Devar/5769/Mishpatim
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עברית
English
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (Ex 20:7)
God mentions the matter of the shabbat among the Ten Commandments, immediately after the verses which testify to His unity, and the commandment not to worship other gods.
The "Ten Commandments" form a sort of Constitution for the people who were just formed. They characterize in general, the difference between this new people and the rest of the nations of the world. Clearly, the matter of His unity, may He be blessed, is the foundation upon which everything else is built -- but it is possible to say that the holiness of the shabbat is the beam which most characterizes the holy people.
At the time the Torah was given, there was nowhere in the world which had an enforced rest day once a week -- shabbat in and of itself was a revolutionary and dangerous concept (to those rulers who wished to push their people harder and harder). The principle message, that a Jew is not a slave to the material world, began to be adopted by other nations as time went by, and caused a fundamental revolution in the entire world.
But our people -- O foolish people and unwise (Deut 32:6) -- kicks the word of God, strives to be a nation like any other, and desecrates the holiness of the shabbat every week. They want to "be entertained" or to do "shopping", specifically on the shabbat. And in their foolishness they do not understand the terrible loss they incur. They do not understand the irony that the gift the Torah gave the world was received avidly by almost all the nations of the world, but the people to whom the gift was given, reject it. The shabbat is very great -- for its tranquility gives strength to the weary, so they can worship God with joy.
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