At the end of our Parsha’s description of Creation, we read “And Hashem saw all that had been made and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Then the Torah continues: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, as were all their legions. By the seventh day, Hashem completed His work which He had done, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Hashem blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He abstained from all His work which Hashem created to make.” (Bereishis 1:31-2:3).
The Tana Elokei Raban Shimon Bar Yochai in the Zohar Chadash asks: Why does the Torah have to use the verse “They were finished,” which seems superfluous? The Zohar answers that the Sage Rabbi Berachyah answers: In addition to “finishing,” the root of the verb “finished” can express “longing”. The verse is teaching that, when creation was completed, all who saw it “longed” for it. The Sage Rav Huna answers: On the day when Creation was completed, Shabbos-Hashem looked back at His handiwork and “longed” for it. This concludes the Zohar Chodosh. We see proof in Tehilim 84:3. I long, I yearn for the courts of the Lord; my body and soul shout for joy to the living G-d. We see here that “finished” can express "longing."
This brings us to a powerful lesson from the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh in Parshas Ki Sisa on the posuk. The children of Israel shall observe the shabbos to make the shabbos. The Torah is telling us, “One must observe the Shabbos.” (Shemos 31:16) The Ohr Hachaim offers a beautiful insight into the posuk: To be a Shomer Shabbos means to wait and anticipate when it will arrive, like one awaits an important guest. He learns this from Yaakov, who rebuked Yosef outwardly for revealing the dreams to his brothers, but the verse records that he privately kept the matter, and Rashi explains that Yaakov waited with great anticipation when it would be realized. From there, we learn the definition of keeping the shabbos! We live for and work for Shabbos, investing in it a whole week.
Now that we see that Hashem yearned and longed for the Shabbos, so must every Yid yearn and long for the Shabbos. Every day of the week, one must think about Shabbos and make the right preparations/Hachanah for Shabbos, spiritually and materialistically. With a real Hachana, one would grasp and understand the Kedushas Shabbos and long for them.
The Torah states, Hashem will establish you as His holy people, as was sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Hashem and walk in His ways. (Devarim 28:9). This is a mitzvah to follow in the ways of Hashem. Now that we see that Hashem yearned and longed for shabbos, we have a command to follow this.
It is noteworthy that in the Ten Commandments, the command for observing the Shabbos, there is a difference in the words from Parshas Yisro, from the first Luchos, which it says: Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Whereas in the second Luchos in Parshas Vaeschanan it says: Observe the Shabbos day and keep it holy, as your Hashem has commanded you. First, remember the shabbos all week and then observe them on the seventh day.
Dovid Hamelech says in Tehilim 33: For the word of Hashem is right; His every deed is faithful. Hashem’s work was with Emunah as it states in Seforim. dkynd `ed dpen` and Emunah means a continuation, and flow. The Bais Aron of Karlin writes that through Emunah one can derive all Yeshuas. If Klal Yisrael wants to be the holy people, it depends on the yearning and longing for Shabbos and leaving enough time for Erev Shabbos to prepare for it in the appropriate way. We say in Zemiros Shabbos: All who protect the Sabbath according to its law from breakers. However we can interpret it: If one waits and longs for Shabbos, he will not break the Shabbos. The conclusion is: Who delay leaving the Sabbath, and hurry to enter it, this would be the real observance of Shabbos. (Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
