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In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Within the Torah’s description of that untimely event, the parshah lists the “Ten Commandments” that were passed down to us from God. Let us focus on one of those commandments; that of Shabbos (the Sabbath). God willing, through further analysis of its commandment, may we come to a deeper understanding of what Shabbos is all about.

After commanding us to observe Shabbos, the Torah explains the basis of keeping Shabbos in the first place:

“For in six days God made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, God blessed (BeiRaKH) the Sabbath day and sanctified it (vayeKaDSHehu)” [Exodus: 19: 11]

After a cursory reading of the verse, nothing seems to stick out. But, as usual, the Torah contains within it wellsprings of deep insight that can only be drawn out through closer examination. The verse says that God both “blessed” and “sanctified” the day of Shabbos. The simple and fundamental questions we should start off with are: What does it mean to be “blessed”? What does it mean to be “sanctified”? And what does it mean to be both “blessed” and “sanctified”?

The Hebrew word for blessing is “Barukh”, which has the same root (BRKH) as the Hebrew word for knees: “Birkhaim”. When standing still, the objective of bending our knees is to bring our body downwards. Thus, as the Rabbis explain, the meaning of the word “Barukh” is to lower, or to put it more clearly, to be drawn down. A blessing is the idea of drawing something down from the higher world into the lower world.

In our daily prayers and blessings, we say over and over “Blessed are you God…” Doesn’t this seem strange? Does the almighty God really need our blessing!? Of course not! However, according to our new understanding, we are not “blessing” God in that sense. Rather we are stating a confirmation that God is blessed. Meaning, by reciting these words, we are enforcing our belief that God doesn’t just stay up in heaven and watch over us. Rather, God actually draws Himself down into this world from his lofty throne in order to directly care for our daily needs and requests. That’s the power of a blessing.

What is sanctification? The Hebrew word is “Kadosh”, which has the same root (KDSH) as the Hebrew word for a prostitute: “Kedeishah”. At first this may seem striking! Aren’t sanctification and prostitution diametrically opposed to one another!? Don’t worry; the answer is yes. However, there is one common denominator that links these two extremes together: Detachment. A prostitute, by attaching her essence to a vile and immoral lifestyle, is (and if not, should be) considered an outsider, and therefore becomes detached from the morals of society. This same idea holds true for sanctification, but at the opposite pole. When something is given a “sanctified” or “holy” status, it is considered as something dedicated to the heavenly realms and to Godliness; and therefore, it is seen as something that is spiritually detached from everything physical in its surroundings. Therefore, to reiterate, when using the term “Kadosh” in spiritual terms, we are conveying an idea of separation; of complete removal from this world.

Now, what does it mean to both “blessed” and “sanctified”? According to what we’ve explained thus far, it means to be drawn down into this world, while at the same time remaining completely detached! Aren’t these diametrically opposed concepts!?

This is Shabbos! The day described by our sages as “Me’ein Olam Haba” (a taste of the world to come). The holiness that lies within the day of Shabbos is indescribable, and its very nature is a paradox! It is a day that is both “blessed” and “sanctified”; a time of the week when all of existence, although still rooted in this world, is detached and more connected to the spiritual worlds than we can know. (*See footnote*)

God has drawn down the holy time of Shabbos into our world, for us to experience and harness its sanctity for the remaining days of the workweek. We must recognize the power of Shabbos. Once every seven days, we are truly blessed with the ability to connect to a world outside of our own, let us not waste it.

Good Shabbos,

NZL

* This idea does not belong to Shabbos alone, but to God Himself! Every day in our prayers, we recite more than once the following two verses in conjunction with one another:

“Holy, holy, holy (Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh) is God, Master of Legions…” [Isaiah: 6: 3]

“Blessed (Baruch) is the glory of God from His place” [Ezekiel: 3: 12]

It is no coincidence that these two verses, which originate from different sources in the books of the prophets, are joined together.

The very nature of God is that He is completely infinite and soars beyond anything we can ever possibly begin to imagine. Yet at the same time He is firmly rooted in this world and lowers Himself, so to speak, into each and every detail of our lives. God has invested Himself in this world so that we can develop a meaningful relationship with Him, but at the same time we must know that there is no end to His greatness, and that it is impossible to understand or grasp His true nature.

From now on, whenever we refer to God as “HaKaDoSH BaRuKH Hu” (“The sanctified One blessed be He”) we can truly take this message to heart.