בראשית ב:ג
וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃
And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done.
The passuk above describes Shabbos. What is the significance of stopping from work? Why is it specifically Shabbos on the 7th day? What does it mean that Shabbos is "holy"? What does it mean that Shabbos was "blessed" by Hashem? Why isn't the mitzvah of Shabbos mentioned here?
Rashi says that Shabbos is blessed in that the מן fell in double portions on Friday and Shabbos was made "holy" by not having מן fall on Shabbos.
What are other approaches to these questions?
What is the significance of stopping from work? Two reasons that I learned about from Rabbi Bessar's class. Reason number one, the more obvious out of the two, is that God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh, and so should we, as a way to sanctify the day for God. The second reason actually relates to exiting Egypt. During this time, God relieved us of our slavitude and, therefore, we commemorate that on Shabbat, by liberating ourselves of work for the day-just as God liberated us from slavery.
ReplyDelete--Noa Cohen
The ibn Ezra talks about an idea that on Shabbos every Jews neshama is blessed and becomes more holy. Hashem makes our body more holy and spiritual than any other day of the week. Personally, this idea is very beautiful to me. To think that on shabbos we are on a higher level inspires me to act in a more holy and it makes me feel extra connected to Hashem on Shabbos.
ReplyDeleteYakira
The radak says Hashem blessed us and all other species by giving us the opportunities to improve ourselves and meet our potential.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very nice concept because it implies that some of what we are is decided by ourselves instead of chosen for us. -Ilana Loskove
The reason shabbos is on the seventh day is because Hashem sent down mor Ma'an on friday so when Bnei Yisroel asked Moshe why they are getting extra Ma'an he told them that Hashem is sending them double so that for the next day on the seventh day the can rest and will not collect Ma'am. (Chabad.org)
ReplyDeleteElla Gerszberg
The significance of stopping to work on shabbos is because hashem finished the creation of the world. Another reason is because when we left mitzraim we stopped all of the work we were doing and just rested. I think this is so inspiring to see that even though hashem is great he doesn’t need a break from anything. Even he took time and stopped and look at the beautiful world he made
ReplyDelete״כי שישת ימים עשה ה׳ את השמים ואת הארץ ואת כל אשר בם וינח השביעי״
Eliana Shulman
Jordana Posner
ReplyDelete“What is a blessing” I think a blessing is like a bracha that calls out to hashem and whoever is giving the blessing is saying hashem please help this person and make them do well in life. Sort of like asking for guidance for everything to go well. The Ivan Ezra says that to bless means to renew or to refresh. On shabbos, hashem blesses us by increasing our well-being and renewing us. He increases our strength mentally and physically so we can do our work well during the week.