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…”
