Shabbos: Truth, Boundaries and Unearned Grace

1The Midrash Rabbah on this parshah: “Yaakov sent messengers” [Bereishis 32:4]. This is what Shlomo, king of Israel, said through the holy spirit: “Blessings are upon the head of the tzaddik” [Mishlei 10:6]. About whom did Shlomo HaMelech say this verse? About Yaakov and Esav. Since Hashem had already blessed Yaakov, why did his father bless him again? Because Yitzchak saw through the holy spirit that his children were destined to be exiled among the nations. He told him, “Come, and I will bless you with blessings for the exiles: that the Holy One, blessed be He, will return to you and gather you in from among the exiles.” And what are the blessings? “In six troubles He will rescue you, and in the seventh no evil will touch you” (Iyov 5:19).

2To explain the Midrash, we begin with Sefer Yetzirah, which speaks of three dimensions: olam, shanah and nefesh, space, time and soul. In the soul, the nefesh, there is an inner point, the Divine portion planted and rooted in every Jew. It is the quarry from which the souls of Israel are hewn, from beneath the Throne of Glory, and no sin, iniquity or guilt can touch it, Heaven forbid. This point gives holy vitality to the whole body, as we have written at length many times. In time, the shanah, there are the holy days, and Shabbos is “the first of the holy convocations.” Holy Shabbos is the inner center of the six workdays. It gives the strength and spirit that sustain all the worlds through the six days that follow. This is “He rested and was refreshed [vayinafash]” [Shemos 31:17]: Shabbos is the soul, the nefesh, of time, as Chazal say, “Woe, the soul is lost” (Beitzah 16a). No sin or iniquity touches holy Shabbos, and “all harsh judgments pass away from it.” For the sweet, precious holiness of Shabbos comes from the holiness of the Creator Himself. That is why we say, “Who grants rest to His people Israel in His holiness on the holy Shabbos day”: in the Creator's own holiness. In Kabbalistic terms, Shabbos corresponds to Malchus, Kingship, the seventh of the Divine attributes. This is “In six troubles He will rescue you, and in the seventh no evil will touch you”: no sin or iniquity touches holy Shabbos.

3aThe way to sense the wondrous, sweet light of Shabbos's precious holiness is given in the same passage: “For your covenant is with the stones of the field” [Iyov 5:23]. It is known from Sefer Yetzirah that “stones” are letters [cf. Sefer Yetzirah 4:12]. “The field” is the “field of holy apples,” the Zohar's name for the Shechinah. That is, through the holy words of Shabbos, the prayers and the Kiddush, a person merits to bind his soul to the Creator's holiness. As Chazal say (Shabbos 119b): “Whoever prays on Shabbos eve and says Vayechulu is considered a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of Creation.” Through this he binds his soul to “the rope of Hashem's inheritance” [cf. Devarim 32:9]. This is what the holy Arizal wrote in his Friday-night zemer: “We will make You crowns with precious words, with seventy adornments.” Through the seventy words of the Kiddush, crowns are made for all the worlds.

3bA person may reflect on his low state and his poor spiritual level. This happens especially as he begins to enter the holiness of Shabbos and looks back on his conduct through the six workdays. It happens all the more once he sees how intense the darkness is just before Shabbos, the hour the Mishnah calls “Shabbos eve, as darkness falls” (Shabbos 2:7, 34a). Before light shines, the darkness always grows strong. Absence comes before being, and the husk before the fruit, as the verse says, “And at evening time there shall be light” (Zechariah 14:7). So too, before the precious light of Shabbos appears in full strength, harsh judgment and darkness grow strong. As the Arizal wrote, on Shabbos eve as darkness falls, the forces of impurity, the harsh judgments and the accusers grow mighty. At that point a person has no counsel but emunah. With strong faith he strengthens himself and rises from his fall. This is what the Midrash says further on about “He bowed to the ground seven times” [Bereishis 33:3]: Why seven? Because “a tzaddik falls seven times and rises” [Mishlei 24:16]. That is, through the strength of his faith, for which he is called “a tzaddik who lives by his faith” [Chavakuk 2:4], he strengthens himself and rises from his fall.

3cOn holy Shabbos the light of the holiness of truth shines out. As the Yerushalmi says (Demai 4:1), even an unlearned man is afraid to lie on Shabbos, because the awe of Shabbos is upon him. The holy Arizal wrote that when Shabbos is welcomed in the field, sheker, falsehood (שקר), is turned into sadeh, field (שדה). From the lower right leg of the kuf (ק), a point is formed at the head of the reish (ר), on its right side, making it a kind of dalet (ד). From the left leg of the kuf, a leg is added to that dalet, turning it into a hei (ה). Nothing of the kuf remains except the dalet, and the word becomes sadeh: the field of apples, ready for sowing and for receiving all good. And “truth stands” (Shabbos 104a). This is “a tzaddik falls seven times and rises”: through truth and emunah he is able to rise again.

4aThis is what the Midrash says further on: Another interpretation of “He encamped before the city” [Bereishis 33:18]: he arrived on Shabbos eve, in the twilight glow of the sun while it was still day, and set the Shabbos boundaries, the techumin, while it was still day [cf. Bereishis Rabbah 79:6]. “The sun's twilight glow” means the sun's rays, and it alludes to the “portion of Yaakov,” the inner point. Yaakov Avinu is called “sun,” as the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 68:11): When Yosef said, “And behold, the sun and the moon” [Bereishis 37:9], Yaakov said, “Who revealed to him that my name is Sun?” “And he set techumin while it was still day”: just as the portion of Yaakov gives holy vitality to the soul and to time, it gives holiness to place as well, the third of the three dimensions of space, time and soul. Through the holiness of Shabbos, a person merits to set boundaries for himself, and fences and safeguards around the Torah, so that he does not transgress, Heaven forbid, and does only the Creator's will.

4bThis is the verse “If you hold back your foot because of Shabbos, from pursuing your own affairs” (Yeshayahu 58:13). The first letters of “im tashiv mi-Shabbos” spell emes (אמת), truth. On holy Shabbos a person merits the holiness of truth. He merits to “turn back” from habit: he does no mitzvah out of habit and routine, as “a commandment of men learned by rote” [Yeshayahu 29:13], but only because the Creator commanded it. On “from pursuing your affairs,” Chazal expound (Shabbos 113a): “Your own affairs are forbidden; the affairs of Heaven are permitted.” That is, bind and restrain yourself from acting out of your own desires and will, and act only out of the Creator's will. All this comes through the portion of Yaakov, which sets limits, the middle line. As is known, the attribute of Chessed, kindness, spreads out beyond measure, and Gevurah, severity, contracts beyond measure. Yaakov is Tiferes, harmony, the middle line, which sets the limit: “Up to here you shall come, and no further” [cf. Iyov 38:11].

4cThis is also the other interpretation in the Midrash, that Yaakov kept Shabbos before it was given (Bereishis Rabbah 11:7): of Avraham it is not written that he kept Shabbos, but of Yaakov it is written that he did. By setting himself boundaries and fences on holy Shabbos, a person merits to break through all the fences and walls that separate him from our Father in Heaven and keep him from ascending the mountain of Hashem. This is “A king breaks through a fence” (Bava Basra 100b). Holy Shabbos is called “the Queen,” as in the well-known phrase “the meal of the King,” and those who keep Shabbos have the quality of a king. So “a king breaks through a fence”: because he sets himself boundaries and fences on holy Shabbos, he merits to break through every fence that holds him back from serving Hashem. And he merits the inheritance of Yaakov, “an inheritance without boundaries” [Shabbos 118a], without any constraint or limit. Only he must know truly that he inherits Yaakov's portion as an inheritance from our holy forefathers, not as something he earned. And even a bad son inherits, as Chazal say (Kesubos 53a).

5aPerhaps the Midrash “He encamped before the city: he arrived on Shabbos eve in the sun's twilight glow and set techumin while it was still day” can also be explained by way of allusion. As is known, the Shabbos boundary is two thousand amos, and the allusion is to two alefs, for alef also means “thousand.” As the Tikkunei Zohar says, Bereishis is beis reishis, “two beginnings” [see above, Parshas Bereishis, where we discussed this at length]. The idea is this. Before a person enters the holiness of Shabbos, he should reflect and take to heart all his conduct during the six workdays, and how little he has prepared for the precious holiness of Shabbos. Let him see and know that he is still standing at the alef, the very first letter. He has not yet begun to know even a little of holy avodah or of Hashem's exaltedness. One who enters the holiness of Shabbos must still know and remember his true place and state. He must not imagine that his preparation and his many deeds in Torah and mitzvos earn him the right to rise to the heights. Rather, Hashem, in His abundant mercy and immense kindness, lifts him and raises him higher and higher, while he himself is still in his first place and state.

5bThis is the meaning of the verse in the Torah, “Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Shemos 16:29). Even after he has entered the holiness of Shabbos, he must know that he has not yet left his place and his first level. It is only Hashem who lifts him and raises him up from the dunghill of his poverty [cf. Tehillim 113:7]. Shlomo HaMelech said, “If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place” (Koheles 10:4). Read it this way: if the spirit of the Ruler raises you up, do not leave your place. For on your own account you are still in your first state and standing. Only through the power of emunah did you merit all this, as explained above. The power of this true knowledge sweetens everything, and he merits abundant mercy and good kindnesses. This is “He encamped [vayichan] before the city.” The first letters of es pnei ha'ir (את פני העיר) add up to eighty-six, the numerical value of the Name Elokim, which, as is known, stands for strict justice. Through vayichan, which is related to chein, grace, he knows the truth: all this is a free, unearned gift, for there is no grace except from the Gracious One. So he merits grace, cancels the harsh judgments and the accusers, and turns everything to good.