Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh
ש×ֵש×ֶת יָמִי×, תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָ×כָה, ×•Ö¼×‘Ö·×™Ö¼×•Ö¹× ×”Ö·×©Ö¼×ְבִיעִי יִהְיֶה ×œÖ¸×›Ö¶× ×§Ö¹×“Ö¶×©× ×©×ַבַּת ש×ַבָּתוֹן, לַיהוָה;
“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD.”
I have been asked on various occasions
about the above verse. The verse seems to imply that there is an additional commandment to do work during the rest of the week. Why is it is not included in the 613 Mitzvoth of the Torah?
My response has always been somewhat murky, though recently I saw that Ben Ish Hai deals with this exact question as follows: The word תֵּעָשֶׂה due to the way its punctuated (with a Sere under Tav instead of a Patah) translates as “shall be done,” meaning to say that your work shall be done by itself (or at least not by you). This is the blessing that comes with Shmirat Shabbat: One who keeps the Shabbat accordingly is blessed with an easy parnassah under the condition set at the end of this verse ×•Ö¼×‘Ö·×™Ö¼×•Ö¹× ×”Ö·×©Ö¼×ְבִיעִי יִהְיֶה ×œÖ¸×›Ö¶× ×§Ö¹×“Ö¶×©× , “But on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day.”
Shabbat should be set aside as a day not only for eating and drinking, but as a day of kedusha and closeness to Hashem. If Shabbat is kept accordingly, then the promised blessing will come in full.