Shabbos Kodesh - 01 Three Shabbosim

The holy Shabbos is one of the fundamental roots of Judaism and our emunah in Hashem. It is really an extremely broad and deep subject. There are no words to ever fully describe the depth of the holy Shabbos. With Hashem’s help, we will try to touch upon several matters, so that we can draw these matters closer to us, and through this, we should merit that Shabbos should become intimately internalized within us.

When Does the Illumination of Shabbos Begin?

First, we will clarify when Shabbos kodesh begins. There are seven days in every week and the seventh is Shabbos. Certainly, Shabbos itself has the sanctity of Shabbos. But we will see many ways in which the Shabbos kodesh really begins - even before Shabbos starts!

Let us begin by contemplating the times close to Shabbos. From there, we will find times which come longer and longer before Shabbos.

According to the halachah, Shabbos begins at sundown.  By Torah law, days generally begin at night and conclude at the end of the following day – “And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.”[1] Therefore, Shabbos begins at sundown on Friday. That is the letter of the law, but because it is impossible to calculate the time of sundown exactly, we must abstain from labor a little bit earlier to avoid any doubt.

Aside from that, there is also a mitzvah of tosefes Shabbos, which is a Torah commandment to take from the weekday time, and add it onto Shabbos. We add onto Shabbos and begin it earlier on Friday before the actual time for Shabbos arrives. It is not a stringency, but a full-fledged Torah mitzvah to add onto the sanctity of Shabbos. And even though the time we add comes from weekday time, we sanctify it and begin to recognize the sanctity of Shabbos on it.

But more than that, until when is it permissible to engage in labor before Shabbos? Labors which are meant to prepare for Shabbos may be done up until Shabbos. But weekday oriented labors which are not meant as preparations for Shabbos may only be done until mincha time.  According to the Gemara,[2] from mincha time and on, one may not do weekday oriented labor, as explained in the Shulchan Aruch.[3]

It comes out, therefore, that the spiritual light of the Shabbos comes in stages.

First, tosefes Shabbos (a few minutes before Shabbos), and even earlier than this, from mincha and on, when it is forbidden to do any non-Shabbos related labor because of Shabbos’s holiness.

There is an additional mitzvah in the Torah, “And it will be on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they shall bring” (Shmos 16:5), which means that on Friday morning, it is already a mitzvah to concern oneself with that which is needed for Shabbos, and to prepare the Shabbos foods.

From this we see that a person must prepare himself for Shabbos kodesh starting Friday morning, and not just after noon or mincha. This is because the process of Shabbos kodesh really begins Friday morning! These mitzvos of preparing for Shabbos have the status of halachos, and are not merely matters of chassidus or mussar.

The Illumination of Kedushas Shabbos Three Days Before Shabbos

We also find in the Gemara that “One may not embark on a ship less than three days before Shabbos.”[4] The same rule is brought down as halacha in the Shulchan Aruch.[5] Although this rule has many particulars, we see that Sunday through Tuesday, it is permissible to embark on a long trip by ship but from Wednesday on, it is forbidden to do so because of kedushas Shabbos. Many explanations are given in the rishonim to explain this halacha. Some say it is to prevent the desecration of Shabbos and others say that it is because it will cause one to suffer on Shabbos, since the first three days on a ship are the most difficult.

It comes out, then, that some Shabbos practices begin even three days before Shabbos because of kedushas Shabbos, from the fact that it is forbidden to embark on a journey by ship from Wednesday forward.

What is the inner reason for all these practices done three days before Shabbos (which are not mentioned in the Gemara)?

 The Arizal explains it as follows. A person has three parts to his soul: a nefesh, ruach, and neshama. These parts of the soul enter a person during the three parts of erev Shabbos (according to the secret of tosefes), but they actually begin to enter a person starting on Wednesday. The nefesh enters a person on Wednesday, the ruach on Thursday, and the neshama on Friday.

One begins to receive the spiritual light of Shabbos starting on Wednesday – and that is the inner reason why it is forbidden to embark on a long journey by ship on the three days preceding Shabbos.

We learn, therefore, that there are many different aspects to the illumination of Shabbos kodesh in the time preceding Shabbos:

1) We abstain from labor immediately before Shabbos as a stringency right before sundown. 2) We have tosefes Shabbos. 3) After mincha time we should already refrain from labor. 4) Beginning Friday morning, we already must prepare for Shabbos. 5) The illuminations of Shabbos begin to shine starting on Wednesday.

The Way of Shammai Hazakein – Starting on Sunday, Look to Shabbos

There is an even broader concept; that of Shammai Hazakein. The Gemara states, “They said about Shammai Hazakein, ‘All of his days, he ate for the honor of Shabbos. If he found a beautiful animal he would set it aside for Shabbos. If he found an even nicer one, he would set aside the second one [for Shabbos] and eat the first one.’”[6] We see that everything good that he found, even starting on Sunday, he would buy it for the sake of the honor of Shabbos. “The school of Shammai says, ‘Starting on Sunday, look to Shabbos.’”[7] Starting on Sunday, one should begin to concern himself with Shabbos, which is why we say each day, “Today is one day of Shabbos,” “Today is the second day of Shabbos,” [in reference to Sunday and Monday, etc.].

It comes out that from the beginning of the week, the spiritual illuminations of Shabbos have already taken hold. The whole week is therefore an essential preparation for Shabbos.

So when is Shabbos?

On a simple level, Shabbos kodesh occurs on Shabbos. But when we contemplate more deeply, we discern that the essence of Shabbos begins on Sunday. This manifests itself on a practical level as well in halacha, as we will explain.

When we delve deeper, we can see that Shabbos really begins (from an inner, spiritual perspective – not from a Halachic perspective) as early as Sunday; how is this possible?

In actuality, one Shabbos begins on the preceding Shabbos. This is the ultimate root of every Shabbos. Each Shabbos is rooted in the Shabbos preceding it, and not only on the day itself, as we will explain, with the help of Hashem.

First, we will explain how the root of one Shabbos is not only on that Shabbos itself, but even from Friday; and that there is a higher level which begins on Wednesday, and an even higher level than this comes on Sunday. The deepest level of Shabbos, though, is the concept of the Arizal we mentioned, which is that Shabbos really begins from the Shabbos before it – let us try to understand this.

“If Only the Jewish People Would Observe Two Shabbosim According to Halacha, They Would Immediately be Redeemed”

We will now try to explain these concepts.

The Gemara states, “If only the Jewish people would observe two Shabbosim according to halacha, they would immediately be redeemed.”[8]

It is worthwhile to understand why it specifically says “two Shabbosim”. Ostensibly, if Shabbos is such a lofty concept, they should be redeemed for observing even one Shabbos.[9] If, G-d forbid, one Shabbos is not enough, why are two Shabbosim suddenly adequate?

The answer to this is as follows. There is a discussion in the Gemara about what one should do if he is walking in the desert and he loses track of the days. Now, he does not know when Shabbos is. What should he do in order to observe Shabbos? There are two opinions in the Gemara. “Rav Huna says, ‘If one is walking in the desert and he does not know when Shabbos is, he should count six days and then keep Shabbos.’ Chiya bar Rav says, ‘He should keep one day [as Shabbos] and then count six.”[10]

In other words, according to one opinion, one should count six days starting on that very day, and the seventh day, he should rest.[11] In order to keep Shabbos, he should count six days, after which he should observe Shabbos.

According to the other opinion, it is the opposite. He should keep that day itself as Shabbos, and afterward, he should count six days and then another Shabbos.

But both opinions agree that there is a framework of six days followed by a Shabbos. The whole debate between them is only about how the person should begin the count. Should he begin with the framework of six days followed by a Shabbos or whether Shabbos should be first, followed by a framework of the six days of the week?

What is the logic behind their dispute?  The Gemara there explains, “What is their dispute? One holds [that the person should count] the same way the world was created and the other opinion holds [that the person should count] like Adam, the first man, who was created on erev Shabbos, and the first day of his counting was Shabbos.”[12]

The root of this dispute, therefore, is about the structure of the relationship between the six days of creation and Shabbos kodesh. Do the six days of the creation precede Shabbos kodesh, or does Shabbos kodesh precede the six days of creation? That is the argument.

From the perspective of the creation of the world, the six days of creation precede Shabbos kodesh. But from the perspective of man, who was created at the end of the sixth day, right before Shabbos,[13] it comes out that Shabbos comes first, followed by the six days of the week.

So according to the first opinion, the concept of the six days of the week is rooted in the creation of the world. Therefore, one who is walking in the desert should count six days and then make Shabbos. But according to the second opinion, the concept of the six days of the week is related to Adam Harishon (the first man). Therefore, if one does not know when Shabbos is, he should keep Shabbos immediately, and then count the six days and then continue the cycle until he reaches civilization. This is just like Adam, who had to enter immediately into Shabbos, and only afterward, go through the six days of the week.

The holy seforim use this idea to explain the deeper meaning of the Sages’ statement mentioned earlier, that “If only the Jewish people would observe two Shabbosim according to halachah, they would immediately be redeemed.” The “two Shabbosim” refer to the two types of Shabbosim.  There is the Shabbos which comes after the six days of creation, just as it was when the world was created; and there is the Shabbos which precedes the six days of creation, which is the Shabbos of Adam, the first man who, as the Gemara explained, had to enter into Shabbos first, as soon as he was created. Only afterward, he went on to the six days of the week.

Two Types of Rest – Abstaining From Action and Abstaining From Negative Action

The holy seforim explain that there is an additional aspect of Shabbos which is even deeper, and is considered to be an even more internal aspect of it: that Chazal have said, that Hashem commanded us to keep Shabbos because just as Hashem rested from His labors, we too should rest from our labors.

What is this aspect of “rest” that Hashem engaged in when He rested from his labors, as it were?

 “And on the seventh day, He rested and was refreshed.” This refers to the rest of Shabbos kodesh. But there is an additional revelation of a rest which, as it were, Hashem engaged in.  That is the rest that preceded creation.

The Torah explicitly refers to one aspect of rest when it says “For in six days Hashem made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day, He rested and was refreshed.”[14]  That is the obvious Shabbos, based on which we would say that the order is six days, followed by Shabbos kodesh.

The second type of rest is the non-action which Hashem engaged in before creation. Before G-d created the world, He did nothing, as it were. He rested. This is the resting which preceded creation.

The resting which came after the six days of creation, after Hashem finished working “with the word of Hashem, the heavens were created,”[15] then when Shabbos kodesh came, this was a type of rest which followed activity, a rest which existed within the world.

But the deeper type of rest was that “inactivity” which came, as it were, before Hashem created the world. This type of rest is not a rest which gets its status as “rest” because of its relationship to “working.” It does not exist relative to the existence of “work.” It is “rest” because there was not yet any like “work,” because Hashem did not yet create anything.

Shabbos Kodesh – As if all Your Work is Done

The Sages said, with regard to Shabbos kodesh, “When Shabbos comes, it should be in your eyes as if all of your work is done so that you should not even think about work.”[16] We must understand this: how can a person could view all of his work as being done, when it is not in fact done? The reality is that when a person starts some job before Shabbos and does not complete it, his mind will be on the job and he intends to resume it after Shabbos! How then does Shabbos make all your work considered done?

The answer is that a person can feel that all of his work is done – and he can feel this in two ways.

 One simple way is to imagine that all of his work has been done. Another way, though, which is the truer way, is to view the work as it if never had to be done to being with.  Then, as far as he is concerned, the work is done.

To illustrate what we mean, let us consider a carpenter who accepts a job to build a table, but the buyer cancels the order. From the perspective of the carpenter, the job is done because there is no longer any need or reason to make the table.

A thing may be considered finished either because it is actually done or because there is no need to do it. In this way, a job can sometimes be finished even before it is begun. One may finish a job by either reaching the end or because the job doesn’t need to start. It is therefore considered finished because nothing needs to be done.

When the Sages said that on Shabbos we should think that all of our work is done and finished, is this because nothing indeed needs to be done? We must clarify this.

(It should be noted that when something is “finished,” it is whole and not lacking anything. Whenever someone does anything, he is doing so because something is missing. He therefore does what he must do and thereby fills the void. But if something is already whole, nothing needs to be done to complete it…)

Before Hashem created the world, the “Infinite Light” (Ein Sof) was all that existed, and it lacked nothing. That is the meaning behind “all of your work is done.” Everything is done. Everything is there and nothing is missing.

After the world was created in six days, when Shabbos came, man has to stop working right in the middle, and we say to him “Consider it as if all of your work is done.”[17] But from the perspective of the Shabbos which preceded creation, it is clear that it is impossible to literally say to someone that all of his work is done. Rather, this aspect of Shabbos reveals that there is a reality of Infinite Light alone, lacking nothing. If it is lacking nothing and everything is done and complete, there is no need to do work.

The Six Days of the Week – Intermediary Between One Shabbos and the Next

In terms of time, Shabbos kodesh does not only begin until Shabbos actually starts, on Friday, Wednesday, or even Sunday. Rather, it begins at the preceding Shabbos.

Now we can understand why when a person begins to do any action during the six days of the week, which is the proper time for creative activities, he must approach it with an understanding based on the preceding Shabbos.

Let us explain. When we welcome Shabbos Friday night, we sing “Let us go out and greet Shabbos!” One can actually live in such a way that he greets Shabbos - with every step he takes throughout the week. Chazal say, “Starting on Sunday, look to Shabbos.”[18] Starting on Sunday, a person prepares himself for the upcoming Shabbos. All of the halachos which we mentioned were taught in this spirit.

 There is another approach that corresponds to this: in which a person steps away from the previous Shabbos, on Sunday. In other words, there is a path in which a person goes forward, toward the upcoming Shabbos starting on Sunday, and there is a path wherein a person goes forth from the preceding Shabbos.

The six days of the week are essentially an intermediary in between the previous Shabbos and the upcoming Shabbos. We said that one of the reasons one may not embark on a journey by ship less than three days before Shabbos is because starting at that time, a person receives the three parts of his Shabbos neshama; nefesh on Wednesday, ruach on Thursday, and neshama on Friday.

When is one permitted to embark on the journey? The Arizal explains that a man who receives the three parts of the neshamah on Shabbos kodesh loses them gradually during the coming week. On Sunday, the aspect of neshamah departs, on Monday the aspect of ruach departs, and on Tuesday the aspect of nefesh departs from him.

It comes out, therefore, that just as there is a process by which the parts of the neshama for the upcoming Shabbos enter a person from Wednesday to Friday, the converse occurs, in the days following the preceding Shabbos.

“The Jewish People Shall be Your Mate”

We will attempt to explain these two frameworks.

The Midrash says, “Shabbos has no mate.”[19] In other words, Sunday’s mate is Friday, Monday has Thursday, and Tuesday has Wednesday, but Shabbos has no mate. The Midrash does not explain the reason for this problem.

But according to what we have said, the Midrash becomes understandable. There is a reason and cause for the way the days are matched up. Sunday and Friday are matched together, because on Sunday one loses the neshama that he received before the previous Shabbos, and on Friday he receives the neshama for the upcoming Shabbos.  Similarly, on Monday one loses the aspect of ruach from the previous Shabbos, so it is matched up with Thursday, on which he receives the ruach for the upcoming Shabbos. And on Tuesday, one loses the aspect of nefesh from the previous Shabbos, so it is matched up with Wednesday, the day on which he receives the nefesh for the upcoming Shabbos. That is why those days are matched up with one another. And even though the beginning of the week is associated with the nefesh, ruach, and neshama of the previous Shabbos - and the days at the end of the week are associated with the nefesh, ruach, and neshama of the upcoming Shabbos - both nevertheless contain the aspects of nefesh, ruach, and neshama.

The Midrash there continues, “Shabbos said to Hashem, ‘Master of the World, each [day] has its mate, but I do not have a mate!’ Hashem said to her, ‘The Jewish people are your mate.’”[20]

What is the deeper meaning of this?

Shabbos kodesh is the Jewish people’s mate.

“A gentile who observes Shabbos deserves the death penalty,”[21] just like one who commits adultery with a married woman! If Shabbos is the Jewish people’s mate, a gentile who observes Shabbos should be treated like any other gentile who commits adultery with a married woman, who is liable to receive the death penalty since gentiles are commanded to observe the laws of illicit relations, gilui arayos.

Shabbos Kodesh – The Source of Blessing

On a deeper level, this “marriage” between the Jewish people and Shabbos has two aspects to it.

There is Shabbos Kodesh, and there are the six days of the week. The simple way of looking at this is to view it as a ladder of spiritual growth - The first rung is Sunday, the second rung is Monday, etc., continuing until Shabbos kodesh, the seventh rung. That is the simple approach, and it is true.

During Lecha Dodi, we refer to a different view of this, though, which is deeper.

 “Let us go out, and greet Shabbos, because it is the source of blessing.” As the Gemara explains, Shabbos is the source of blessing.[22] But why is Shabbos the source of blessing?

The Sages say in the Zohar hakadosh, “What is Shabbos? A day on which all other days rest. It includes the other six days and they are blessed through it.”[23] Shabbos kodesh is the source for the other days of the week, who receive their blessings from it.

There is an apparent contradiction in the words of the Sages. On one hand, we learned that Shabbos is the source of blessing, and everything is blessed only through it. But on the other hand, the Sages say, “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos. And one who did not work on erev Shabbos, from where will he get anything to eat on Shabbos?!”[24] This implies that the six days of the week “give” to Shabbos. If so, who is giving to whom? Are the six days of the week giving to Shabbos, or is Shabbos giving to the six days of the week?

Before we explain, we should mention a few additional points, and then we will see that on a deeper level, it is all one concept.

Shabbos Serves Double Duty – Resting before working and resting after working

We learned an additional teaching with regard to Shabbos. Everything we do on Shabbos is double. There is the double portion of manna, the sacrifice of the two sheep on Shabbos, the double language of punishment for desecrating Shabbos, “its desecrator’s will surely die,” (“mechalaleha mos yumas”), the reward for keeping Shabbos is double “Those who call Shabbos a delight, they who are sanctified of Hashem will be honored.”), and the warning to keep Shabbos is double (“Keep” and “Guard”). We must understand why everything we do on Shabbos is double.

The explanation is the following: The double miracle of Shabbos is not meant to create a redundancy by doing the same thing twice, like we find by a thief who has to pay double in that if he stole 100, he must return 200. Rather, the duel aspect of Shabbos is that in essence, Shabbos has two aspects.

This duel nature of Shabbos corresponds to the Gemara which says, “If only the Jewish people would observe two Shabbosim according to halacha, they would immediately be redeemed.”[25] These two Shabbosim refer to the Jewish people’s obligation to observe the two aspects of Shabbos. The double things we do on Shabbos refer to the two aspects of Shabbos activities, which are two-fold.  We must understand these two aspects of Shabbos kodesh. We must both these ways, because in reality, there are two kinds of Shabbos.

The world was created in the way of non-action, action, and then non-action. The world began with the non-action of Hashem. Afterwards, Hashem acted by creating the world, and then He resumed the state of non-action. Non-action (rest) therefore has a double aspect: at its beginning, and at its end. This is why Shabbos activities come in two’s.

In other words, if we define non-action (rest) as either following action or  preceding action, then the whole concept of non-action would not exist as a separate and independent reality. Rather, it would have only been absence of activity, and the only question would be whether it preceded or followed action. But when we define non-action (rest) as “non-action, action, and then non-action,” we see that there is in essence something called rest, and action merely exists in as an intermediary between the two aspects of rest.

So the duel aspects of Shabbos - and the two Shabbosim we must keep to be redeemed - are really one concept. When the world was created, the two aspects of Shabbos (rest) existed, bridging the aspect of “action” in between.

Shabbos Kodesh – A Microcosm of the World to Come

Let us delve deeper. The Sages call Shabbos “me’ein olam haba”, “a resemblance of the World to Come.”[26] They also said, “There are three things that come in smaller increments on this world: Death manifests itself as sleep, prophecy manifests itself in dreams, and the world to come manifests itself in Shabbos.”[27]

Shabbos kodesh is a microcosm of the World to Come; and the World to Come is called “the day which is totally Shabbos.”[28]

We therefore see that just like the rest and non-action which preceded the creation of the world was a complete form of rest, so will the rest of the ultimate Shabbos (which will come after Creation ends), will on the deepest level be a day which is only Shabbos, a complete rest in the life of the World to Come.

This is quite different from how we are accustomed to perceiving the cycle of Shabbos which is generally as weekday life, followed by Shabbos, followed by weekday life again. According to what we have explained, the entire 6,000 year course of the world’s existence correspond to the six days of creation, which precede the world to come, i.e. the seventh millennia, which is really the “day which is all Shabbos”; it will not be followed by another six days of action.

The order is therefore that the world starts with Shabbos before the world is created, followed by the six millennia of the world’s existence - the time for action - followed by the concluding Shabbos, the day which will be “all” Shabbos.

We now have a better perspective on all of creation. On a simple level, we are accustomed to understanding that we have six days of the week followed by Shabbos. But according to a deeper understanding, it is actually “Shabbos, six days of the week, Shabbos.”

This is the secret of the creation of our world: it involves “seven”, (and this is called “the secret of seven”) while the World to Come exists involves “eight,” as is known. The reason for this is that the structure of our physical world is that we have seven days in a week. But when we understand that the structure of our world is actually “Shabbos, six days of the week, Shabbos,” then we gain an inner perspective, that there are actually “eight” days in a week. This idea is deep, straightforward, and comes from our Sages.

The Secret of Eight Days – “Rest, Action, Rest”

Our usual perspective is that we are structured as a six day workweek, followed by Shabbos kodesh. The rest that we do have on Shabbos, therefore, is not complete. It is a temporary respite followed by the return of the workweek. We work for six days and how much do we rest? Only one day! That is all from the simple perspective.

But that is not all. Even if, theoretically, we had as much rest as we do work, the reality would still be one of separate times for work, and separate times for rest. When we understand that the week is really eight days (because there is a Shabbos that comes after the seven days) then we could live the reality of “rest, work, rest.”

What do we mean by this?

The deeper reality is that our work undergoes a cycle of rest and returning to rest. Although it certainly goes out from one kind of rest and returns to another kind of rest (which is a major topic in and of itself, that requires explanation), still, the essential structure of the world is still that of going from rest to rest.

According to the simple understanding, that the week is structured as six workdays followed by Shabbos, it is difficult to understand why the Sages say we should begin working and preparing for Shabbos on Sunday. Shabbos is, after all, at the end of the week! Why should we toil in preparation for Shabbos kodesh starting Sunday, at the very beginning of the workweek?

The simple answer could be that the weekdays are the means toward a goal, Shabbos kodesh, in which case Sunday does not shine with the spiritual light of Shabbos inherently. Rather, Shabbos only illuminates Sunday to the extent that it is used as a means to get to the next Shabbos.

But the deeper answer is: as we explained earlier, the nefesh from the preceding Shabbos departs from a person on Tuesday, the ruach on Monday, and the neshama on Sunday. It follows, then, that actual spiritual light of Shabbos continues to radiate during the week as well.

We will now explain the meaning of the idea that the week starts with Shabbos and ends with Shabbos, with the six days of the week in between. What is the idea of “in between”, and what kind of things to the Sages refer to as “in between?”

Action as an Intermediary in the Secret of Compromise

The word “middle”, emtza in Hebrew, is the concept of “peshara” – a compromise, “middle ground.” We find in the Gemara: “When two people come [to a judge] to rule in their case, it is a mitzvah to arrange a compromise settlement (compromise) between them.”[29] We take the two sides and bring them to some agreeable middle point. This is the secret of compromise.

Compromise is not just to stray from to one extreme or the other. Rather, it means finding a mutually agreeable middle point, which includes both sides within it. That is the simple meaning of the term. But on a deeper level, we understand that the middle has no essential character of its own. Rather, it is the space in between two extremes. The middle exists relative to the extremes between which it exists. It is defined partly by one extreme and partly by the other extreme.

With this understanding, we can see that if we have the simple perspective, which is to view the framework of the week as seven days (the six days of the week and Shabbos), then the six days of the week are not a “middle” at all. Just the opposite; they are the beginning. The week begins on Sunday and ends on Shabbos. So from that perspective, the six days of the week are not part of Shabbos at all.

But when we understand the deeper perspective - the framework of the week as it was in the process of creation, where the six days of creation were like a bridge in between the two extremes - the two Shabbosim – we can now understand that on a deeper level, the six days of the week draw their character from the two Shabbosim, which define them.

The Secret of the Circle – Shabbos as the Center Point

We have covered two ways of understanding Shabbos kodesh. One way is as a ladder of spiritual growth: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. until the seventh level, which is Shabbos. This is the simple and well known way of understanding the nature of Shabbos.

The second way is also linear: That the week begins from Shabbos, then Sunday, Monday, etc. until Shabbos again at the end.

But now we have just seen the third way, which is to see Shabbos as the middle – in other words, it is the center point from which all of the six days get their character from.

Let us explain. As we said, one way of understanding the week is as a seven day period: the six days of the week followed by Shabbos kodesh. This is the apparent reality. Then, we said that one can understand the week as an eight day period: Shabbos, the six days of the week, and then Shabbos again. According to this understanding, the middle point is an intermediary composed of aspects of the two farthest points. Between one Shabbos and the next are the six days of the week, which are the middle point relative to the two Shabbosim.

But there is a deeper way to understand the week. When the ultimate day is revealed – the day which is “all Shabbos” and eternal rest is revealed - the World to Come - then Shabbos as the center of the “circle” will become apparent. We will then see that Shabbos is the middle point, the center point of the week.

It is clear, therefore, that in the linear perspective on the week, the six days of the week are not Shabbos, but they are capable of being used as a means to reach Shabbos. And according to the understanding that one Shabbos is on one side, the next Shabbos is on the other side, and the six days of the week are in the middle, we understand that the two Shabbosim on either side are the extremes, and the weekdays are the middle area, which is composed of the two extremes.

But from the deeper perspective, that Shabbos is the center point of a circular week - Shabbos is a microcosm of the ultimate day which is “all” Shabbos and eternal rest. According to this understanding, Shabbos is the center point of the week. This is unlike the understanding that weekdays are the middle point between one Shabbos and another (according to which Wednesday would be the middle day of the week).

Shabbos Kodesh as the Concept of Adam Harishon Before the Sin

Had Adam Harishon not sinned, he would have immediately entered the eternal Shabbos of the World to Come. Let us therefore consider the status of Adam Harishon.

 Had he not sinned, would there have been any concept of “the six days of the week?”

We mentioned earlier from the Gemara regarding a man walking through the desert without knowing which day Shabbos is, and the dispute regarding what he should do. Should he count six days and then observe one day as Shabbos, which would parallel creation, which was the six days of creation followed by Shabbos? Or should he observe one day as Shabbos and then count six weekdays, which would parallel Adam Harishon’s first Shabbos? That was the dispute in the Gemara.

If Adam had not sinned and had entered into Shabbos properly, he would have immediately entered into the eternal Shabbos. So from Adam Harishon’s perspective, there was no concept of the six days of the week as anything distinct from Shabbos.

We touch here on the third perspective. We explained the three perspectives on Shabbos: The first perspective is the well-known understanding of six days of the week followed by Shabbos. The second perspective is that Shabbos comes first, followed by the six days of the week, and then Shabbos again. But the third perspective is that there are eight days, and they are “all” Shabbos.

The concept that the six days comes first, and then comes Shabbos, is intuitive and well-known to us as the usual order of the days.

The second understanding of Shabbos – Shabbos, six days, and then Shabbos again - is deeper and, in a hidden way, refers to the state of before the sin of Adam, but it still continues to exist today.

But the third perspective is even a higher perspective than the state of before Adam’s sin: had Adam Harishon been immediately elevated, and never have sinned. This level of understanding is extremely hidden from us. According to this approach, had he been elevated when the first Shabbos came, there would have been a situation where there was a Shabbos, and then six days of the week which would also have been Shabbos - and that would have been all. This is the deepest perspective.

It follows that there are three distinct concepts of Shabbos:

1) The simple view - Six days, and then Shabbos.  

2) The Shabbos of before Creation - Shabbos, six days, and Shabbos,

3) The Shabbos of the World to Come, a day which is “all” Shabbos, from the very beginning of the week.

The first understanding is essentially the framework of “seven”. The last two perspectives are the framework of “eight”: either that there is first Shabbos, then the six days, and then Shabbos; or that there are eight days, which are “all” Shabbos.

Shabbos Is Related to the Concept of Teshuvah

So there are three ways of looking at Shabbos kodesh.

The purpose of all created things, as we know, is to do teshuvah ­ ­- first, for their own personal sins, and then to do teshuvah for the basic sin in Creation -  the sin of Adam when he ate from the forbidden tree. After that, our ultimate purpose is to return our existence to a place which is above any possibility of sin.

It is known that according to the holy sefarim, Shabbos takes its name from the word teshuvah (לשוב = שבת).

Shabbos is one of the times mentioned in the holy sefarim as being particularly opportune for teshuvah.[30] There are, in general, four particularly opportune times for teshuva: 1) every night,[31] 2) erev Shabbos, 3) erev Rosh Chodesh, and 4) erev Rosh Hashana.

Erev Shabbos is a time of teshuvah because on Shabbos kodesh, everything returns to its root. The Midrash says; “’We shall sing a song for Shabbos …’ (Tehillim 92); Rabbi Levi said ‘This song was said by Adam Harishon and was forgotten in his generation. Moshe came and renewed it in his own name.’”[32]

When did Adam Harishon sing this song? The Midrash there explains that after Cain sinned, “He met Adam Harishon. He [Adam] said, ‘What should we do as your judgment?’ He replied, ‘I have done teshuva and I have been settled.’ Adam Harishon began to slap his own face and he said, ‘This is the power of teshuva and I did not know it!’ Immediately, Adam Harishon got up and said ‘We shall sing a song for Shabbos.’”

What is the connection in the Midrash between “We shall sing a song for Shabbos”, and teshuvah? The explanation must be that Shabbos itself is the essence of teshuva.

Shabbos is the essence of teshuva for those who are repenting for their own particular sins. Afterwards, we must return Shabbos to its ultimate, desired state: had there never been any sin at all.

The Inner Light of Shabbos

Of all of the times of the year, the spiritual light of Shabbos is the essential root of all of the holidays (Yomim Tovim). Shabbos is called “established and standing” (keviah v’kayma) while the other holidays are dependent on the establishment of the new moon by beis din.[33] Shabbos has been established since Creation, and is not dependent on beis din establishing it, while the holidays are dependent on beis din affixing the date of the new moon.

Shabbos kodesh is called “day of the neshamah (soul).” This is the light of Shabbos kodesh - which every Jewish soul longs for. The purpose of this chapter is to help one reach that essential point, the inner light of Shabbos.

Shabbos exists with every person, and it makes no difference where he is. A person can only do certain mitzvos when his circumstances enable him to do so, like Lulav, Esrog and Matza. If a person does not have these items, he cannot fulfill the mitzvah. But Shabbos reaches every person. When Shabbos arrives, on its simplest level, it exists on the superficial plane called time. But on a more internal plane, it is ohr - “light.”

But what is this light of Shabbos kodesh which we hope and wait to receive from Shabbos?

The first manifestation of its spiritual light is the product of our labor during the six days of the week. “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.”[34] According to the simple order of things, Hashem created the world on Sunday and Shabbos came afterward. It follows, then, that the Shabbos which precedes Sunday is not the beginning of time. Rather, Sunday came first. If so, it is impossible that Shabbos should be the source for Sunday’s light, since it comes afterward.

Along these lines, Chazal said, “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.” The spiritual light of Shabbos is that which a person receives according to his actions, which he did during the preceding week. To the extent that a person infuses his actions during the week with the spiritual light of the Shabbos holiness, his Shabbos will become more illuminated as well.

Let us ask: Does the spiritual light that a person receives - according to his deeds - have to do with rest, or with action?

“One Who Works on erev Shabbos, will Eat on Shabbos” – The Light of “work”

We find a very deep point here.

The word Shabbos simply means “rest.” But according to the aforementioned understanding, the spiritual light of Shabbos comes from the world of work!  This is especially understandable when we contemplate the inner meaning of “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.” One works and does actions, and therefore, the spiritual illumination he receives for his Shabbos rest is fundamentally based on his own labor.

This is what Shabbos is to us. Work was a cursed placed upon Adam for the sin, so our current spiritual light we receive from Shabbos involves Adam’s sin. Had Adam not sinned, the six days of the week would consist only of Hashem’s work, and not man’s.

“One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.” Does this phrase refer to man’s work, or Hashem’s work? Ostensibly, it means man’s work. If so, the Shabbos of “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos” is one which we have only because we are living after the sin of Adam Harishon, the first sin.

This is the first level of light which we can receive on Shabbos. In other words, the actions themselves which we do during the six days of the week further illuminate a person when Shabbos kodesh comes. The six days of the week are weighed down by the darkness of physicality. Therefore, they do not fully illuminate; but on Shabbos, which is connected to the concept of “returning” as we mentioned above, a person’s actions during the past week return to their root and create more light. That is why “one who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.”

This is the first level of Shabbos – and if only we could all even attain this!

The Day Which is All Shabbos and Rest Forever and Ever

The second understanding, which is deeper, is that a person leaves one Shabbos and then reaches the next Shabbos. According to this approach, the person’s six day week are illuminated with the light of the first Shabbos.  From this perspective, there is no “One who works on erev Shabbos, will eat on Shabbos.” In this deeper perspective, Shabbos’s light is not the light of “action” - it is rooted in “rest.” Although it is important to understand the role of action in this understanding of Shabbos, we do see, at least, that the source of Shabbos’s illumination is “rest” rather than “action.”

This is the spiritual light we get from Shabbos had Adam never sinned and instead have entered into Shabbos, as he comes into the six days of the week which followed the actual creation.

The third level we mentioned earlier is an even higher level: If Adam Harishon had never sinned, he would have been elevated and he would have reached the state of the day which is “all” Shabbos. This is the deepest level which all of Creation longs for.

The Shabbos we have today is a microcosm of the World to Come. Therefore, when a person has Shabbos, he can have from it only as it is in this current world. But because Shabbos is a miniature expression of the World to Come, it is meant to bring a person to a desire for the real thing.

If a person attains the spiritual light of Shabbos at its simple level and a person is satisfied with that, he does indeed have the light of Shabbos Kodesh - but this is like a person who is given a crumb of bread from a whole loaf and is nevertheless satisfied. There is still more to Shabbos.

The Shabbos that we experience today is a microcosm of the World to Come. Therefore, we should feel pleasure in the light of Shabbos that we have, but we must also experience that foretaste of the World to Come, and it should create a desire for that world within us. The soul in us should pine to connect to the world which is “all” Shabbos – the true and eternal rest.

Shabbos is the Bridge Between Two Worlds: This World and the World to Come

We should first bring the first type of Shabbos into our souls. Afterwards, we must develop the desire for more internal levels.

When Moshiach comes, the World to Come will begin. G-d willing, we should merit Hashem’s perfect illumination at that time. But right now, a path exists which can lead us toward the World to Come.

We have this world before us, and then there is the next world – the World To Come. There is actually a path between the two worlds.

We can compare this to two cities, separated by a river, with a bridge that connects them. What is the bridge between this world and the next world? Shabbos kodesh, which is a microcosm of the world to come, is that bridge.

How does a person build this bridge?

First, he needs to know that there is a “city” on the other side of the river, because if there is nothing on the other side of the river, he has no reason to build a bridge….

After it is clear to a person that there is a city on the other side, then he will try to build a bridge. The holy seforim call this bridge a “tzinor” - a pipe. There is a conduit which connects two distant things. 

The word “tzinor” shares the same root letters as the word ratzon, “desire”. The correlation is as follows: We must first know what the deep, inner level of Shabbos is. Afterwards, we must build a desire to form a longing for Shabbos’s inner light. The more a person longs for the inner light of Shabbos, the more he will receive the sparks and light of the World to Come.

In this chapter, we began, with G-d’s help, to study Shabbos. We introduced the three aspects of Shabbos kodesh.

First, we discussed the concept of Shabbos which we are already familiar with, which is the first and easiest to attain. We must, however, build on it.

We then discussed the second aspect of Shabbos, which existed at the time Adam Harishon was created: Shabbos, the six days of the week, and Shabbos.

 Above that, we discussed a very deep level, which is the Shabbos of complete rest - the state of Adam Harishon would have attained had he not sinned.