Based on Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin in L’Torah Ul’Moadim
“And on the seventh day, a Shabbos of Shabbosos” (31:15)
There are two kinds of rest.
The first kind of rest is a rest from weariness, a chance to recharge our batteries, to enable us to continue to work. For no one can work indefinitely. Everyone needs a break.
The second kind of rest comes at the end of a project. The last brushstroke of a painting. The final sentence of a novel. The last brick in a new home. Then you take a step back and look at your work. You feel the satisfaction of completion. It’s finished. It’s done. A time to rest and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
“You shall labor for six days and do all your work.”
How can you do all your work in six days? Can you build an entire house in six days?
The Torah teaches us that when Shabbos arrives, even though we’re only halfway through a project, we should think of it as though it were completely finished.
In other words, on Shabbos, we should picture ourselves experiencing the rest and satisfaction that comes after a good job well done, not just taking a break.
In a sense, this is what Hashem did when the world was six days old. He looked at the Creation and saw that it was finished. The greatest building project ever, the Heavens and the Earth, were completed.
Our rest on Shabbos is a commemoration of that rest.
This is the essential difference between our Shabbos and the secular idea of a day of rest. The secular concept of a day of rest is a break so that you can return to the week revitalized and refreshed. It’s only a break.
Shabbos, on the other hand, is not just pushing the pause button on life. It’s the creation of a feeling that everything in one’s life is complete. There’s nothing left to do except to sit back and enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.
RABBI ASHER YAAKOV SINCLAIR OHR.EDU
