The Dignity of Honest Labor and Finishing Work Before Shabbat

"Six days you shall labor" (Exodus 20:9): Rabbi says this is a separate decree — just as Israel was commanded regarding the positive precept of the Sabbath, so they were commanded regarding work. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says: great is work, for the Presence did not rest upon Israel until they performed work, as it says, "And let them make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: great is work, for the Omnipresent decreed death upon a man only out of idleness, as it says, "and he expired and died and was gathered to his people" (Genesis 25:17). Rabbi Akiva says: great is work, for one who derives the value of a perutah from consecrated property brings a guilt-offering for misappropriation plus a fifth and an additional guilt-offering worth two selas, yet the laborers who worked on the sanctuary received their wages from the chamber's terumah. Rabbi Shimon says: great is work, for even a High Priest who enters on the Day of Atonement at a time not appointed for service is liable to death, yet at the time of labor the impure and the blemished are permitted to enter. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work": this is the matter in which the House of Shammai say one may not soak ink, dyes, or vetch unless there is time for them to be soaked while it is still day; and one may not spread nets for beasts or fowl unless there is time for them to be trapped while it is still day; and one may not load the beams of the olive press or the round masses of the winepress unless there is time for the liquid to flow out while it is still day; and one may not open water channels into a garden unless there is time for it to fill while it is still day; and one may not place meat, onion, or egg upon the fire, nor a dish into the oven, unless there is time for them to be cooked while it is still day. But the House of Hillel permit all of these. For the House of Shammai say, "six days you shall labor and do all your work" — that your work be entirely finished before the eve of the Sabbath. And the House of Hillel say, "six days you shall labor" — you do work all six, and the rest of your work gets done by itself on the Sabbath. "And do all your work": that on the Sabbath you should be as one who has no work at all.