<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I came across a very interesting insight into this past week's Torah portion.<div>I direct your attention to Chapter 23, verse 2 reads: "Speak to the Children of Israel</div><div>and say to them: 'The festivals of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations --</div><div>these are My appointed festivals.'" What has perplexed scholars from time immemorial is </div><div>what follows in verse 3. One would expect the Torah to go on to list the Jewish holidays. </div><div>After all, that is the ostensible context. Instead the Torah interrupts its trend of thought and </div><div>introduces a new verse which appears wholly unrelated to the subject at hand. Verse 3, which</div><div>follows, reads: "For six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is a day of complete</div><div>rest, a holy convocation, you shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath for the Lord in all your</div><div>dwellings." So the scholars have questioned this seemingly illogical intrusion of Shabbos </div><div>observances when the Torah has undertaken a discussion of the Jewish holidays of the year.</div><div><br></div><div>A brilliant explanation given was by the Vilna Gaon. He tells us that, when properly interpreted,</div><div>the third verse dealing with the Sabbath is not a digression, but wholly indigenous to the subject</div><div>of verse 2. The six days refer to all the holidays of the Jewish calendar except one. Just as on </div><div>the six days of the week one is permitted to prepare one's food; so during all the holidays, </div><div>except one, a Jew may prepare meals on Yom Tov. This dispensation is limited to <i>ochel nefesh </i>--</div><div>the preparation of food per se. No other labor may be done on the holiday, since the limited term</div><div>of '<i>Melacha</i>' (work) is used instead of the term '<i>Kol Melacha</i>' -- ALL work.</div><div><br></div><div>There is, however, one day which is different from all the other holidays. That is Yom Kippur, which</div><div>is like the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. Just as one is forbidden to cook on Shabbos, so </div><div>it is forbidden to prepare meals on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur and Shabbos enjoy equal religious </div><div>status in <i>Halacha</i>. This is a most fascinating interpretation and explanation.</div><div> </div><div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>"<font face="Verdana"><i>Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself</i></font>." Walt Whitman</div>
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