then nichamti. Then later once I put some distance between myself and the chet so then I could experience remorse. The Rambam also in Hilchos Teshuvah, the way he quotes the pasuk, is also mashma that the Rambam translates that the achrei shuvi is milashon teshuvah of repenting:

ומה היא התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד שנאמר יעזוב רשע דרכו.

So what's teshuvah? Azivas hachet. וכן יתנחם על שעבר שנאמר כי אחרי שובי נחמתי. So the Rambam also understands again sequentially that first is the azivas hachet and then is the nichamti, the charata. And again the translation of shuvi is milashon teshuvah after I repented. The way the Ksav Hakabbalah is understanding it means like this: achrei shuvi again, he's saying that sometimes you find the lashon shuv associated with iyun v'chakira, with thinking deeply, reflecting, contemplating. So achrei shuvi means after engaging in deep introspection, after engaging in contemplation, so then nichamti, then I that shuvi milashon azivas hachet milashon repentance, but achrei shuvi milashon that shuv he's about to explain in a minute how this is the case, that shuv lashon iyun v'chakira, lashon again thinking, reflecting, deeply contemplating. After that contemplation then, then nichamti, then I was filled with remorse. How does it mean this? He says: והוראה זו אינה יוצאת מכלל שורש שוב. Again, what does shuv mean? Shuv means to return or to revert, right? Something reverts from one thing to another is shoresh shuv. כי המתהפך בעיונו ובחקירתו, says the Ksav Hakabbalah,

פעם כן ופעם היפוכו, הרי הוא שב מן המחשבה הראשונה.

How so?

כי בתחילה נולד לו ידיעה ממושכל ראשון, הנה ידיעה זו היא אצלו מסובב, וכאשר יעיין עוד לבנות מושכלותיו על יסוד ידיעה זו, הנה המסובב נעשה סיבה למושכלות אחרות, ובדרך זו הוא שב תמיד פנים ואחור.

So he says, how does the thought process unfold? So a person begins, again it happens ma'aseh b'chol yom when if we're learning correctly, ma'aseh b'chol yom. So a person begins with a certain a certain premise, a certain axiom. From that premise, from that axiom, so he draws a conclusion. A person begins thinking that there's a Borei Olam. The Borei Olam acts purposefully, so it means that life has to life has a goal, life has a purpose, life has to be filled with a purpose. Okay, so that's so that's the that's the deduction he made, right? That's the conclusion that he reaches in his thought process. If he continues to think, so then based on that conclusion he now uses that conclusion becomes a premise and he draws other conclusions, right? מבין דבר מתוך דבר, and now he'll draw other conclusions. So what was originally in the in the earlier stages of his thought process, what was again an effect in in his lashonos, what was the what was derived, what was the derivation, then later becomes the source for further deductions, for further derivations. And he says that's how the lashon shuv is used for iyun v'chakira because when a person is engaged in that type of thought process, so the the derivation is shov, it it reverts to become a premise and and that's how the lashon shuv takes on the meaning of iyun v'chakira. Be that as it may, so he says that's simply the pshat, that's simply the pshat in the lashon Shabbos when it says that יום השביעי שבת להשם אלקיך, so it means according to the Ksav Hakabbalah, לפי פשוטו ועל פי דין, it means two things: A, it's a day of cessation. cessation, a day of bitul v'hafsek again from the melacha, but it's also a day of עיון וחקירה בעניינים אלוקיים again

מלשון אחרי שובי נחמתי שבתי וראות תחת השמש. ויהי לפי זה טעם שבת לה' יום מיוחד לעיון וחקירה בענייני השם שיאחד האדם את יום השביעי לפנות דעותיו ומחשבותיו כולם בדברים הנוגעים אליו יתברך.

That a person's thought he should clear away all the clutter which has accumulated in the sheshes yemei hama'aseh and they should be focused exclusively on דברים הנוגעים אליו יתברך on inyanim elokiyim.

ובזה ידענו ההבדל הגדול אשר בין לאו זה דלא תעשה כל מלאכה.

I'm sorry, let me read from a little bit further.

על פי הדברים האלה יש בלשון יום שבת מכוון יותר נעלה ונשגב מלשון יום מנוח.

Yom Shabbos again means something much more exalted than just again only a day of cessation and to mekayem the mitzvah of tishbos so the Ksav Vehakabalah says a person has to be focused on the inyanim elokiyim. Just in passing just to mention the obvious when we find references to the fact that sheina b'Shabbos ta'anug so what it means a person she'tash kocho all week from Talmud Torah sleeps a little bit extra on Shabbos. But it's not intended as it's according to the Ksav Vehakabalah it's mamash a bitul esek we'll read bli neder in a minute the lashon haRamban he has a similar idea. But even without being a bitul esek just it's an incredible squandering of an opportunity to waste kedushas Shabbos sleeping. You know there's a gevaldigue yesod from the Maharal I think we've mentioned it over the years on different occasions.

רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות.

So how is that being mezakeh Yisrael? The more Torah u'mitzvos we have so the more mitzvos one can unfortunately neglect rachmana litzlan the more mitzvos one can unfortunately rachmana litzlan violate. So says the Maharal like this: For every mitzvah the Ribbono shel Olam gave us he gave us kochos, kochos hanefesh to be able to fulfill the mitzvah. Which means that for every mitzvah the Ribbono shel Olam gives us it means that the kochos hanefesh with which we're imbued with which we're endowed became greater and greater. So רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted that the neshama וייפח באפיו נשמת חיים the neshama that we should have should be such a great and exalted neshama it should have more and more kochos hanefesh so since the kochos hanefesh are correlated with the Torah u'mitzvos so

רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות.

So from that was a little bit of a, a little bit of a step forward here. It also follows that whenever you have a mitzvah, not only do we have the kochos hanefesh for it, but it's also in a zman that that we're apparently mesugal to be able to do it. So if Shabbos is a day of שבת להשם יום עיון וחקירה בעניינים אלוקיים, it means that that it's especially mesugal for that also because again Hakadosh Baruch Hu primes us to be able to do the mitzvah. The same way he gives us the kochos hanefesh, he gives it in a, he doesn't tell us to plant in a season which is good for for harvesting. He tells us to plant in a season that's good for planting. So if there's a mitzvah of עיון וחקירה בעניינים אלוקיים, so it means that that especially on Shabbos we have those kochos hanefesh. And the Sefarim in Shulchan Aruch quote that when the neshamah yeseirah goes back to Shamayim on Motzei Shabbos, so it's asked what what what it learned over Shabbos. What what what chiddushim, what it learned over Shabbos. Ramban has a similar idea. Again, he doesn't have this this mahalach about the second meaning of the word Shabbos, but he comments on

זכור את יום השבת לקדשו שיהיה זכרוננו בו להיותו קדוש בעינינו.

The point of remembering Shabbos is that it should be a day of kedushah.

והטעם שתהיה השביתה בעינינו בעבור שהוא יום קדוש להיפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים,

right, the same lepanos deosav umachshavosav,

להיפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים ולתת בו עונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם.

And the ultimate oneg Shabbos is וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם. What's the Ramban's proof text?

כמפורש בכתוב מדוע את הולכת אליו היום לא חודש ולא שבת.

Right, so as the Gemara says

מכלל דבשבת וראש חודש בעו למיזל שהיה דרכם כן. וכן אמרו רז"ל מכלל דבחודש ושבת בעו למיזל.

So you see here something remarkable in the Ramban. Ramban says that the chiyuv talmud Torah on Shabbos is not only mitzad while there's always a mitzvah of והגית בו יומם ולילה, so Shabbos is lo gara from the other six days of the week. No, mitzad Shabbos there's a chiyuv talmud Torah. Benosaf to the chiyuv talmud Torah that that one has all week, Shabbos is mechayev in talmud Torah. How do you know the Ramban means it? The fact that he says it. How do you know the Ramban, how do you know the Ramban, that's what the Ramban means? Because the Ramban's proof text is legabei nashim. Is legabei nashim מדוע את הולכת אליו היום. That's what the Ramban is saying that the chiyuv is

להיפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים ולתת בו עונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם, וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם

for talmud Torah, kemo shene'emar מדוע את הולכת אליו היום. Ai, but ושננתם ולימדתם אותם את בניכם, baneichem velo benoseichem? So teretz is yeah, mitzad talmud Torah, nashim are peturos. The Ramban here lichora holds halacha lemaiseh but heyos that Shabbos is mechayev in talmud Torah, so he thinks that that's it's mechayev nashim as well. But al kol panim again, that same similar similar emphasis to what our preoccupation is supposed to be on Shabbos. Mimeila, that's what the Ksav Hakabbalah says, the lashon rabim of אך את שבתותיי תשמורו refers to these two aspects, these two levels of every Shabbos. The shevisas haguf as it were, the bitul and hefsek from melacha, the cessation from melacha, and then the Shabbos belashon אחרי שובי ניחמתי of the עיון וחקירה בעניינים אלוקיים. Both aspects of Shabbos achas. Yitachen yitachen another pshat in the Achas Shabsosai tishmoru the lashon rabbim. In the haskamos to Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchaso so there’s one from Rav Breuer zichrono l’vracha. He quotes there a pshat in the name of his father in the Ma’amar Chazal of אילו מלאו שמרו ישראל שתי שבתות מיד הם נגאלין. So why is it that the Bavli has shtei Shabasos? So the Ksav V’hakabbalah part of his mahalach taka says maybe it doesn’t really mean two consecutive weeks, maybe it means this pshat that he’s suggesting in Achas Shabsosai tishmoru. Maybe the Bavli really agrees with the Yerushalmi that it’s that it’s one Shabbos but it means on both levels, both both meanings of the word Shabbos. But taking the the Bavli kepshuto that it taka means that it taka means shtei Shabasos. So what’s the inyan of shtei Shabasos? So he quotes there in his haskama that the pshat is like this. Mitzad echad a person’s observance and experience of Shabbos is gonna be dictated by and is gonna be a reflection of his sheishes yimei hama'aseh. To the extent that his sheishes yimei hama'aseh are geared towards Shabbos, are focused towards Shabbos, so then that’s gonna allow him to to really capitalize on Shabbos. If a person is all week long is is very far from the values of Shabbos, he’s not gonna be able to flip the switch. So mitzad echad Shabbos requires the preparation of sheishes yimei hama'aseh. Me'idach gisa Shabbos is the mekor habracha for sheishes yimei hama'aseh. Without Shabbos you can’t really have hatzlacha, not only in a material and the physical sense but in a spiritual sense you can’t have hatzlacha during the sheishes yimei hama'aseh either. Shabbos is the mekor habracha. The Sforno comments here and also in last week’s sedra

ששת ימים תעבוד וביום השביעי תשבות גם כן תהיה הצלחתך כשתעבוד ששת ימים כאשר תשבות בשביעי.

So says Rav Breuer in the name of his father that’s the pshat אילו מלאו שמרו ישראל שתי שבתות. The emes is one Shabbos. One optimal shmiras Shabbos. But to have one optimal shmiras Shabbos he says first you have to have a Shabbos where you do your best. You have a Shabbos where you do your best you can have a sheishes yimei hama'aseh. Oh you had a sheishes yimei hama'aseh so now you can have an emesdikke an emesdikke Shabbos. So yitachen al pi darko then that’s the pshat of Achas Shabsosai tishmoru that the emes is that every time to observe one Shabbos it's based on the observance of shtei Shabasos. To observe Shabbos Parshas Pekudei so the shmira of Shabbos Parshas Pekudei begins with Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel because it’s only through Shabbos Vayakhel that you have that you can maximize the sheishes yimei hama'aseh v'chulu v'chulu and that’s what the Torah is hinting at in the Achas Shabsosai tishmoru.