CONGREGATION
MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO
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WEEKLY TORAH PORTION |
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CONGREGATION
MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO |
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This is a real dilemma and not one that is unique to the person who called me. You see, he was still planning to give everyone a day off, no one was going to work seven days a week without a break; his employees would have their time off, only it would not be on a Saturday. The problem with this is that HaShem’s Word can not be compromised! According to this passage not only is the boss to rest on the Shabbat, but his employees are to rest as well, which is what is meant by, and the ben (son) of your handmaid, and the Ger (stranger who lives among you). They too are to take the seventh day, Shabbat off to rest and be refreshed. In addition, HaShem did not mean that you can only work six days a week, and not seven, and that there has to be a day that you take off and rest. He said that you could only work six day and the day of your rest is to be the Shabbat. I have also been asked how we know that Saturday is the Shabbat. The answer to that question is quite simple; that is the day both Yeshua and the apostles went to synagogue according to Scripture. Mordechai (Mark) {1:21} And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the Shabbat day He (Yeshua) entered into the synagogue, and taught. Why did HaShem choose the Shabbat as the day to be refreshed? Can you not be refreshed on Sunday or Tuesday or any other day of the week for that matter? Most people when they focus on the commandment of HaShem about the Shabbat, they focus on the portion that says “day of rest.” When you do that you can certainly stretch the meaning of this passage to include any day you take off from work. After all, a day off is a day of rest. However, these people need to read on in the passage because it also says that you “may be refreshed.” Resting is for your body, refreshing is for your spirit. Plenty of people take off from work and rest, but few are ever refreshed. What does it mean to be refreshed? To be refreshed means to be revived, to be renewed and, obviously from the context of the Scripture from or Parasha this week, the refreshing of the spirit can only take place on the Shabbat. If HaShem thought that we could be refreshed on another day, other than the Shabbat, do you not think that He would have told us so? The fact that He told us to rest and be refreshed on the Shabbat means exactly that. Our bodies need the rest and our spirits need the refreshing. Therefore my answer to this person’s question was; neither can the boss nor his employees be refreshed on any other day other than the Shabbat. His store must be closed on Shabbat. When HaShem created the earth in six days, Torah says: Bereshit (Genesis) {1:31} And G-d saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. The seventh day, the Shabbat, is therefore the day that HaShem delighted in His creation. He looked upon all that he had made and He declared it to be good. I understand this to mean that every Shabbat HaShem continues to delight in His creation. He has set this day apart and specifically declared it the day of rest and refreshing. Shemot (Exodus) {20:11} For in six days HaShem made the heaven, earth, and sea, and everything in them, and rested the seventh day; so he blessed the Shabbat day and set it aside. Therefore, what better time to be delighting in HaShem than on the day He is delighting in us! Further more, I believe that it is on the Shabbat that HaShem pours out His refreshing. So not only do we get rest on the Shabbat, perhaps the same rest we could get on any other day of the week, but we also get spiritually refreshed on the Shabbat, by G-d, something that we can not get on any other days of the week. I am going to say something very bold now, so please bear with me. The reason, we have so many “Christian counsellors,” “Christian Psychiatrists,” and “Christian Psychologists,” is because so many “Christians,” although they are resting on Sunday, they are not receiving the proper spiritual refreshing. I believe, that this special and anointed refreshing of G-d can only be received on the Shabbat because that is the only day, I believe, He is pouring it out upon those who are resting to receive it. Baruch HaShem Rabbi Ya'acov Farber |
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