Behar-Bechukotai
The last pasuk in Parshat Behar (Vayikra 26:2) speaks about Shabbat and the Beit HaMikdash. In this shiur I would like to explore a profound principle which offers a deeper insight into what Shabbat, Shemittah and the Mikdash really are.
The reason given in the Ten Commandments to keep Shabbat is that, after six days of creating the world, Hashem “vayanach” on the seventh day – loosely and misleadingly translated in English as “rested” – in the sense of “menucha,” meaning rest.
In Bereishit (2:1) the description is different – “vayishbot,” meaning – to cease. For six days, Hashem was busy in the work of creating the world, and on the seventh day, He ceased doing that work. A more accurate translation of the prior “vayanach” is in the sense of hanacha, setting something aside. During the six days of Creation, Hashem, as it were, had in His hands the “tools” used in creating the world and on the seventh day He set them aside.
Did Hashem “rest” on the seventh day? We know He did not. We say in Shacharit every morning that Hashem, every millisecond of every day (even Shabbat), is perpetually renewing what He created during Creation. Hashem does not “rest/relax.” He continually injects energy into our universe. So, in this sense, the essence of Shabbat is not a cessation of all activity, but rather the cessation of all activity that creates something new, something that previously did not exist.
To fully observe Shabbat, “rest’ is the last thing one is required to do. We are commanded to refrain from doing the 39 main types of work done to build the Mishkan/Mikdash, including all the subsidiaries of these 39 categories – hundreds upon hundreds of details and nuances.
During the six days of the week, we essentially mimic Hashem in trying to create new things using the labor of our hands and minds for the purpose of sustenance and improving the world. Six days in the week, 313 days out of the year, through our repetitious behavior, our bodies become conditioned and programmed to behave in a certain way. We get up in the morning and switch off the alarm clock. We go down to the kitchen and boil water for our daily cup of coffee. We travel to work by car, etc.
On Shabbat, however, Hashem says – cease and desist! Make a switch in your mind and “deprogram” yourself. Concentrate intensely on every motion, thought, action and before you undertake it, examine it through the prism of the halacha (we in fact are required to do this every day of our lives, but on Shabbat it is amplified a hundredfold). Before we take a step, touch something, think a thought, scratch our nose, even the most “mundane” and seemingly insignificant thing – we must think twice. Is this profaning Shabbat or not? Is it one of the 39 types of work or a subsidiary? Is it pikuach nefesh or not?
So, quite the opposite, instead of relaxing and resting, to fully observe Shabbat, we need to constantly be on our guard (shamor). We need to function with a heightened sense of awareness of everything we do, so that on Shabbat, we do not engage in the same activities of the six days of the week. Not every activity (we still eat, sleep, speak etc.), but specifically those activities that are defined as “creating” (or “improving”) something.
During the six days of the week, we labor under the misconception that our own effort dictates our success or failure. We are like a chicken without a head, furiously running here, running there, trying this, trying that. Then comes Shabbat and Hashem says – cease! Oneg Shabbat comes from the word ogen meaning anchor. Hashem commands us – “Stop furiously running around, lay anchor. Set aside your misconceptions about the limitlessness of your own power. Detach yourself from the illusions of this world and focus on the true realities of the world and Who determines them. Today you are on My time, in My dimension. Today you do not take care of yourselves, I take care of you.”
Yes, we physically rest on Shabbat, but that is not the essence. We eat more and better than the other days of the week, but that is not the essence, it is only to respect and glorify the holiness of the day. The essence is – relocating ourselves to a higher plane of heightened awareness of G-d.
Shemittah is a very similar concept. For six years we sweat tilling our fields, sowing and reaping our crops, planting, pruning and harvesting. Then comes the seventh year, Shemittah and Hashem says to us – “Cease! In the seventh year you are in a different plane, in My plane. Set aside your illusions about the limitlessness of your own power. This year you do not take care of yourselves – I take care of you.” During Shemittah year, as on Shabbat, you will have a heightened awareness of Hashem and the realities of the world.
Parshat Vayakhel begins with Hashem commanding us to observe Shabbat. The mefarshim say that this precedes the detailing of the Mishkan to teach us that Shabbat takes precedence over building the Mishkan/Mikdash. You are not allowed to profane Shabbat to build the Mikdash. Ironically though, once the Mikdash is up and running, you are allowed to do things in the Mikdash on Shabbat, that under any other circumstances would be profaning Shabbat – bringing korbanot, managing the fires, doing shechita, etc.
There is one korban, though, that you are not allowed to profane Shabbat for – the lechem hapanim. The 12 loaves of lechem hapanim have to be baked on Friday, before Shabbat. The purpose of the lechem hapanim is to transfer Hashem’s prosperity to the world. We are not allowed to bake them on Shabbat because it cannot appear that we are in any way responsible for our own prosperity. The lechem hapanim is switched davka on Shabbat because Shabbat is the source of blessing for the entire week. The two stacks of lechem hapanim are like lechem mishneh, on the Shulchan, in a higher plane. They are in Hashem’s plane, in a different time frame, so they do not go moldy or lose their freshness during the week.
Our pasuk above is the common thread that weaves together the concepts of Shabbat, Shemittah and the Mikdash/lechem hapanim. All three of these concepts have the commonality that they are parnassah related. By wrapping up Behar with this pasuk, Hashem is telling us – “This is My domain, parnassah is My domain! Yes, you have to do your minimum effort, but ultimately, I determine whether you get parnassah or not. If you have faith in Me, keep My Shabbat, keep My Shemittah, you are covered.”
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: In which year in the Shemittah cycle will Mashiach arrive?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: How did the Mekalel, Am Yisrael sinning, mock the lechem hapanim? He said – “How can you serve 7-day-old, cold, stale bread to Hashem?” He totally misunderstood the essence and miracle of the lechem hapanim.
