Shabbat Musaf: Literary Explorations and Theological Implications

Siddur of Rashi Section 505

"You instituted the sabbath", is in the setting of the alphabet, in the reverse TashRaK, in order to attest to the redemption, the redemption comes on the merit of the Sabbath. As it says "As for the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths...I will give them an everlasting memorial that shall not be cut off... I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer (Isaiah 56:4-7)".

How do we know that redemption is found in TashRaK? "It shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall whistle (ישרק) for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria (Isaiah 7:18)." TzaPaS: "It shall come to pass in that day, the mountains shall drop down sweet wine (Joel 4:18)." NiMLoCH: "Then The Lord shall be King over all the earth;on that day the Lord shall be One and His name One (Zechariah 14:9)." YaTCHaZ: "They will gather to one portion and hold together and say this is our God" (Isaiah 25:9/Genesis 48:22 cf.). HaDaGBA: "The Leviathan will come and the bands of fisherman will make a banquet of him" (Job 40:30 cf.)

Shibolei Haleket Shabbat Section 82

We begin the main part of the mussaf amidah with "You instituted the Sabbath".It is explained that the wording of "instituted" is to examine/study like "the Lord examines hearts (Proverbs 20:2)". "Desires sacrifices": it is explained that for all sacrifices there is the inclusion of a he-goat for a sin offering but not in the offerings for shabbat, that the offerings for shabbat are offerings of desire/free will that do not require a sin offering. "Commanded its laws and the specific order of its libations" is based on "command the Children of Israel (Numbers 28:2)" where the sacrifices on Shabbat are specifically explicated. You commanded the offerings which are listed there with the arrangements of the show-bread, which is made of flour, six per rack, in the targum six orders. "Libations" the language comes from the "jars for pouring (Numbers 4:7)" from which the libations were poured out. "Those who delight in it inherit eternal glory" comes from the story in the Pesikta Rabbati about the verse "I came to my garden" (Song of Songs 5:1) in which Rabbi Yehoshua of Sachin said in the name of Rabbi Levi, that it is for the merit of two things that Israel gets to delight (ענג) in front of the Lord; the merit of (keeping) Shabbat and the the merit of tithing. In the merit of (keeping) Shabbat as it is written "If you restrain your feet on Shabbat" and then follows "Then you will delight before God" (Isaiah, 58:13-14). "Those who taste it merit life": refers to those who honor Shabbat with different types of tasty food, and there are those who learn from here that one must taste their Shabbat food on Erev Shabbat.

Pahad Yitzhak Shabbat 1 (Translation Rabbi Yaakov Elman)

​​​​​​​1. “Those who taste it merit life and those who love its teachings have chosen greatness.” Those who taste shabbat itself versus those whose love its teachings brings down a different result. Those who taste shabbat itself, the result is life while those who love its teachings result in greatness.

4. One who takes food less than the amount that would make him liable for violating the Sabbath [law against carrying from one domain to another] in a container is also not guilty for carrying the container, because the container is only an accessory to the food [and he had not carried enough food to make him liable], that is to say, even though the essential act of taking out the container is defined by all the rules [forbidding] transferring [from one domain to another] that make the carrier liable for violating the Sabbath, nevertheless, since at the time of the transfer the container was only an accessory to another act, [that is, the forbidden one of transfer of the food], this aspect of the action takes the act of transferring the container out of the category of “intentional labor” [which defines acts that violate the Sabbath]. And thus [that act] does not contradict the [commandment of] resting on the Sabbath. [With our understanding of this rule] we are prepared [to understand] the particular insight [to which] this ma’amar [is dedicated]: This matter of essence and accessory is not a particular rule governing only this situation among the many other rules governing Sabbath rest, but rather this rule of essence and accessory constitutes the inner process governing the rules of resting on the Sabbath [instituted at] Creation. In order to clarify these matters, we must return to those six days that preceded the Sabbath of the week of Creation. During those six days the Ten Statements [by which G-d created the Universe] operated. By dint of these sayings the laws governing the essential nature of the all the worlds were emanated, created, fashioned and made. However, [despite the operation of] the Ten Statements of the six days of Creation, the matter of sanctity was not yet mentioned at all. Only with the appearance of the Sabbath is the existence of sanctity mentioned for the first time. The general matter of sanctity here means that though until that point in the six days of Creation the substance of the worlds had become actual (in actu), only now, with the appearance of the Sabbath, did the purpose and goal of the existence of the universe issue from hiddenness ( העלם ) to its revelation. “If I had not created day and night, I would not have put in place the laws of heaven and earth” (Jer 33:25). The covenant is the purpose and goal of the laws of heaven and earth [playing on the likeness of bariti, “I created” and beriti, “my covenant”].

This is the essence of the existence of the rest of the Sabbath of creation, for because of the appearance of the light of the sanctity of the Sabbath the importance of the nature of the worlds and their substance was relegated to the level of [merely] a vessel and accessory—that is [what] the rest of the Sabbath of creation [represents].

5. However, the determination of the weight of the values of essential and accessory cannot be accomplished without the power of the intellect. Only the intellect weighs and evaluates.

7. We [now] continue the line [of reasoning] further. From what was explained to us in the first chapter [of this ma’amar], that in regard to the Sabbath rest [of the week of Creation] the [Divine] statement of “Let us make man” is not in the same category (lit., “goes out of the general rule”) of the other [Divine] statements. “Let us make man” is the command regarding the creation of intellect. And so we become aware (lit., “it is explained to us”) that the quality of Sabbath rest involves the lowering of the value of the substance of the worlds [created at Creation] to the point of nullification of the light of those worlds. And because this lowering was accomplished only by means of the powers of the intellect, it is thus impossible to maintain that the powers of the intellect can become mere accessories [to a greater end]. Since the generality of the Sabbath rest exists by means of the powers of the intellect, it is clear that there can be no cessation in the powers of the intellect per se. And since it is within the powers of the intellect to recognize both substance of the world and also its light, and to establish their mutual value as accessories contrasted to essentials, and from this to apprehend the nullification of the workings of the Ten Statements [of Creation] in comparison to the light of the Ten Commandments. And since this nullification constitutes [an essential ingredient] of the Sabbath rest, it thus comes out that precisely at the moment that the [Divine] statement [of Creation] ceases, precisely then is the power of the intellect exalted in all its sublimity. Sabbath rest is created by the power of the intellect, with the inevitable consequence ( וממילא יוצא מזה) that when all ceases, then the intellect creates. The [Divine] statement of “Let us make man” is the statement of the creation of the intellect, and so we say that precisely the Sabbath rest that nullifies the “primacy” of the natural world that was created with the statements of Genesis—is what brings to light the primacy of the powers of the intellect that was created by the statement “Let us make man.” And this is what we said that in regard to the sanctity of Sabbath the statement of “Let us make man” is no longer in the category of the other statements.

9. And thus also within the inner being of man himself all other human abilities are null as compared to this unique power within a person, that is, the intellect, which constitutes the inner core of humanity (lit., the “man within man”).

14…And thus the essence of the blessing of the Sabbath is precisely in this: that the Sabbath day is the unique and sanctified day for the addition of man’s (essential) quality. And this addition to man’s essential quality has a double meaning: the addition of that which is “unique to man” within the general category of man’s qualities, and the addition of man into the generality of the world.

15. We thus join the conclusion of this ma’amar to its opening: “those who taste [the Sabbath] merit life” (a line from the Sabbath Musaf Amidah). We have come to understand the relationship of meriting life with the apprehension (lit., “the feeling”) of the taste of the Sabbath. From all that was explained above we learn the proper understanding of this relationship. We have seen from the Creation account that even though the matter of life in general precedes the creation of man, nevertheless the word “life” is not mentioned until the creation of man’s soul…We see that that 'life' which is defined by the word “life” is unique to man. The root of the blessing of the Sabbath is that additional-quality-of-man, and thus that feeling of the taste of the Sabbath is precisely in that category of life designated by the word “life”. Meriting life relates to the apprehension of the taste of the Sabbath itself, while (the phrase) “they chose greatness” relates to the “love of her words”—of the Sabbath. This is the same equation ( הם הם הדברים ). The feeling of the addition-to-the-quality-of-man on the Sabbath is “those who taste her.” And this addition-to-the-quality-of-man represents the essence of the blessing of the Sabbath. The (phrase) regarding “choosing greatness” (גדולה בחרו) belongs to the distinction between essential and secondary, and the valuation of greater and lesser in regard to the Sabbath, as was explained in paragraph 5—that these distinctions and valuations are the consequences of the intellect that is created on the Sabbath. And therefore “the choice of greatness” relates to the love of her words of the Sabbath, while meriting “life” relates to the feeling of the taste of Sabbath itself. “Those who taste her merit life, and those who love her words choose greatness.”