Said to Myself

Arguably Shabbat is one of the most significant gifts of the Jews. In Ki Tisa, this week’s Torah portion, we learn about additional aspects of the significance of this day of rest. There we read:

Speak to the Israelite people and say: nevertheless , you must keep My sabbath, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the Lord have consecrated you. You shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his kin. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, La’asot et Hashabbat– making the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day God ceased from work and was refreshed. ( Exodus 31:13-17)

Shabbat is a sign between God and the Jewish people and a means of our becoming holy. While one might want to focus on the death penalty for breaking the Shabbat, after a conversation with my deal friend Shalom Orzach I am more interested in the idea “La’asot et Hashabbat– making the sabbath” ( Exodus 31:16). As I have discussed in the past in making the world God was making a place for us to exist. God rested on Shabbat from that work, so we could be together. Similarly by instructing us  to rest from our kind of work on Shabbat, we are invited to be the host for God in our lives. At  the core of the Tabernacle, the Temple, and Shabbat is a profound notion of hospitality. The logic seems to follow that the 39 categories of work that went into building the Tabernacle are the same varieties of “Asiyah” making things that are prohibited on Shabbat. While making things is what is prohibited on Shabbat ( evening meriting the death penalty) it is also what we are instructed to do -” le’asot- making Sbabbat. What does Asiyah mean?

I was thinking about this question when I got to thinking about  the teaching of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachia in Perkei Avot . There we learn:

Yehoshua ben Perachia says, “Aseh– Make for yourself a rabbi, acquire for yourself a friend and judge every person as meritorious.” (Avot 1:6)

What does it mean to make a  rabbi? Is that not the work of rabbinical schools? What is the nature of this Asiyah?  What is the connection between what God did to create the world, the creative activity we do six days a week that is prohibited to do make on Shabbat, what we do in making Shabbat itself, and do in making a Rabbi?

I think that an answer to all of this might be suggested in our Torah portion. Might it all be about making the sign between God and the people of Israel? Essential to all of these asiyot– makings is the forging of relationships.  According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachia, how does this relationship we make with a rabbi compare to the relationship we acquire with a friend? It might be that in all of these relationships there is a respect, deference, and creation of limits. While this might be off-putting in that this variety of relationship comes with hierarchy, these moments of yielding to another  make a certain kind of kedusha– holiness in the world. The commandment to make Shabbat invites us to limit ourselves and make room in our lives for others and maybe even the Other. By seeing ourselves as a smaller part of something much larger we make a “covenant for all time.”

Shabbat Shalom