Its called a Sign

by Rabbi Joshua (signally known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

Dedicated to the memory of my friend, and former chavrusa, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Z. Sprecher, of Brooklyn, NY, who passed away this week. May his memory be a blessing.

In this week’s parsha, the command to observe the Shabbos is repeated, but this time with an additional element. For the first time, Shabbos is referred to as a sign: Between Me and the children of Israel, it is forever a sign that [in] six days The Lord created the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased and rested (Shemos 31:17). This description of Shabbos is perplexing – in what way is Shabbos a sign? In addition, what is the meaning of the end of the verse which describes Hashem as resting?

The Gemara in Beitzah (16a) says that the word “vayinafash” (and he rested) refers to the neshama yesairah, the extra measure of soul that is injected into the Shabbos. Broken up, the word “vayinafash” can be read as “vay avdah nefesh” (woe that the soul is lost) which is the exclaim of a person at the end of Shabbos. A difficulty raised by Rav Shimon Schwab z"l is that the focus on the fact that the soul is lost seems to contradict what the pasuk is saying, which is that an extra soul is added on Shabbos. Why mention the regret with the very word that introduces us to the extra soul?

Rav Schwab explains that this extra soul is really relevant to every part of creation on Shabbos. However, it was only the Jew who felt the unique loss of the soul as Shabbos leaves, indicating the unique relationship that exists between Shabbos and the Jewish people. This feeling illustrates that the Jewish people are the partner of Shabbos.

The Aruch HaShulchan, in his introduction to hilchos Shabbos, has a similar approach to the meaning of Shabbos as sign. He suggests that Shabbos is a special sign between the Jewish people and God because really it should have application to all of mankind, as it commemorates the creation of the world, but it was still given solely to Klal Yisroel, as a special sign of love.

Perhaps we can suggest that the reason the idea of Shabbos as a sign was given to the Jewish people at this time is that Chazal say that one who observes Shabbos atones for the sin of Avodah Zarah. This mention of giving the “os” (sign) of Shabbos is given at the beginning of Ki Tisa in anticipation of the sin of the Eigel. In this sense, we have the antidote of Shabbos before the wound of Avodah Zarah.