Exodus XXXV – XXXVIII,20
The Torá insists on the special nature of Shabbat and especially on the need to abstain from melachah, which is forbidden work on that sacred day. The text makes specific mention of not lighting a fire on Shabbat. According to our Chachamim, there are thirty-nine categories of manual activities prohibited on Shabbat, including not lighting any fire, noted in our text. Why is it mentioned as an example of forbidden work, pinkt (especially) lo tevaarú esh, “you will not light a fire”?
Responding to this concern, the Talmud cites a difference of opinion between Rabbi Yosí and Rabbi Nathan. According to Rabbi Yosí, this prohibition’s specific mention seems an exceptional case, which serves to teach that the punishment for lighting fire in Shabbat is less than that received for disobeying any other melachah, forbidden labor. According to Rabbi Nathan, it follows from our text that each disobedience results in separate punishment. That is, the transgression of two prohibitions in Shabbat means receiving two punishments.
An objective reading of the same text, on the other hand, suggests that the ignition of fire is the typical example of what should not be done in Shabbat. After all, fire and heat are the agents we generally use to transform nature and its elements or give different uses to things. For example, we should not cook on Shabbat because due to heat, food becomes edible.
The Talmud speculates that Adam’s “first discovery” was the use of fire, the necessary instrument for most technological advancement. The development of civilization, as we know it, is inconceivable without the use of fire. The basic idea of “not working on Shabbat” apparently directs man to take advantage of what exists in nature but at the same time requires him to refrain from all activity that produces intentional creativity.
A power switch should not be pressed because doing so causes the electricity in the cables to become the light that radiates from a bulb. Before pressing the switch, one can not read in the room because of darkness. With the action of pressing a switch, we transform and alter the use given to that particular room, and therefore the ban. Abstention from all creative activity in Shabbat symbolically acknowledges and admits that the universe’s true creator is God and because He also ceased to create on that seventh day.
, the thirty-nine categories of “prohibited work” on Shabbat can be grouped under three general categories in his “Work on Shabbat according to Halachah.” These are “jobs” related to agriculture, those that are generally necessary for food preparation, and those used in handicrafts. We find a ban on sowing, plowing, mowing, harvesting, crushing, winnowing, and separating under the field of agriculture. Concerning the preparation of food, one should not ground, knead or bake.
Since the instruction of “do not work on Shabbat” is repeated along with instructions on the construction of the Mishkan, we deduce that all the necessary work for the construction of this tabernacle is indeed prohibited in Shabbat. The Mishkan activities were textile operations such as shearing, bleaching, plucking, and dyeing wool. Besides, operations such as spinning, knitting, splicing, untying, sewing, tearing were also carried out in the Mishkan. Likewise, the work involved elaborating leather such as hunting, sacrificing, skinning, tanning, scraping, cutting, writing, erasing. Included, of course, in the erection of this Mishkan are construction and destruction.
Under the goldsmithing heading, works are included not to turn on, turn off or finish. Finally, there is a prohibition of not transferring an object from a private domain to a public domain and vice versa; and the transport of an object in the same public domain.
The melachot of the above-mentioned categories of work contains additional prohibitions derived from them and whose overall sum is impressive. Therefore, our initial conclusion could be that on Shabbat day, there is a constant obsession with all that we “must not” do. “Don’t do” seems to be the essence of the sacred day. For some, it might be like this. Tradition, on the other hand, teaches something very different.
The spirit and intent of the multiplicity of these prohibitions stimulate us to move away from our worldly chores so that we have the opportunity to concentrate on other activities, such as study and reflection, conversation, and blending with the various members of our families, who are, after all, the elements and beings, the relationships that have transcendence and purpose in our mortal lives.
Is the Halachic conception of Shabbat compatible with modern life? In a society where the media is everything, is it possible to isolate oneself, for a period of twenty-four hours per week, from the obligatory use of the smart telephone, television and car? The answer is neither obvious nor easy. It requires a special amount of discipline to lock oneself in an “authentic Jewish fortress” on Shabbat, having shared for six days of each week, the pace of life and technological advances of our times. In previous times the problem was even more acute because of the difficulty in earning a livelihood. Not working one day meant not eating that one day.
At the end of the day, enforcement of Shabbat laws has to result from a very personal, firm decision, which, of course, invariably has great consequences. Asher Ginsburg, better known as Achad Haam, used to cite that “more than the Jews cared for Shabbat, Shabbat took care of the Jews.” There are identification and symbiosis between Shabbat and the Jew, which are difficult to delineate accurately. At the dawn of the Reformist movement in Judaism, an attempt was made to replace Shabbat with Sunday.
Some argue that the decision was made to facilitate assistance to the synagogue at a time when Saturday was a working day for the vast majority. Others argue that it was an additional attempt to “Christianize” Judaism and to differentiate the Jew as little as possible from the other members of society who offered him, for the first time, the option of citizenship. The change of Shabbat for Sunday gave the Jew the chance to attend his own Jewish “church” on the same day the rest of the population headed to Christian churches. One way or another, Judaism could not absorb this obvious imitation of the gentile world and returned to the celebration of Shabbat, on the correct day of the week while reformers continued their novel ideological principles.
The initial recitation of six psalms alluding to six days a week in Kabbalat Shabbat’s prayers was instituted by the Tsfat Kabbalists. These mystics used to go out into the fields during Friday twilight to receive Shabbat Malketa, the “Queen of Shabbat” approaching. We found the origin of this custom in the Talmud, where it is recounted that some sages dressed in their best clothes used to greet each other by saying, “We will receive Queen Shabbat.”
What was said symbolically in the time of the Talmud, apparently felt like a reality in the world of Kabbala. And in our times too, every family that observes Shabbat can bear witness that there is a peace and a cloak of holiness that envelops every corner of the home where the laws of this day are consecrated.
MITSVA: TORAH ORDINANCE IN THIS PARASHA
CONTAINS 1 PROHIBITION
- 114.Exodus 35:3 A court shall not execute capital punishment in Shabbat
