Beshalaj 5777 - English

By Rabbi Daniel A. Kripper

Beth Israel - Aruba

“If He had given us the Shabbat… Dayenu, it would have been enough,” so says the classical chant from Pesach, in gratitude for a great moment/episode in the saga of the Exodus.

Countless volumes have been written about the importance of Shabbat for Jewish civilization, from the Talmud sages up to A.J. Heschel, among others from our days.

Our Parashah tells of when the children of Israel received for the first time the mandate to observe Shabbat, the sacred seventh day (Ex. 16:26).  Them and their descendants were ordered to rest from their duties on the seventh day of the week, a principle which was later consecrated in the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day, six days you shall labor and do all your work…”

Thus, just like the seventh day came to be holy, so did the seventh year, called “Shemitah” or sabbatical year (followed by the Yovel or Jubilee year, which is the year that follows a cycle of seven sabbatical years).

The concept of Shemitah is “liberation”. It is the last one in the agricultural seven-year cycle, and the Torah states it must be recognized as a year of holiness, in the same way as the seventh day of the week.

“When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to Adonai,” and later adds, “for six years sow your fields and gather the crops.” (Lev. 25:1-7)

Shabbat and Shemitah are intimately linked. Just like we rest on Shabbat, the land is allowed to rest during the year of Shemitah. These are times of calm and internal peace, occasions to strengthen our spirituality and affirm our faith. That is the common denominator. In both cases, the number seven is the measuring pattern.

The way in which the verses are presented both for Shabbat and for Shemitah is worth noting. First, the imperative of keeping Shabbat is established, and then there is a reference to the work of the week. In a similar way, the six years of work precede the rest of the sabbatical year. Shouldn’t the Torah begin with the days and years of work, and later go on to mention the times of resting from work?

It would seem that this altering of the factors is not casual. It obeys an ideal of setting the “rest for Adonai” as a superior goal, which should draw the lines from the start for the work cycle of the following six years.

When one is about to “enter the land”, wanting to devote oneself to a life of work in order to satisfy material needs (till the land), the first step is to set up Shabbat as a priority. The underlying motive for productive activities should not be an aim towards profit or other benefits, but a means towards spiritual goals.  

Specially in our world of dizzying technological changes, this approach from the Torah would keep a person from losing sight of the overall goal, by aligning their life towards mundane goals, week after week, day after day.  The constant awareness of the values of the spirit transform the opaque years of immersion in the material into years imbued with purpose and meaning.

Once the person develops this elevated state of conscience or awareness, the observance of Shabbat is exalted by cultivating a sabbatical disposition, unique and indescribable.

In this way, the practice of Shabbat ceases to be a mechanical ritual, upheld “by tradition”, to transform into a motive for elevation, an oasis of peace and spiritual tranquillity, for oneself and for the family, a true “rest to Adonai”.

Rabbi Daniel Kripper