The Sabbath Without a Partner and Israel Its Mate

Pesikta Rabbati 23:1

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." "Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all of them were written, the days that were formed when as yet there was none of them" (Psalms 139:16). Resh Lakish in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah: when the Holy One created the first man, He created him as a formless mass (golem), and he was stretched from one end of the world to the other; and the Holy One passed before him each generation and its righteous, each generation and its wicked, each generation and its expounders, each generation and its leaders, and said to him, golem, what did your eyes see? What does Scripture mean, "in Your book all of them were written"? This is the book of the first man, "this is the book of the generations of Adam" (Genesis 5:1). "The days were formed, and not one among them" (Psalms 139:16). Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua: Rabbi Eliezer says, each day has its own day - the day of Sisera, the day of Sennacherib, the day of Gog. Rabbi Yehoshua says: there are three hundred sixty-five days, the days of the solar year, and there is one of them for the Only One of the world. Which is it? Rabbi Levi said: this is the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Yitzhak said: this is the Sabbath day. "Remember the Sabbath day." "In one thing they are brutish and foolish, the teaching of vanities is but wood" (Jeremiah 10:8). The nations of the world count one of the week, second, third, fourth, fifth, the eve - they do not count the Sabbath; but Israel count the Sabbath as they were commanded. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Here it is written "Remember" and elsewhere "Keep" (Deuteronomy 5:12). Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Aybu in the name of Resh Lakish: a parable to a king who sent his son to the shopkeeper and handed him an issar coin and gave him a flask; the son broke the flask and lost the issar. He pulled his ear and pulled his hair and gave him a second time, saying: be careful not to lose these as you lost the first. So because Israel lost "Remember" in the wilderness, He gave them "Keep." Rabbi Yudan said: "Remember" was given to the nations, "Keep" to Israel. Rabbi Aybu said: "Remember" was given to those who go down to the sea, who do not know whether they carry under prohibition or permission; "Keep" was given to those who dwell on dry land. Rabbi Simlai said: remember it before it comes and keep it after it comes. How so? If a good item presents itself, prepare it for the Sabbath; a new vessel, prepare it for the Sabbath. Shammai the Elder would buy provisions from the first of the week for the Sabbath. Hillel the Elder had another quality: he would say, all your deeds shall be for the sake of Heaven. "To keep it holy." With what do you sanctify it? With food and drink and clean clothing. Rabbi Hanan said: from here, a person should have two cloaks, one for the weekday and one for the Sabbath. When this was expounded in Tiberias, they said: as our wrapping is on a weekday, so is it on the Sabbath. He said to them: you must change, from "and you shall wash and anoint yourself and put your garments on" (Ruth 3:3). "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." A king of flesh and blood, when his soldiers serve him, says: serve with yourselves one day and with me six; but the Holy One is not so. Rather He said to Israel: My children, serve with yourselves six days and serve with Me one day. "But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God." Rabbi Tanhuma, and some say Rabbi Eliezer in the name of Rabbi Meir: "a Sabbath like your God" - just as your God rested from speech [of creation], so you rest from speech. Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: the mother of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai, when she would speak idle words on the Sabbath, he would say, Mother, it is the Sabbath, and she fell silent. Rabbi Aybu said: rest from thought. Rabbi Berekhiah said: a story of a certain pious man who went out to walk in his vineyard on the Sabbath and saw a breach in it and thought to repair it after the Sabbath. He said: since I thought about it on the Sabbath, I will never repair it. What did the Holy One repay him? A caper tree grew up in it and fenced it, and he was supported from it all his days. "You shall not do any work, you and your son and your daughter... and your stranger who is in your gates." A philosopher asked Rabbi: if circumcision is beloved, why was it not given to the first man? He said: if so, why does that man shave the corner of his head and leave the corner of his beard? He said: because it grew with him in folly. He said: if so, let that man blind his eyes and cut off his hands and break his legs, which grew with him in folly. He said: to such matters have we come? He said: to send you off empty is impossible; rather everything created in the six days of creation needs improvement - mustard needs sweetening, the lupine needs sweetening, wheat needs grinding; even a person needs improvement. Aquila the convert asked Rabbi Eliezer: since circumcision is beloved before the Holy One, why was it not given among the Ten Words? He said: it was given before the Ten Words, as it is written, "and you shall keep My covenant" (Exodus 19:5) - this is the covenant of the Sabbath and the covenant of circumcision. A noblewoman asked Rabbi Yose bar Halafta: if circumcision is beloved before the Holy One, why was it not given among the Ten Words? He said: it was already given - "your stranger who is in your gates" - this is the convert who keeps the Sabbath in covenant like Israel. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth." Were they created in six days? Is it not already said, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made" (Psalms 33:6)? Rather, to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy the world that was created in six days, and to give good reward to the righteous who sustain the world created in six days. "The sea and all that is in them" - for He has creatures in the sea as He has creatures on dry land, "this great and wide sea... Leviathan whom You formed to sport in it" (Psalms 104:25-26). "And He rested on the seventh day." Is there toil and weariness before Him? Is it not said, "He does not faint nor grow weary" (Isaiah 40:28)? Yet it is written "He rested." A man, of whom it is written "man is born to toil" (Job 5:7) - how much more should he need to rest on the seventh. "Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" - because it has no partner. The first day has the second, third has fourth, fifth has sixth - the Sabbath has no partner. Another interpretation: a festival and the Day of Atonement are set aside [for cause], but the Sabbath is not set aside. The Sabbath said before the Holy One: all the others have a partner, and I have no partner. The Holy One said: the Community of Israel is your partner. And when they stood at Mount Sinai, He said to them: remember the matter I told the Sabbath, that the Community of Israel is your partner, as it is said, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught: He blessed it with manna and sanctified it with manna - blessed it, for each day one omer but on the Sabbath two omers; sanctified it, for the manna did not spoil or breed worms (Exodus 16:14). Rabbi Yehudah ben Simon said: the light created on the first day, Adam would gaze and look with it from one end of the world to the other; when the Holy One saw the deeds of the generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, the generation of the dispersion, He arose and hid it and prepared it for the righteous in the time to come, "the light of the righteous is as the shining light" (Proverbs 4:18). Rabbi Levi in the name of Bar Nezirah: that light served thirty-six hours, twelve of the eve of the Sabbath, twelve of the night of the Sabbath, and twelve of the Sabbath. When the first man sinned, the Holy One sought to hide it but apportioned honor to the Sabbath. When the sun set on the eve of the Sabbath, that light waited and served, and all began to praise the Holy One. When the sun set at the going out of the Sabbath, darkness began to come, and the first man was afraid, saying: woe is me, perhaps the serpent of whom it is written "he shall bruise your head" (Genesis 3:15) comes to bite me. What did the Holy One do for him? Rabbi Levi said: He prepared for him two flints and he struck them one against the other, and fire came forth from them, and he blessed over it, "who creates the lights of fire." Rabbi Pinhas told: a story of a certain pious man in Rome who would honor the festivals and Sabbaths. One eve of the great fast he went to the market to buy something and found nothing but one fish, and the servant of the prefect was standing there, and this one would bid it up and that one would bid it up. That Jew bought it for a litra at a dinar. The prefect said to his servant: is there no fish here? He said: only one came up to the market today, and a certain Jew bought it for a dinar a litra. He summoned the Jew and asked: how do you eat a fish for a dinar a litra? He said: my lord, may I have permission to speak before you? He said: speak. He said: we have one day, and it is dearer to us than all the days of the year; from all the sins we commit, on that day we are forgiven. Therefore we honor it greatly. He said: since you have brought proof for your words, you are acquitted. What did the Holy One repay him? He prepared within the fish a precious pearl, and he was supported from it all his days. Turnusrufus the wicked asked Rabbi Akiva: what makes this day different from other days? He said: what makes this man different from other men? He said: the King wishes to honor me. He said: the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, wishes Israel to honor the Sabbath. He said: who can prove it? He said: the river Sambatyon will prove it, for all the days of the week it flows, but on the Sabbath it does not flow. And further, those who ate manna testify, for all the days of the week it came down, but on the Sabbath it did not come down, "Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field" (Exodus 16:25). He said: you put me off with wind. He said: those who consult the dead will prove it - go and test it through your own father. He went and raised him every day, but on the Sabbath he could not raise him. After the Sabbath he raised him. He said to him: father, after you died have you become a Jew? He said: my son, whoever does not keep the Sabbath among you willingly keeps it here against his will. He said: what work is there among you? He said: all the days of the week we are judged, and on the Sabbath we rest. Why does He do work on the Sabbath? He sends winds, raises clouds, brings down rain, causes dews to fall, makes the sun rise. Rabbi Yose bar Halafta said: He who keeps the Sabbath is like one who dwells alone in a courtyard and may carry throughout it; since the whole world is the Holy One's and no other shares it with Him, He may carry through all the worlds. Rabbi Pinhas in the name of Rabbi Hoshaya: though it is written, "He rested from all His work" (Genesis 2:3), He rested from the work of His world, but He did not rest from the deeds of the righteous nor from the deeds of the wicked, but works with these and with those. Rabbi Berekhiah in the name of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba: the Sabbath was given only for delight. Rabbi Haggai in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman: the Sabbath was given only for the study of Torah. And they do not disagree: he who said for delight means the scholars who toil in Torah all week and on the Sabbath come and delight; and he who said for study means the laborers who are busy at their work all week and on the Sabbath come and occupy themselves with Torah. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: whoever delights in the Sabbath, the Holy One gives him his heart's requests, "delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the requests of your heart" (Psalms 37:4).

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