Shabbos Parashas Vayakhel-Pekudei - 5778
Shabbos Parashas Vayakhel-Pekudei - 5778
Rabbi Hal Miller
On six days work shall be done, but the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day
of complete rest for Hashem. Whoever does work on it shall be killed. [Shemos 35:2]
Throughout the Torah we find commandments worded as "you shall do" or "you shall
not do". Why is this one worded "shall be done"? The verse immediately prior says that
"these are the things that Hashem commanded, to do them." Is our commandment
directed at the work itself, or at the people who are to perform it?
Some commentators look past the unusual wording, and discuss how being gainfully
employed in some fashion is crucial to a Jew. The Yerushalmi in Kiddushin says that
"This refers to having a trade." Pirkei Avos says "love work". Nachshoni argues that
our pasuk means "It stands to reason that working for six days each week is a duty."
The point of these arguments is that man is a partner in Creation and must do his
share.
There are even those who say that the unusual wording means that work shall be done
for you, rather than by you yourself. They point to the wording in Yisro and Va'eschanan
where it says, "you shall do work", thus our case is differentiating itself from there.
But none of the really answers our question. It seems clear that the Torah is not giving
a command to the work, rather to those who perform it, as the Torah was meant for
man to live by. Thus Moshe's words in the preceding verse are key, when he said that
God told us to do something here. But what?
Netziv says that the reflexive form in our verse is to teach that work begun on a weekday
that continues of itself into Shabbos was also disqualified in building the Mishkan. An
example would be dying wool. Technically Shabbos would not be desecrated by such an
action, but the building of the Mishkan was such a high level of sanctification that even
this would be inappropriate. The command in our verse is for us to sanctify Shabbos to
a very high degree. One might ask, does this disallow the use of an electric light left on
over Shabbos, or worse, chas v'shalom, a cholent pot? The answer is clearly no, as
those would be sanctifications of Shabbos, not desecrations.
Netziv makes an additional point. "You shall do work" would imply that a person's
efforts are the cause of his making a living and financial success. "Work shall be
done" tells us that those successes do not come from our own efforts. He says that
one who does not believe that his sustenance comes from God finds it hard to
observe Shabbos because he thinks it will negatively impact his earnings. But one
who does believe that everything comes from God, has no problem taking off from
work on Shabbos, because he knows it does not cause him harm, rather results in
a bigger success. Yes, we are commanded in many places and in many ways that we
must take an active role in making a living, but in the end, the One who gives us that
living does so because we trust in Him, not because we worked for it.