Every holiday has its own special theme. Pesach is cheirus, Shavuos is matan Torah, Sukkos is deveikus. Shabbos is the day Hashem teaches us to recognize Him, so to speak. What is the special theme of Shabbos? The Rambam teaches us that Shabbos expresses religion. A person can do all the mitzvos, but these activities are not religion. Only Shabbos is religion! This is because das, “religion,” means relating directly to the immediate presence of Hashem. This is the special theme of the day.
To grasp this point, let us consider the most basic difference between the Jewish people and the nations of the world. The nations of the world used to know that all the plenty and goodness of this world comes down from Heaven. If you asked a non-Jew, “Where is Hashem?” he would answer, “In Heaven.” This is the approach of the non-Jew. And what does the Jew say? Hashem is not just in Heaven. He is also on earth! “The whole earth is full of His glory.”(Yeshayahu 6:3) This is the foundation of Judaism. Our goal is to reveal Hashem here on earth.
In truth, this is not just the foundation of Judaism. It’s the foundation of religion as a whole. Being in the presence of God means everything loses its importance and self-existence. If God is only in Heaven, it doesn’t “disturb” our lives too greatly. We don’t have to submit ourselves totally to God, since He is up in Heaven, while we’re all the way down here on earth. A person can continue to be “himself”. True, God has a certain influence over man. He can bestow goodness upon him, or He can punish him. Thus, a person needs to “negotiate” with God and stay on good terms. How? He takes tefillin, tzitzis, mezuzah, matzah, and through them causes his faith in Hashem to permeate his heart and mind. By keeping mitzvos, he can stay on good terms with God in Heaven.
But if God is on earth, it’s a completely different story. Then, there is nothing else in the world. Everything loses its self-existence in the overwhelming presence of God. We cannot even take a single step if it is against Hashem’s will. Because there is no reality other than Hashem’s will. This is the meaning of “religion.” In other words, religion means relating to God’s presence in the world and realizing that everything turns to nothing in His presence.
And the only way physical beings can express religion is by ceasing from work. Let us explain. Somebody is walking down the street and notices his neighbor relaxing on his porch with a glass of lemonade and a book. “Yankel!” he calls to him, “Now you’re resting? Just look what’s happening in your garden. All the effort you’ve put into your vegetables and plants is about to go down the drain. It’s a scorching heat wave today, and you must water the plants immediately, before they all dry up and you have nothing left!” Yankel the Jew answers him, “Ivan, I don’t know how to explain this to you, but today there is no garden and no vegetables. There are no banks and no loans. There isn’t even a world. There is only God! If He wants to give me parnasah, He will. And if He doesn’t, nothing will help anyway.” This is Shabbos. It’s a day of cessation from work, when the whole word ceases to exist due to the all-pervasive presence of Hashem!
