This week’s parasha, Yitro, describes Hashem’s revelation at har sinai through the aseret hadibrot – the Ten Commandments.
The fourth of the commandments (or, more literally, utterances) is zachor et yom haShabbat lekadesho – remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it. In this commandment, the Torah identifies the reason of Shabbat as being a reminder of chiddush olam – G-d’s creation of the world ex nihilo - out of nothingness.
Our Shabbat tefilot frequently mention this aspect of Shabbat – zecher lema’ase beresheit – a reminder of creation.
How does Shabbat commemorate creation?
The answer appears to be obvious. Shabbat is a reminder of G-d’s creation of the world from nothingness because the Torah says that G-d created the world for six days and rested on the seventh day. That seventh day is Shabbat.
The Malbim addresses this question by analyzing the word that the Torah uses in our parasha to describe what Hashem did on the seventh day – vayanach – and He rested. Malbim suggests that vayanach has a different connotation than another word that the Torah commonly uses to describe Hashem resting – vayishbot. According to Malbim, the word vayanach connotes that Hashem ended the process of creation.
However, from this perspective, Shabbat itself is not the reminder. The seven day week is the reminder of the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest. Shabbat is only the last day in the process of creation. How is Shabbat itself a reminder that Hashem created the world ex nihilo?
Malbim constructs a thought experiment. Imagine that the world had always existed. We should see the process of creation constantly unfolding. However, in the recorded history of mankind we see that the world has never created a new species of animal. On the seventh day of creation, G-d ended the process of creation. If there had been no cessation of the process of creation, the world itself would indicate that it had always existed. The fact that there was a cessation of the process of creation is evidence that Hashem created the world from nothing. Because it is a reminder of the end of the process of creation, Shabbat is also a reminder that Hashem created the world from nothing.
The Malbim’s interpretation provides valuable insight into the message behind the prohibition of creative labor - melacha - on Shabbat. Hashem created the world in a way that demonstrates that He created the world. However, the realization of this idea is not completely obvious. Shabbat and the prohibition of creative labor call to mind that Hashem – Who stopped the process of creation – is Creator of the world.
Shabbat Shalom.
The fourth of the commandments (or, more literally, utterances) is zachor et yom haShabbat lekadesho – remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it. In this commandment, the Torah identifies the reason of Shabbat as being a reminder of chiddush olam – G-d’s creation of the world ex nihilo - out of nothingness.
Our Shabbat tefilot frequently mention this aspect of Shabbat – zecher lema’ase beresheit – a reminder of creation.
How does Shabbat commemorate creation?
The answer appears to be obvious. Shabbat is a reminder of G-d’s creation of the world from nothingness because the Torah says that G-d created the world for six days and rested on the seventh day. That seventh day is Shabbat.
The Malbim addresses this question by analyzing the word that the Torah uses in our parasha to describe what Hashem did on the seventh day – vayanach – and He rested. Malbim suggests that vayanach has a different connotation than another word that the Torah commonly uses to describe Hashem resting – vayishbot. According to Malbim, the word vayanach connotes that Hashem ended the process of creation.
However, from this perspective, Shabbat itself is not the reminder. The seven day week is the reminder of the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest. Shabbat is only the last day in the process of creation. How is Shabbat itself a reminder that Hashem created the world ex nihilo?
Malbim constructs a thought experiment. Imagine that the world had always existed. We should see the process of creation constantly unfolding. However, in the recorded history of mankind we see that the world has never created a new species of animal. On the seventh day of creation, G-d ended the process of creation. If there had been no cessation of the process of creation, the world itself would indicate that it had always existed. The fact that there was a cessation of the process of creation is evidence that Hashem created the world from nothing. Because it is a reminder of the end of the process of creation, Shabbat is also a reminder that Hashem created the world from nothing.
The Malbim’s interpretation provides valuable insight into the message behind the prohibition of creative labor - melacha - on Shabbat. Hashem created the world in a way that demonstrates that He created the world. However, the realization of this idea is not completely obvious. Shabbat and the prohibition of creative labor call to mind that Hashem – Who stopped the process of creation – is Creator of the world.
Shabbat Shalom.
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