Parshat Yisro – 19th February 2020

We all have a different experience of Shabbat. For some it is a day to relax, spend time with family and friends. For others a day  of communal gathering, communal prayer. And for others its about the strict observance of a complex set of rules known as the 39 Melachot. We can all argue and state our own opinion as to what Shabbat is about and what element is more important and should be emphasised.
But in truth the secret of Shabbat is contained in the Torah.

Yisro contains the ten commandments. The 4th being Remember the Shabbat etc.
Forty years later in Deutronomy when Moses repeats the ten commandments he says “Guard the Shabbat” instead of remember.
Why the discrepancy? Could it be that Moses the quintessential Torah giver forgot the basics!

The Midrash provides the solution in the famous phrase we sing every Friday night at Kabbalat Shabbat in the Lechad Dodi Hymn
“Shamor Vezachur Bedibbur Echad” – Observe/Guard with one statement.
This enigmatic statement means simply (or not so simply!) that God uttered Shamor and Zachor in one statement.
Of course this is a miraculous phenomenon beyond our the ability for our rational minds to comprehend. We mere mortals can only say one word at a time – Shamor then Zachor or vice versa. God chose to express the Mitzva of shabbat with these two key verbs simultaneously.
Zachor- Remember is connected to the positive element of Shabbat. Technically we remember the Shabbat through reciting the holy words of Kiddush over wine. But as a theme Zachor is the positive elements like special clothes food and generally enjoying permitted pleasures. Communal prayer and stimulating our minds with Torah wisdom is all part of Zachor as is singing and sometimes even dancing. And of course we chill out and relax!
Zachor is easy to relate to as it addresses our perceived spiritual needs.
In a nutshell we remember our souls on this day by connected with all those aspects of life that are positively nurturing
Intimacy with family and friends
Intimacy with community
Intimacy with God

What more then do we need on Shabbat? Certainly the last thing we would think to add as an essential ingredient to Shabbat would be a complex set of restrictive laws that seem to be petty or burdensome. I am of course referring to the 39 categories of creative work known as Melachot that we refrain from on Shabbat. They are elaborated upon in Tractate Shabbat and make up some of the most complex and intricate laws in all of Judaism!!

The Kabbalists explain that on Shabbat the very fabric of the universe changes. As opposed to the 6 days of the week when the world sees itself as separate from God. On Shabbat the Divine energy that creates the world returns to its source.
Put another way if God creates the world through speech then on Shabbat He creates the world in thought
The world we perceive with our physical senses seems to be exactly the same on Shabbat but if we could only sensitise our souls we would see past the veneer and connect to Hashem. This is the idea behind the Shamor- Guarding aspect of Shabbat.
Only by disconnecting from creativity in the physical world are we able to taste the spiritual oneness that exists in the world.
All of the Melachot that are forbidden betray this essential unity of the world. Just one simple example illustrates this. On shabbat we are forbidden to tie a permanent knot. Seemingly a trivial action. Yet when we think a little deeper we realise that the act of tying brings two separate entities together to become one. Yet Shabbat as we have just mentioned is a day where the essential oneness of creation is accessible. By engaging in this simple act of tying a knot (on an external level), we lock our consciousness back into the spiritual mode of the week which sees the world as a multiplicity of things all interacting as opposed to the Divine harmony of Shabbat.

Therefore God utters Shamor and Zachor simultaneously to teach us that we need both aspects of Shabbat.

Of course no single Jew is capable of keeping Shabbat perfectly. The Chofetz Chaim once said the only way to keep the Shamor aspect perfectly is to sleep the entire Shabbat! But then one would not be able to consciously experience the positove Zachor element.

The Zachor/Shamor dynamic of Shabbat is therefore an ideal. As long as we are striving to grow in each domain then we are spiritually growing.

May we all be blessed to experience the days of Moshiach when all days will be Shabbat in the sense of experiencing tranquillity and intimacy with the Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom