The Chida asks, why does he need two angels to accompany him to his home and say this to him? He explains that because Shabbat is the partner of Yisrael, for this reason, just as a man sanctifies directly – since it is a bigger Mitzvah for him directly than through his agent – so too it is a Mitzvah for the man himself to prepare for Shabbat. And just as we find in sanctifying a woman that two witnesses are needed at the chupah, so too Hakadosh Baruch Hu sends two angels to accompany the person on Shabbat eve to his home, so they serve as witnesses of the sanctification.
Before we proceed, we need to pose a few questions. The Mishnah says (Shabbat 31b):
עַל שׁ ָלֹשׁ עֲבֵירוֹת נָשִׁים מֵתוֹת בִּשְׁעַת לֵידָתָן: עַל שׁ ֶאֵינָן זְהִירוֹת בַּנִּדָּה, בַּחַלָּה, וּבְ הַדְ לָקַת הַנֵּר.
For three transgressions women die during childbirth: because they are not careful with niddah, with challah, and with lighting the candle.
If we notice, lighting the candle differs from the other two. For niddah, it says “niddah,” for challah, it says “challah,” but for the candle, it seems it should have said “candle” and not “lighting the candle”? Rava provides the answer in the Gemara that follows (Shabbat 23b):
אָמַר רָבָא: פְּשִׁיטָא לִי, נֵר בֵּיתוֹ וְנֵר חֲנוּכָּה — נֵר בֵּיתוֹ עָדִ יף, מִשּׁ וּם שְׁלוֹם בֵּיתוֹ. נֵר בֵּיתוֹ וְקִידּוּשׁ הַי— נֵר בֵּיתוֹ עָדִ יף, מִשּׁ וּם שְׁלוֹם בֵּיתוֹ.
Rava said: It is obvious to me – between the candle of his house and the Chanukah candle, the candle of his house takes precedence because of peace in his home. Between the candle of his house and kiddush of the day, the candle of his house takes precedence because of peace in his home.
The question arises – why was it so important to Chazal that everyone has lit candles in their home on Shabbat? The Gemara says (Gittin 52a): There were two people in whom the Satan incited strife – every Shabbat eve at twilight they would quarrel with each other. Rabbi Meir happened to come there and delayed them for three twilights until he made peace between them. Afterward, he heard the Satan saying: “Woe that Rabbi Meir expelled that man from his house,” meaning he expelled the Satan from where he dwelt regularly.
At first glance, this account in the Gemara is unclear. For a couple that quarrels every day, why does the Gemara specify that they fought specifically on Shabbat eve at twilight? Additionally, let’s bring in the Gemara from Pesachim (113a), which states there are three people inherit Olam Haba: One who dwells in Eretz Yisrael, one who raises his sons for Torah study, and one דִּ מְ שׁ ַי ַיר מִ קִּ ידּוּשׁ ָא לְאַבְדָּ לְתָּא – who recites Havdalah over wine at the conclusion of Shabbat. This last case is specifically, one who leaves over wine from Kiddush to use at Havdalah – i.e., one who has only a little wine, and even so refrains from drinking it all on Shabbat, leaving some for Havdalah. Based on this explanation, we must ask: Why is it so important to leave some wine for Havdalah that one who does so is among those who inherit Olam Haba?! These are our questions; we can now proceed to explain it all.
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 11:8) comments on the Pasuk וַיְ בָ רֶ ך אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי - אֱלֹהִים – And G-d blessed the seventh day. Why did He bless it? Rabbi Berechya and Rabbi Dostai say it is because it has no partner – i.e., each day of the week has a partner day alongside it (1-2, 3-4, 5-6), but the seventh day is left out with no partner. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman provides a different reason and says the blessing of Shabbat is that it cannot be postponed. A festival can be postponed and Yom Kippur too – i.e., by the Beit Din based on their determination of Roh Chodesh – but Shabbat is never overridden. The Midrash continues: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught that Shabbat said before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “Ribbono Shel Olam, all have a partner, and I have no partner.” Hakadosh Baruch Hu responded, “Knesset Yisrael is your partner,” and when Bnei Yisrael stood at Har Sinai, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to them, “Remember what I answered Shabbat. זָכוֹר אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁ וֹ – Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it.”
According to this Midrash, it seems that every Shabbat we reenact this sanctification between Knesset Yisrael and Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but the question can be asked – why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu leave Shabbat specifically without a partner? It seems He could have left Yom Rishon alone and paired the days differently so that Shabbat had Yom Shishi as its pair. Why was it not done another way?
An answer to this question is given by the Vilna Gaon (Chiddushei Aggadot). He says it is not as it appears, and the seventh day was not simply left out. The meaning of pairing is to bring something to its true purpose, and the true test of a pair is measured by its result. When two items join together, they produce a new outcome, which we call a pair/pairing. The true meaning is not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu lined up Yom Rishon with Yom Sheini, and so forth, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu paired days where each day has significance regarding the completion of the pairing’s action. The Midrash explains (Bereishit Rabbah 12:5): Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the heavens and the earth in a period of six days. Three things are the essence of the Creation, and they lingered three days and produced three offspring. The earth was created on the first day, and this was the beginning of the pairing. It lingered three days until, on the fourth day, it produced three offspring: trees, grasses, and Gan Eden. With these three creations, the pairing of the first day reached its purpose. The firmament (רָ קִ יעַ) was created on the second day, separating the upper waters from the lower waters, and it, too, lingered three days, until it produced three offspring on the fifth day: the sun, the moon, and constellations. With these three creations, the pairing of the second day reached its purpose. The waters were created on the third day, and they lingered three days, until on the sixth day, they produced three offspring: birds, fish, and man. The third pairing then reached its purpose.
Shabbat then came before Hakadosh Baruch Hu and said: “Ribbono Shel Olam, who is my partner? What is my purpose?” Hakadosh Baruch Hu responded: “Knesset Yisrael is your partner. She is your purpose!” Hakadosh Baruch Hu said in the wilderness to Knesset Yisrael: “I have a pairing to pair with you – the holy Torah!” The Torah came before Hakadosh Baruch Hu and asked: “Ribbono Shel Olam, when they enter Eretz Yisrael and each one is busy with his work, what will become of me?” Hakadosh Baruch Hu responded: “True, each one will run to his work, but I have a special for you and her name is Shabbat! I gave them Shabbat, for its purpose is the holy Torah! The purpose of the Torah on Shabbat is for the sake of Knesset Yisrael!” This is the intent when Shabbat came before Hakadosh Baruch Hu and asked who its partner was. Knesset Yisrael is its partner! This is the connection to Shabbat, made through an act of sanctification. For just as pairing (human beings) is meant to bring offspring into the world, so the purpose of pairing Knesset Yisrael with Shabbat is entirely for the sake of the Torah.
With this, we can advance to another level. The Gemara in Pesachim comes and tells us: Listen, there are three people who inherit Olam Haba – one who dwells in Eretz Yisrael, one who raises his sons for Torah study, and one who (leaves over wine and) recites Havdalah at the conclusion of Shabbat.
The mefarshim say, there is a much deeper yesod here beyond leaving over some wine for Havdalah. What is Shabbat? Shabbat is a semblance of Olam Haba – as we say in our Zemirot: מֵעֵין עוֹלָם הַבָּא יוֹם שׁ ַבַּת מְנוּחָה – A semblance of the World to Come, the Shabbat day of rest. The purpose of Olam Haba is Torah study. A person who understands that Shabbat is intended for a spiritual matter “leaves over from the sanctity of Shabbat to Havdalah” – meaning, he prepares himself on Shabbat for the time when the body will separate from the soul. For the time when the soul ascends above, and the body remains in this world. Such a person is among those who inherit Olam Haba!
With regards to leaving over wine from the start of Shabbat to its conclusion, the Maharal says (Netivot Olam, Netiv HaTorah 10), this indicates that Shabbat is holy from its beginning to its end, and it is entirely distinct from the mundane. Thus, a person who follows the holiness of Shabbat is worthy of Olam Haba, which is entirely distinct from this world. Similarly, the two other elements mentioned in Gemara – living in Eretz Yisrael and raising one’s children to learn Torah – also fit this model. Eretz Yisrael is holy and distinct from physicality, for its air makes one wise (Bava Batra 158b); and one who raises his children for Torah study, since it is intellectual and spiritual, is distinct from this world and worthy of Olam Haba. Additionally, one who sanctifies Shabbat over wine and then recites Havdalah over wine, indicates that Shabbat has a distinct sanctity, just as we say in Havdalah: הַמַּ בְדִּ יל בֵּין קֹדֶ שׁ לְחוֹל.
We can now proceed to learn another yesod. The Gemara teaches (Shabbat 119b): Two ministering angels accompany a person home from shul on Shabbat eve – one good and one evil. And when he comes to his home and finds a lit candle, a set table, and his bed made, the good angel says, “May it be Your will that it be so for another Shabbat,” and the evil angel answers “Amen” against his will. But if not, the evil angel says, “May it be Your will that it be so for another Shabbat,” and the good angel answers “Amen” against his will.
The Prisha writes (Tur 262), it is explained that among the higher angels there is no evil of any kind, but these (angels mentioned in the Gemara) are the two forces (כּוֹחוֹת) always present in a person. One force is good – the intellectual force, and one evil – the vital force. They are called in the language of Chazal יֵצֶר הַטּוֹב וְיֵצֶר הָרַע – the good inclination and the evil inclination. When a person intends to serve his Creator and remembers the Shabbat day (which is equivalent to all the Mitzvot) to sanctify and honor it, he has already begun to subdue the Yetzer Hara and accustom it to the Yetzer Tov. And the evil inclination, when it begins to fall before him, cannot rise but will instead answer “Amen” against its will, and assist him by doing so. But if the opposite, then the opposite.
The meaning of the above is that a person is divided into two forces: the forces of good, which is the soul, and the forces of evil, which is the body. The body pulls toward materialism – desires and pleasures – while the soul pulls toward the Torah and toward fulfilling the Mitzvot. On Shabbat, which is a semblance of Olam Haba and the day of the soul, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says: “Shabbat is My day – sanctify it for Torah study!” And when Shabbat arrives, those forces contend with each other over who will prevail, whether the body will overcome the soul or vice versa, whether the soul will prevail and the person will use Shabbat’s time to observe the Torah and Mitzvot. This constant struggle between the body and the soul comes with the entry of the נְּשׁ ָמָה יְתֵירָה – an additional soul which enters the body on Shabbat eve at twilight, at the hour when Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides a person with extra strength for the soul’s force against the body’s forces.
We brought the words of the Gemara in Gittin, where Rabbi Meir saw a couple quarreling every Shabbat eve at twilight, and we asked why it highlighted that point of time over others during the week. The Malbim explains, “couple” refers to these two forces within a person – the Yetzer Tov and Yetzer Hara. Rabbi Meir saw the two forces quarreling with each other and intervened to make peace between them, teaching the body to submit to the soul.
Chazal tell us, the only thing the husband and wife generally share in Shabbat preparation is lighting the candles; the cooking is done by the wife, and the shopping by the husband, or vice versa. In any case, each person has a defined role in the preparations. But with Shabbat candles, they both participate: the husband prepares the candles, and the wife lights them. At first glance, it is strange – does the wife not know how to prepare candles?! Why do they both need to participate in this element? Moreover, if it’s about candles, why not share in Kiddush too? Why does the wife not pour the wine into his cup, and then have him recite the Brachot?
Shlomo HaMelech says (Mishlei 20:27): נֵר ה' נִשְׁמַת אָדָם – The candle of Hashem is the soul of man. Chazal come and say to a person: “You are now going to deal with the needs of the Neshama, and what symbolizes the Neshama is the candle!” They also address the husband and wife – representing the two forces within a person, the body and the soul. Shabbat is the force of the candle, the force of the soul, and the role of the husband and wife is to connect the soul to Shabbat. This is the essence of Shabbat!
Shabbat is the day of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: “I have seven days in the week – give Me one day!” Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to the Torah: “Do not worry, Shabbat is your partner – Knesset Yisrael – on Shabbat they will sit and study Torah, and thus they will reach their purpose!
Our Parsha opens: וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה אֶת כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. Chazal explain that Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: “Make for yourself large assemblies and explain before them in public the laws of Shabbat, so that future generations will learn from you to gather assemblies every Shabbat and convene in houses of study to teach and instruct Bnei Yisrael in matters of Torah.”
Why specifically on Shabbat? Why give the Torah davka on Shabbat? It is because the perfect pairing and true purpose of Shabbat is Torah! Some of our greatest gedolim never closed their eyes on Shabbat. They slept an hour or two in the afternoon beforehand – and from Shabbat’s entry until its exit, they did not go to sleep! They learned Torah the entire time! For them, sleeping on Shabbat was considered a crime! It’s one thing to sing ה ַ שׁ ּ ו ֹ מ ֵ ר שׁ ַ ב ּ ָ ת הַבֵּן עִם הַבַּת at the table, but are you really a shomer? Or are you a shomer (guard) that falls asleep at the gate?! The Ben Ish Chai says a minute of learning Torah on Shabbat is worth a thousand minutes on a weekday – who wouldn’t seize such an opportunity!!!
May it be His will that we merit to fulfill the purpose of Shabbat and merit to see the ultimate Day that is all Shabbat!
