Explanation And Meaning
Jewish writing often refers to Shabbat as being a “taste of the world to come” – a weekly means of showing us some of the exquisite rewards and riches in store for us if we fulfil our obligations to God and each other.
Shabbat was established by God as a “day of rest” after the six days of creation (“And He rested on the 7th day from all His work”, Genesis 2:1). Following in His footsteps, the Jewish people were commanded to observe it for all eternity.
Those who have been fortunate to partake in an authentic Shabbat experience will know that it is far from being a negative day. But it is correct to state that part of the point is to remove oneself from the mundane activities of everyday life.
The obligation to keep Shabbat is one of the Ten Commandments. But in the two places where they are quoted in the Torah, the Shabbat commandment is worded differently.
The first case, in Exodus 20:8, tells us to “Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy” (the Hebrew word for “remember” is “zachor”).
The second, in Deuteronomy 5:12, instructs us to “Keep the Sabbath day, to sanctify it” (the Hebrew word for "keep" being “shamor”).
As is always the case when it comes to examining the finer points of the Torah, the fact that two different expressions for Sabbath observance are utilised is not taken for granted.
According to the 13th century Torah commentator the Ramban (Nachmanides), the word shamor refers to the negative obligations incumbent upon us for the duration of Shabbat, while zachor refers to the positive actions carried out – eating festive meals and dressing in our finest clothes.
Our lighting of a minimum of two candles on Friday nights – one for the shamor side of things and one for the zachor - indicates the equal importance attached to both these aspects of Shabbat.
It is from the shamor commandment that the prohibition of carrying out work on Shabbat derives – the Torah tells us “You shall not do any melacha” on that day. Melacha specifically refers to the acts that were undertaken by the Jews when building the holy sanctuary in the desert. Their work was divided into 39 basic categories and all the melacha prohibitions of Shabbat are derived from here.
But is work an accurate way to translate melacha? We’ve all heard the old chestnut that turning on the TV or a light switch doesn’t exactly constitute hard labour, yet both are forbidden on Shabbat.
In fact, the word melacha would be better translated as “creative act”. As humans, we can use our intelligence to change and make our mark on the world around us. But on Shabbat, we take a step back and recognise that God is really the One in charge of our lives.
