SHABBAT

"There are few ideas in the world of thought which contain so much spiritual power as the idea of the Sabbath. Aeons hence, when of many of our cherished theories only shreds will remain, that cosmic tapestry will continue to shine. Eternity utters a day." The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel

The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, Nahum M. Sarna at 14: The ascending order of Creation, and the "six-plus-one" literary pattern that determines the presentation of of the narrative, dictates that the seventh day be the momentous climax. Man is indeed the pinnacle of Creation, but central to the cosmogonic drama is the work of God, the solo performer. The account of Creation opened with a statement about God; it will now close with a statement about God. The seventh day is the Lord's Day, through which all the creativity of the preceding days achieves fulfillment. The threefold repetition of the day number indicates its paramount importance within the cosmic whole. The seventh day is in polar contrast to the other six days, which are filled with creative activity. Its distinctive character is the desistance from labor and its infusion with blessing and sanctity. This renders unnecessary the routine approbation formula ["there was evening and there was morning...]. An integral part of the divinely ordained cosmic order, it cannot be abrogated by man. Its blessed and sacred character is a cosmic reality entirely independent of human effort.

The Sabbath Law in the Decalogue(S): Creation and Liberation as a

Paradigm for Community, Gerald A. Klingbeil Revue Biblique, Vol. 117, No. 4 (OCTOBRE 2010) at 502. "[T]he unit of seven days is significant in biblical narrative and ritual texts and often refers to crucial moments of transition (as, for example, in the case of ritual acts such as mourning rites [Gen 50: 10; 1 Sam 31:13], ordination rites [Exod 29:35-37; Lev 8:33-35], purification rites [Lev 12:2; 14:8, 38; 15:13, 19, 24, 28; etc.]). Based on this important unit of creation time, transitional periods require similar time periods in order to achieve transition, which in turn are often associated with holiness and purity concerns."

The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg at 272: "In kabbalistic imagery, the classic mapping of the world yields six compass points: the four directions, up and down; the seventh point represents the heart of the matter, the nub of the world. As in the relation of the Shabbath to the six days of the week, or of the Shemitta (Sabbatical) year to the six years of agricultural labor, the seventh of the series is the hidden meaning, the truth that cannot be translated into other terms. The elusive origin of God's voice represents the seventh point. Where it is to be found, if not at the heart of the vortex? After all the explorations of desire, there is a return to a still point: "the still point of the turning world. [quoting T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets']"

The Heart of the Matter, Arthur Green, at 19: "According to Talmudic report (originally disputed but later widely accepted by the tradition), the biblical basis for almost the entirety of the Sabbath prohibitions lies in Exodus 31:13: "Moreover you shall keep my Sabbaths." This Sabbath command is inserted, seemingly without reason, in the midst of the ongoing discussion of the building of the tabernacle, the Torah's prototype of an ideal Temple. Since the word 'akh, with which this Sabbath verse opens, is a term of exception in the technical vocabulary of rabbinic exegesis (i.e., it comes to teach that what follows is an exception to the previously stated rule), the rabbis conclude that all forms of labor involved in any way in the construction of the tabernacle were meant to be forbidden on the Sabbath. These include such general categories as planting, shearing, dyeing, sewing, and striking a hammer. The point seems to be obscure and arbitrary, that so much of Sabbath law should be unmentioned in scripture and derived from a seemingly innocuous two-letter Hebrew word. The rabbis themselves called it "mountains hanging by a hair." But perhaps it is neither arbitrary nor obscure....By the deft interpretation of an 'akh, the rabbis have succeeded in transferring all that biblical detail from the realm of space, where it had been rendered useless [by the destruction of the Temple], to that of time. The phenomenon is one of reversal: by doing all these labors in the particular prescribed configuration, one creates sacred space. By refraining from these same acts, in the context of the Sabbath, one creates sacred time.

Klein Dictionary, Verb, ש-ב-ת

שׁבת to cease, desist; to rest.
— Qal - שָׁבַת 1 he ceased, desisted; 2 he desisted from labor, rested; PBH 3 he observed the Sabbath, he spent the Sabbath; NH 4 he struck, was on strike (properly ‘he stopped working’).
— Niph. - נִשֽׁבַּת ceased.
— Hiph. - הִשֽׁבִּית 1 he caused to cease, put an end to; 2 he removed, exterminated, destroyed; NH 3 he locked out (workers).
— Hoph. - הֻשְׁבַּת PBH 1 was made to cease, was stopped; PBH 2 he ceased, perished; NH 3 was locked out (from his work). [JAram. שְׁבַת (= he rested; he observed the Sabbath), Arab. sabata (= he cut off, interrupted, ceased, rested). Akka. shabātu, which prob. means ‘to complete, cease, desist’. cp. שֶׁבֶת ᴵ.] Derivatives: שַׁבָּת, שְׁבוּת ᴵᴵ, שְׁבִיתָה, שׁוֹבֵת, מִשְׁבָּת, מֻשְׁבָּת.

The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel, at 88: "It is for a spiritual purpose, the Zohar implies, that supernal souls leave their heavenly sphere to enter for a day the lives of mortal[s]. At every conclusion of the Sabbath day when the supernal souls return to their sphere, they all assemble before the presence of the Holy [Sovereign]. The Holy One, then, asks all the souls: what new insight into the wisdom of the Torah have ye attained while present in the lower world? Happy is the soul that is able to relate in the presence of God an insight attained... during the seventh day. Indeed, how embarassed must be the soul which appearing before the presence of God remains mute, having nothing to relate.

Klein Dictionary, verb, ב-ר-ך

ברך ᴵᴵ to bless.
— Qal (occurs only in the pass. part. - בָּרוּךְ , q.v.).
— Niph. - נִבְרַךְ he blessed himself, wished himself a blessing.
— Pi. - בֵּרַךְ 1 the blessed; 2 he greeted; 3 (euphemistically) he cursed.
— Pu. - בֹּרַךְ was blessed.
— Hith. - הִתְבָּרֵךְ 1 he blessed himself; 2 (pl.) they blessed each other. [Phoen. ברך (= to bless), Aram. בָּרֵךְ, Syr. בַּרֵךְ (= he blessed), Ugar. brk (= to bless), Arab. bāraka (= he blessed), Akka. karābu (= to bless — a metathesis form), Ethiop. mekrāb (= temple). M.H. Goshen, referring to the fact that parallelism of the bases brk ║ mrr is well established in Ugaritic and that mrr very prob. means ‘to strengthen’, suggests that the orig. meaning of ברך was ‘to be strong’, whence developed the meaning ‘to bless’.] Derivatives: בָּרוּךְ, בְּרָכָה, הִתְבָּרְכוּת, מְבֹרָךְ.

The Sabbath, Abrahma Joshua Heschel at 10: "The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world."

The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, Nahum Sarna, at 112:"[Shabbat's] intrinsic sacred character derives from God. By following a pattern of living and observance in conformity with that intrinsic holiness, Israel transforms its mundane existence into a spiritual experience one day a week."

The Meaning of Holiness in Judaism, David S. Shapiro at 51: "The Sabbath was the first realm in the created world to be sanctified. "And God blessed the Sabbath day and He hallowed it" (Gen. 2:3). God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good (ibid. 1:31). He also blessed the creatures that He had fashioned, the fishes, the birds, and human beings, but nothing created was specifically endowed with holiness till the Sabbath arrived. He then hallowed it just as he tendered His blessing to it. From this primordially sanctified segment of time derive all other phases of sanctified time, such as the New Moons, the Festivals, the Day of Atonement, the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee. All other forms of holiness in the universe are likewise grounded in this original sanctity. On the Sabbath the Space of the universe is sanctified—thus establishing sanctity in Space. The Spirit of man who had been created on the sixth day was likewise sanctified on the Sabbath—thus making possible the sanctity in Spirit."

The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, Nahum M. Sarna at 15 God blessed...declared it holy: "Unlike the blessings of verses 22 and 28 [Gen. 1], which are verbal, specific, material, and relate to living creatures, this blessing is undefined and pertains to time itself. the days becomes imbued with an extraordinary vital power that communicates itself in a beneficial way. That is why the routine day formula is here omitted. God, through His creativity, has already established His sovereignty over space; the idea here is that He is sovereign over time as well. Through the weekly suspension of normal human activity, man imitates the divine pattern and reactualizes the original sacred time of God, thereby recovering the sacred dimension of existence. Paradoxically, he also thereby rediscovers his own very human dimension, his earthliness, for the Sabbath delimits man's autonomy, suspends for a while his creative freedom, and declares that on that one day each week nature is inviolable."

Klein Dictionary, verb ק-ד-ש

קדשׁ to be holy, be sacred.
— Qal - קָדַשׁ 1 was set apart, was consecrated; 2 was forbidden.
— Niph. - נִקֽדַּשׁ 1 was hallowed, was sanctified, 2 was consecrated, was dedicated.
— Pi. - קִדֵּשׁ 1 he hallowed, sanctified; 2 he dedicated; consecrated; 3 he declared holy; 4 he cleansed, purified; 5 he devoted, assigned; PBH 6 he sanctified the Sabbath or the festivals; PBH 7 he pronounced the benediction of Kiddush; PBH 8 he made something prohibited; PBH 9 he betrothed, wedded.
— Pu. - קֻדַּשׁ 1 was hallowed, was sanctified; 2 was dedicated was consecrated; PBH 3 was betrothed, was wedded.
— Hith. - הִתְקַדֵּשׁ 1 he kept himself separated, purified himself; 2 he became sanctified; 3 he prepared himself; PBH 4 it was forbidden (as food).
— Hiph. - הִקְדִּישׁ 1 he set apart as holy, devoted as holy; 2 he regarded as holy; 3 he designated, appointed; NH 4 he dedicated.
— Hoph. - הֻקְדַּשׁ 1 was set apart as holy, was devoted as holy; MH 2 was regarded as holy; NH 3 was designated, was appointed; NH 4 was dedicated. [Related to Ugar. qdsh (= sanctuary), Phoen. קדש (= holy), מקדש (= sanctuary, holy place), Aram.-Syr. קַדֵּשׁ (= he hallowed, sanctified, consecrated), Palm. קדש (= to sanctify, consecrate), Arab. qadusa (= was holy, was pure), quaddasa (= he hallowed, sanctified, consecrated; he went to Jerusalem), quds (= purity, holiness), al-quds (= Jerusalem; lit.: ‘the holy place’), Akka. quddushu (= to cleanse, to hallow, sanctify,), Aram.–Syr. קְדָשָׁא (= ear or nose ring; orig. ‘holy thing’). The orig. meaning of this base prob. was ‘to separate’.] Derivatives: קֹדֶשׁ, קָדֵשׁ, קֽדֵשָׁה, קֽדֻשָׁה, קֻדֽשָׁא, קָדוֹשׁ, קִדּוּשׁ, קַדִּישׁ, הֶקְדֵּשׁ, הַקְדָּשָׁה, אַקֽדַּשָׁה, הִתְקַדּֽשׁוּת, מִקֽדָּשׁ, מְקֻדָּשׁ. cp. the second element in קֽדַשְׁנוּן.

Klein Dictionary, Noun, ש-ב-ת

שַׁבָּת m.n. (pl. שַׁבָּתוֹת) 1 day of rest, Sabbath. 2 week, i.e. the seven days from Sunday to Sabbath (the JAram. and Syr. loan words also have both meanings: ‘Sabbath’, and ‘week’; cp. also Gk. sabbaton and sabbata, which also have both these meanings). 3 feast, festival. 4 of years, i.e. a period of seven years. 5 the Sabbathical year, ‘shemittah’. PBH 6 ‘Sabbath’, name of the first Mishnah and Talmud tractate of the order מוֹעֵד. [Derived from שׁבת and lit. meaning ‘day of rest’. Aram.–Syr. שַׁבְּתָא, Arab. sabt, Ethiop. sanbat, are Heb. loan words. So are Gk. sabbaton (whence L. sabbatum, It. sabato, Old Provençal–Catalan dissapte, Spanish–Portuguese sábado, Serbo–Croatian subota, Czech and Slovak sobota, Russ. subbóta, etc.), and its Gk. vulgar var. sambaton, whence VL sambatum, Rumanian sîmbǎtǎ, Old Slavic so̧bota, Hungarian szombat (= Saturday), and sambatīdiēs (= the day of Sabbath), whence Old Fren. sambe-di, whence Fren. samedi (= Saturday), and prob. through the medium of the Gothic — the first element in Old High Ger. sambaz-tac, middle High Ger. samez-tac, Ger. Samstag (= Saturday). However, also Akka. shabbatu, shappatu, and Egypt. smdt, in the sense ‘15th day of the month’ (but not in the meaning ‘7th day of the week’, nor in that of ‘7th or 14th day of the month’, as supposed by many scholars), are borrowed from ancient Hebrew. As shown by the above facts, the name שַׁבָּת and the idea it conveys are of Hebrew origin.] Derivatives: שַׁבּֽתַאי, שַׁבָּתוֹן, שַׁבַּתִּי, שַׁבַּתְיָן. cp. סַמֽבַּטְיוֹן.

The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, Nahum Sarna, at 201: "The idea of the Sabbath as a sign is reinterated in [chapter 31, verse 3 and] verse 17. It's observance is a declaration of faith, an affirmation that Israel is a holy nation not inherently but by an act of divine will; that the relationship between God and Israel is regulated by a covenant; and that the universe is wholly the purposeful product of divine intelligence, the work of a transcendent Being outside of nature and sovereign over space and time."

The Sabbath Law in the Decalogue(S): Creation and Liberation as a

Paradigm for Community, Gerald A. Klingbeil Revue Biblique, Vol. 117, No. 4 (OCTOBRE 2010) at 499. [T]he greatest difference between Exod 20 and Deut 5 concerns the final motivation clause of the Sabbath commandment (Exod 20:11; Deut 5:15). The texts simply use two seemingly distinct motivations for the keeping of the Sabbath. While Exod 20:11 focuses on creation and God's rest as a paradigm for humanity's rest, Deut 5:15 highlights [Adonai's] mighty deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and thus emphasizes liberation, which is part and parcel of the larger concept of redemption. As already suggested this is most likely due to the changed historical situation, roughly forty years after the first proclamation of [Adonai's] ten words. When considering this changed situation, it must be noted that the different motivation clauses are not contradictory, but seem to complement each other. In other words, Deut 5:15 makes something explicit that is already present in Exod 20, and appears in another Sabbath commandment in the Book of the Covenant (Exod 23:12) which highlights God's compassion for the oppressed and [God's] interest in liberation, which is rooted in creation.

Deuteronomy 1-11, Moshe Weinfeld at 309: "This [Deut. 5:15] is not to be understood as suggesting that the Sabbath day was instituted because of the Exodus; rather, because of the deliverance from Egypt, Israel is urged to observe the Sabbath, which means letting the slaves and other dependents rest on this day.

The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel, at 18-9: "Call the Sabbath a delight: a delight to the soul and a delight to the body. Since there are so many acts which one must abstain from doing on the seventh day, "you might think I have given you the Sabbath for your displeasure; I have surely given you the Sabbath for your pleasure." To sanctify the seventh day does not mean: Thou shalt mortify thyself, but, on the contrary: Thou shalt sanctify it with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy senses. "Sanctify the Sabbath by choice meals, by beautful garments; delight your soul with pleasure and I will reward you with pleasure....'The Sabbath is a reminder of the two worlds--this world and the world to come; it is an example of both worlds. For the Sabbath is joy, holiness and rest; joy is part of this world; holiness and rest are something of the world to come.'"

The Sabbath Law in the Decalogue(s): Creation and Liberation as a Paradign for Community, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Revue Biblique, Vol. 117, No. 4 (OCTOBRE 2010), at 509: "One particular element that has not yet been handled in detail involves the community aspect of the Sabbath commandment, which is also visible in other commandments. Even though the verbal forms used in the Sabbath commandment are singular forms, the effects and impact of Sabbath keeping involve communities, beginning with a family, its animals, its servants (suggesting a leveling effect of Sabbath observance; social barriers do not bind when mankind is obliged to God), and includes also the stranger in the sphere of influence of the particular Sabbath keeper. This community is an echo of the lost paradise where humanity and God shared uninhibited and unfettered fellowship. It also prefigures restored community that God's people will enjoy with one another, but even more so with the nations, the people, and the tribes who can hear the voice of a holy God in a text that links humanity's origins with the liberation of a people (and individuals who make up the people) who have seen God in action in their lives."

The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel, at 60: "The idea of the Sabbath as a queen or a bride is not a personification of the Sabbath but an exemplification of a divine attribute, an illustration of God's need for human love; it does not represent a substance but the presence of God, [God's] relationship to [humanity]. Such metaphorical exemplification does not state a fact; it expresses a value, putting into words the preciousness of the Sabbath as Sabbath. Observance of the seventh day is more than a technique of fulfilling a commandment. The Sabbath is the presence of God in the world, open to the soul of [humanity]. It is possible for the soul to respond in affection, to enter into fellowship with the consecrated day."