Vayakhel: Shabbos, Unity, and the Blessing Without Toil

1“Moshe assembled the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael and said to them, ‘These are the things that Hashem commanded, to do them.’”¹ The Yalkut Shimoni says: “Our Rabbis, the masters of Aggadah, say: From the beginning of the Torah to its end, there is no parshah that opens with the word Vayakhel, ‘he assembled,’ but this one alone.”² Why, then, is the assembling of the people mentioned in this parshah more than in any other?

2A teaching is told on this verse in the name of my holy ancestor, the Yid HaKadosh, zt"l, and recorded by his disciple R' Isamar of Konskovola in his sefer Mishmeres Isamar. The word Vayakhel, “he assembled,” has the same numerical value as mikveh, a pool for ritual immersion.³ Those are his holy words. But what do purity and immersion in a mikveh have to do with this verse?

3Let us begin with the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on the verse “Moshe assembled the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael.” He explained it with a well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, zt"l: before doing any mitzvah, a person must bind himself to Klal Yisrael, which is why one says “in the name of all Israel.”⁴ This, said my father, is the meaning of “Moshe assembled the entire congregation of Bnei Yisrael and said to them, ‘These are the things that Hashem commanded, to do them.’” When we do “the things that Hashem commanded, to do them,” that is, the Torah and the mitzvos, we must do them as an assembled people, bound together with Klal Yisrael. Those are his holy words.

4aTo explain all this, we can draw on a teaching of my holy great-grandfather of Biala, zt"l.⁵ He cites the Midrash on the verse “By the word of Hashem the heavens were made”: “Not with toil and not with effort did the Holy One, blessed be He, create His world, but ‘by the word of Hashem the heavens were made.’”⁶ This hints, he writes, that a person must know that just as creation came about without toil or effort, so too people's livelihood does not come through toil or effort. A person does have to work, at a craft or in business, but his work must be “by the word of Hashem”: he works because that is what Hashem commanded. He should not credit his living to his labor; he works only because Hashem commanded that he earn his living this way. In every kind of work, then, he must be in the spirit of Shabbos. He must not rely on the work itself, but know that it is Hashem, blessed be He, Who gives him life and sustenance through this business and this labor.

4bFor a person is Hashem's messenger in this world, sent to serve Him in all these things. That is why every kind of work is called melachah, a word that speaks of being sent on a mission. [In the holy tongue a messenger is called malach,⁷ and melachah comes from malach.] A person must truly know that he is Hashem's messenger, sent to lift all things up to their source on high through the power of his service. In this way he draws every good blessing down upon himself with ease, without toil or effort, as at the beginning of creation, when Hashem created the world without toil or effort, for “by the word of Hashem the heavens were made.” Those are his holy words. What emerges from them is this. When a person works, he must know that he does so only to carry out the word of Hashem, Who wants him to do this work, and not because his living will come from it. He must also know that wealth does not come from a person's effort; everything comes from Hashem, as the verse says, “The blessing of Hashem, it makes rich.”⁸

5In light of his words we can explain the verse “Six days work shall be done,”⁹ which suggests that the work will be done by itself. The commentators, among them the Kli Yakar and the Ohr HaChaim, ask why it does not say “Six days you shall do work.”¹⁰ But the verse is hinting at what we have said. Every person must know that the point of work is not to do a great deal and wear himself out with heavy toil, since only “the blessing of Hashem, it makes rich.” Rather, his work should be in the spirit of “work shall be done”: he should regard the labor of his hands as if someone else were doing for him the work through which the blessing will come.

6aBut how can a person truly reach this level, to know and recognize this? Through the power of holy Shabbos, as my holy great-grandfather wrote in his sefer Yesharei Lev.¹¹ He writes that one must first remind a Jew of the good in him, and then he will see his shortcoming on his own. This is the meaning of “You shall surely rebuke your fellow, and you shall not bear sin because of him”:¹² do not begin with the wrong he has done; begin with the good he has done.

6bHe continues: “What awakens Jews to teshuvah? As is known, it is Shabbos, for the letters of Shabbos (שבת) stand for Shabbos bo tashuv, ‘on Shabbos you shall return.’ Shabbos shows them its holiness through the power of the additional soul, the extra soul a Jew receives on Shabbos, and in this way it awakens them to teshuvah and shows them their own worth. So when they need rebuke, one must first draw down to them the blessing of Shabbos and the greatness of Shabbos for all their generations. Then they will be awakened to teshuvah and ask Hashem to draw the holiness and the blessing of Shabbos down to them. Through this they will understand their own worth and be awakened to teshuvah. This is hinted in the prayer of our holy master, R' Elimelech of Lizhensk, zt"l, ‘that each of us should see the virtue of our fellows and not their failings,’ which means that we should show our fellow his virtue.”¹³ Those are his holy words. It follows from his words that the power of the holiness of Shabbos brings a person to three things. First, to know that he has nothing of his own and that everything comes from Hashem, blessed be He. Second, to know that he works for a living only because Hashem commanded it. Third, the way to reach all this: by knowing the greatness of Shabbos and of the additional soul.

7His words explain well why only in connection with Shabbos does the Torah mention that the command was given at an assembly. We have seen that to bring Israel to teshuvah on Shabbos, good blessings must be brought down upon them, and that is possible only through the community as a whole. An individual faces accusations in Heaven that hold back the blessing, for who can be found righteous before Him in judgment,¹⁴ and who has kept the whole Torah as he should? But when everyone is united, the whole community together can fulfill the Torah completely, each person keeping some of the mitzvos. Through this the blessing of the holiness of Shabbos flows down upon Israel, and so the people are privileged to attain da'as, true awareness. Once they have attained true da'as on Shabbos, it brings them to true teshuvah. Since the power of teshuvah comes from the power of the many, we understand well why this verse hints at acting “in the name of all Israel,” as my holy father said. For on Shabbos a person is privileged to attain da'as, a level he reaches through a gathering of friends and the power of holy Shabbos.

8aThis lets us explain the words of my holy ancestor, the Yid HaKadosh, that Vayakhel has the same numerical value as mikveh. The mikveh stands for teshuvah, as the Rambam writes: “It is clear and evident that impurity and purity are decrees of the Torah … and it all depends on the intention of the heart … Just as one who directs his heart to become pure becomes pure as soon as he has immersed, even though nothing new has happened to his body, so it is with one who directs his heart to purify his soul from the impurities of the soul, which are wicked thoughts and evil beliefs. He becomes pure once he has resolved in his heart to separate from those beliefs and has brought his soul into the waters of understanding. For it says, ‘I will sprinkle pure water upon you and you will be purified; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will purify you.’” So far his words.¹⁵

8bThe mikveh, as is known, is one of the things that help a person do teshuvah. It is also one of the things that draw blessing down upon a person. We know this from tzaddikim, who would tell people in need of salvation and blessing to immerse in a mikveh, basing this on the verse “O Hope of Israel … its Savior in time of trouble.”¹⁶ Since our verse speaks of the renewal that comes through the teshuvah that Shabbos brings about, it is fitting that it hints at the mikveh, which helps a person to teshuvah and to renewal.

9aWe have seen that on Shabbos a person can come to teshuvah, so on Shabbos he becomes a new creation. This is what the Baal HaTurim means in his commentary on the Torah. He explains why the verse at the end of Parshas Ki Sisa, “Bnei Yisrael saw Moshe's face, that the skin of Moshe's face shone …,”¹⁷ stands next to the beginning of Parshas Vayakhel, which speaks of the mitzvah of Shabbos. The placement tells us that the shining of the face on Shabbos is not like that of other days. On Shabbos a person can be like a different creation, through the power of the teshuvah and the closeness to Hashem that Shabbos brings. That is why it shows on his face: “The light of a person's face on Shabbos is not like the light of his face on a weekday.”¹⁸

9bTosafos, the classic commentators on the Gemara, write the same in connection with the seven wedding blessings: Shabbos counts as a “new face,” “as we say in the aggadah: ‘A psalm, a song for the Shabbos day.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘A new face has come here.’”¹⁹ So far their words. But this is difficult: is Shabbos a person?²⁰ Rather, since on Shabbos a person comes to teshuvah, as we have seen, he becomes a new creation on Shabbos. A person on a weekday is truly not the same person he is on holy Shabbos, and so each person himself counts as a “new face.”

10aThe great and precious power of Shabbos could be seen especially in my holy great-grandfather, whose hilula, the day of his passing, is today. His son, my great-uncle, the holy Rebbe of Lublin, zt"l, wrote about this at length in his introduction to the sefer Yesharei Lev. He relates that every single Shabbos my great-grandfather would connect his words of Torah to the holiness of Shabbos. My great-grandfather himself gave the reason: he was born on Shabbos, the 14th of Teves, the day on which Shabbos sent a letter to R' Avraham ibn Ezra, zy"a.²¹ From this he learned that the root of his soul is hewn from the holiness of Shabbos.

10bMy great-uncle writes further there: “We saw this with our own eyes: on holy Shabbos he was changed for the better. In his last days this was revealed with even greater force, when he was ‘wounded because of our transgressions.’²² His sufferings, Heaven save us, were beyond measure, for the pain was very great. Even so, ‘Yisrael strengthened himself and sat’²³ at his pure table with mesirus nefesh, the readiness to give one's life, in the plainest sense, to hold the Shabbos meal with a shining face and to teach new Torah insights. All who saw him from outside were amazed and said, ‘Is this the man who is “acquainted with sickness”?²⁴ Why, his face shines like a healthy man's!’ But they did not know or understand that my father's soul, ‘the lamp of Hashem,’²⁵ was lifted up by the light of Shabbos, and he forgot all the affairs of the world and everything in it. That is why his face was like a burning fire, as though he had no pain at all.” That is the gist of his words. All this was because my holy great-grandfather had been privileged to reach this level, the power of da'as, on Shabbos. So when Shabbos came, he would grow strong as a lion and his face would burn like a torch. Above all, he was privileged to have the power of a gathering of friends on Shabbos, and that is why he grew all the stronger in leading his Shabbos table.

11May his great merit protect us, and may we all soon be privileged to reach the day that is entirely Shabbos and everlasting joy.²⁶ Amen, may it be His will.