Every Friday night we say in Kiddush: And the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. And G-d completed on the seventh day His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He rested from all His work which G-d created to do... Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments and desired us, and His holy Shabbat with love and favor He gave us as an inheritance, a remembrance of the work of creation, first of the holy convocations, a memorial of the exodus from Egypt...
The question arises – is Shabbat a remembrance of the work of Creation or is it a memorial of Yetziat Mitzrayim? What exactly is the connection between these two events? The answer is very simple. In the first set of Luchot in Parshat Yitro, the Torah says: For in six days Hashem made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore Hashem blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified it.
This implies that we observe Shabbat because Hakadosh Baruch Hu rested on the seventh day from work; but in Va'etchanan, in the second Luchot, something else is stated: Observe the Shabbat day to sanctify it, as Hashem your G-d commanded you. Six days you shall work and do all your labor... And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Hashem your G-d brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore Hashem your G-d commanded you to observe the Shabbat day.
This now implies that observing Shabbat is a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt! So, what is the connection between the exodus from Egypt and the creation of the world? To understand this, let’s pose a few more questions and conclude with our answers.
