In this week’s Torah portion, Vayakhel, we read, “The seventh day will be holy for you as a Sabbath of Sabbaths to G-d.”
These words follow immediately after the discussion about all the different types of work--39 categories in all--necessary for the construction of the Tabernacle. And it is these 39 categories of work which we are prohibited from performing on Shabbat.
The question is asked, why is there a connection between the work of the Tabernacle and the forbidden work on Shabbat?
The 39 categories of work are connected to the general needs of a person--food, clothing and shelter. The “job” during the week is to separate and refine the divine essence found within everything we come in contact with.
However, one of the types of work that we are forbidden to perform on Shabbat is that of “separating.” So, on Shabbat, we bring to an even higher spiritual level that which we already elevated during the six weekdays.
But, if this is so, why are we allowed to eat on Shabbat? This same question was asked by the third Chabad Rebbe of his grandfather, Rabbi Shneur Zalman--the first Chabad Rebbe. Rabbi Shneur Zalman answered as follows: Food that we are permitted to eat--kosher food--is, at its source, a mixture of good and bad. During the six weekdays the good and bad are mixed and our job is to separate the two of them. But, on Shabbat, this is not necessary. For, on the eve of Shabbat the good is automatically separated from the bad so that the food that we eat on Shabbat is only good. Therefore, no separation is necessary. The intention of eating on Shabbat, then, is to elevate the good to an even higher level.
