“For six days, work shall be done, and the seventh day shall be sacred for you” (35:2). The Talmud Yerushalmi (35:2) notes that the letter ’ו at the beginning of the phrase וביום השביעי indicates that this pasuk could be read, work should be done for six days, and also on the seventh. Of course, melacha is forbidden on Shabbos. But this reading of the pasuk serves as the source for Beis Hillel’s ruling that one’s utensils may continue working on Shabbos. Thus, for example, we can have an urn keeping our water hot, and an air conditioner cooling the home, throughout Shabbos. Although we are forbidden from working, our utensils may continue working. (Beis Shammai disagrees, and requires that one’s utensils rest on Shabbos.) This is the concept that work may be done on Shabbos by one’s possessions.
Rav Yosef Sorotzkin, in Meged Yosef, adds further insight into the implication of the letter ’ו in this pasuk, and the notion that work is to be done even on Shabbos. He explains that Shabbos, like the weekdays, is a time for work – but a different kind of work. The “rest” of Shabbos is not defined by the absence of activity; it is not about lying in bed the entire day. The “rest” that we are to experience on Shabbos is actually work – the work of ruchniyus, involving ourselves in spiritual pursuits.
Rav Sorotzkin draws two proofs to this perspective. First, he points to the fact that Adam Ha’rishon experienced his first Shabbos shortly after he was created. He came into existence on Friday, and right away, he was given Shabbos. He did not work for six days to deserve a day of rest; his day of rest came right after he was created. This proves that Shabbos is also a day of work, and not a day of cessation from work. Secondly, Rashi, commenting on the pasuk “God completed His work on the seventh day” (Bereishis 2:2) “What was the world missing? Rest. When Shabbos came, rest came.” Rashi writes clearly that the rest of Shabbos is a new creation. It is not simply the absence of activity; it is a kind of work. Properly observing Shabbos takes work. It means running a Shabbos table, with meaningful conversations, zemiros, and divrei Torah. It means making time for learning. It means investing effort in our relationships. We should not be approaching Shabbos as a day off, as a time to sleep. Shabbos is a day when we are to do the kind of work that we do not always have the opportunity to do amid the pressures of the weekdays.
