[Avodah] Understanding Melacha on Shabbos

Professor L. Levine llevine at stevens.edu
Thu Mar 8 10:09:07 PST 2018


The following is part of RSRH's commentary on two pesukim in Shemos.  YL


35 1 Moshe had the whole community of the Children of Israel assemble,and he said to them: These are the
objects which God commanded that they be made.


2 For six days shall [creating] work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a sanctity, a
Sabbath to be observed for God by cessation from work; whoever performs [an act of creating] work on
it shall be put to death.


If we look for the common idea underlying all the other melachos [except hotza'ah], we
find that they all show man's position as master of all things of the
physical world.  hotza'ah however, belongs strictly to the social sphere. The
most complete picture of a full national life would be: the relation of
the individual to society, and of society to the individual - i.e., what
the individual does for the community, and what the community does
for the individual - and the furthering of social causes in the social
sphere. These are relations that come to clear expression in

hotza'ah and chanacha from r'shus hayachid to r'shus harabim  and from

r'shus hayachid to r'shus Harabim, and in h'avrah daled amos b'r'shus harabim.

Accordingly, if the isur of all the other melachos subordinates man to
God as regards his position in the physical world, the isur of hotza'ah
apparently expresses man's subordination to God as regards his position
in the social world. The former is subordination to God in nature; the
latter is subordination to God in history. Whereas the former places
man's work in nature under the rule of the Creator, the latter places
man's work in the state under the same rule. Just as the conception of
our world comprises both nature and state, the conception of God's
sovereignty over the world includes His direction and command of nature
and history. God's kingdom on earth, which man is to build up
by keeping Shabbos, will be complete and real, only if man subordinates
himself to God's Will in both his natural life and his national life.
Now we see that the two facts that the Torah mentions as reasons
for the mitzvah of Shabbos - b'rias shamayim v'aretz andy'tzoias mitzryim  - complement
each other in their essential meaning. The creation of the world
attests to the Creator's sovereignty in nature, and this is expressed on
Shabbos by all the other m'lachos. The exodus from Egypt attests to the
Creator's sovereignty in the lives of nations, and this is expressed on

Shabbos by the isur hotzaah.

The isur hotzaah, then, places the Jewish state, the individual Jew's
activities on behalf of the community, the community's activities on
behalf of the individual, as well as the activities of the rulers of the
state, under the sovereignty of the Creator, Who demands obedience.

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