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The Sabbath Closed the Shop and Kept the Light in Adam's Face

The sentence against the first man was handed down on a Friday. It was not carried out until Saturday night, and he spent the day in between shining.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Decree Was Signed on a Friday
  2. The Manna That Would Not Rot
  3. Shammai Carried the Seventh Day Through the Market
  4. The Night the City Was Breached
  5. No Court Could Move the Day
The Sabbath Closed the Shop and Kept the Light in Adam's Face Click for full size

The Decree Was Signed on a Friday

Adam had light in his face. Not an expression, not a look. Light, of a kind that made the sun and the moon seem like second thoughts, and it was going to be taken out of him on a schedule he did not set.

The ruling came down on the sixth day, before evening. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda of Kefar Akko counted what happened next, twice, because it happened twice. The lights of heaven were spoiled that Friday and were not struck until the Sabbath had gone out. The light in Adam's face was spoiled that same Friday and was not struck until the Sabbath had gone out.

The Sabbath kept the light in his face one day longer than the sentence allowed. He walked through the seventh day carrying a condemned face, and nothing above him dimmed either.

Rabbi Yosei pushed back on it. "Why do I need any of this?" he said. "The psalm settles it already. A man does not stay the night in his honor. His honor did not lodge with him, and he was left like the beasts."

"No," came the answer. "The decree came on Sabbath eve, and his honor did not leave him until the decree was on him, and he was not struck until the Sabbath went out."

The Manna That Would Not Rot

The same day did the same thing to bread.

Six mornings a week the manna fell one measure a head, and anyone who held a portion overnight woke to worms in it and a smell in the tent. On the sixth morning two measures came down for every person, and the portion carried across into the Sabbath did not stink and had nothing crawling in it.

Blessed with manna and sanctified with manna. A day that holds off rot.

Underneath that sat a question nobody could leave alone. A psalm says the heavens were made by the word of the Lord. If a word was enough, why does the Torah insist on six days of labor? Because there is a reckoning waiting for anyone who wrecks a world made that carefully, and a payment coming to the ones who hold it together.

Then the sharper one. Isaiah swears God does not faint and does not grow weary. So what was the resting? If the One who cannot get tired wrote down about Himself that He rested, a creature born to toil has no argument left for skipping it.

Shammai Carried the Seventh Day Through the Market

Shammai the Elder walked the market with the Sabbath already in his mouth.

He would stop at a stall, look an animal over, and say it out loud. "This one is for the Sabbath." If something better turned up on a Wednesday he ate the first animal and set the new one aside in its place. A good vessel, a fine dish, the same sentence every time. All his years, the memory of that day never went out of his mouth.

Hillel the Elder ran on a different measure. He trusted each day to bring what it needed, because everything he did was already pointed at heaven. Blessed is the Lord, day by day.

Their schools fought over the last hours before dark. Shammai's students said the work has to be finished: do not set ink or dyes to soak, do not spread a net for beasts or birds, do not load the beam of the olive press, do not open the water into the garden, do not lay meat on the coals, unless the thing can finish itself before nightfall. Hillel's students allowed every one of those. You do your six days, and what is left completes itself while you sit.

Both schools wanted the same man at the end of it, sitting down at dusk like someone with no work anywhere in the world.

The Night the City Was Breached

Rabbi Yehudah ben Beterah put the ugliest case on the table. Foreign troops come at a town on the Sabbath. The men go out to hold the walls, and in holding them they break the day.

Then somebody says the reasonable thing. We have already broken it. Half of it is gone. Let the rest go with it.

The answer is no. A man who profanes the day answers for it, and a breach the length of a blink is still a breach, and the hours on the far side of it are exactly as holy as the hours before anyone drew a sword. A day does not become salvage because a piece was torn out of it.

The other edge got measured just as carefully. A man writes one letter at dawn and one at dusk. He weaves one thread in the morning and one in the evening. Nothing whole, nothing owed. Half a letter is not a letter.

No Court Could Move the Day

Every festival in the year sits where the court puts it. Judges add a day to a month or hold one back, and the feast slides along with them.

Someone assumed the seventh day answered to the same men, and the reply came back flat. A Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. To the Name, not to the court. No panel can carry it to a Tuesday. No emergency reschedules it. It was set in the seventh position while the world was still being made, and nothing signed since has reached it.

Even the Tabernacle stopped. The holiest thing Israel ever built, gold and blue and goats' hair rising to a specification God had dictated Himself, and on the seventh day the craftsmen laid down their tools and the sky over the half-finished tent went quiet.

Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said the line people remember. The Sabbath is handed over to you. You are not handed over to the Sabbath.

And then the street. Every seventh morning a man walks down it and the shutters have not been opened. Why is that one closed? Why has that woman put her work down? Because they keep the Sabbath. A shut shop is a sentence said out loud with no voice in it, and what it says is that the world was made in six days and the one who made it stopped on the seventh.

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From the tradition

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6 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 20:8Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"Remember" and "keep" (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12): both were spoken as one matter, what the mouth cannot speak and the ear cannot hear. So it says, "And God spoke all these words" (Exodus 20:1), and it says, "God has spoken once; twice have I heard this" (Psalms 62:12).

Shammai the Elder says: remember it before it comes and keep it once it comes. And they said of Shammai the Elder that the memory of the Sabbath never departed from his mouth: he would buy a good article and say, "this is for the Sabbath"; a new vessel, and say, "this is for the Sabbath." And they said of Shammai the Elder that all his days he ate in honor of the Sabbath: if he found a fine animal he would say, "this is for the honor of the Sabbath"; if he found another finer than it, he would set aside the second and eat the first. But Hillel the Elder had a different way, for all his deeds were for the sake of Heaven, as it is written, "Blessed be the LORD day by day" (Psalms 68:20).

Another interpretation of "remember": recall it over the cup. From here we learn that one sanctifies the Sabbath only over a cup of wine. Another interpretation of "remember" and "keep": recall it before it enters and keep it once it has entered. From here we learn that one adds from the ordinary onto the holy at its entrance and at its departure.

Rabbi Eliezer said... Rabbi Yehudah ben Beteira says: from where do we learn that when you count the days you should count "one toward the Sabbath, second toward the Sabbath, third toward the Sabbath, fourth toward the Sabbath, fifth toward the Sabbath, and the eve of the Sabbath"? Therefore it says, "remember."

"The day": I have only the day; from where do I include the night? Therefore it says, "to keep it holy." Why then does it say "day"? The honor of the day precedes the honor of the night. "To keep it holy": sanctify it at night. And from where do we learn that if one did not sanctify it at night, one may continue to sanctify it all through the day? Therefore it says, "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." If one has only a single cup, the sanctification of the day takes precedence over the honor of the day and the honor of the night. Another interpretation of "to keep it holy": with what do you sanctify it? With food and drink and clean clothing, that your Sabbath meal should not be like a weekday meal, and your Sabbath garb not like your weekday garb. And from where do we learn that even a poor man should not let his Sabbath food be like his weekday food? Therefore it says, "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 20:9Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"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.

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 20:10Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"But the seventh day is a Sabbath" (Exodus 20:10): I have only a positive commandment; from where do I learn a negative commandment? Therefore it says, "you shall not do any work." I have only a positive and a negative commandment; from where the death penalty? Therefore it says, "whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:15). We have heard the punishment, but we have not heard the warning; therefore it says, "and the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath" (Exodus 31:16). I have only punishment and warning for daytime labor; from where punishment and warning for nighttime labor? Therefore it says, "from evening to evening" (Leviticus 23:32), if it is not needed for the matter of the eve of the Day of Atonement, apply it to the matter of the eves of the Sabbaths. From where the death penalty for the positive and negative commandment? Therefore it says, "those who profane it shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:14).

"A Sabbath to the LORD your God": rest even from thought. From here they said: a person should not stroll in his field on the Sabbath to see what it requires, nor to the bathhouse to bathe in it after dark; and all the calculations he needs, whether of the past or of what is to come, he should not reckon on the Sabbath.

"You shall not do any work": one might think one may not trim vegetables, rinse dishes, or make the beds; therefore it says "work." Here "work" is stated, and "work" is stated regarding the Tabernacle. Just as the work stated regarding the Tabernacle is work accompanied by purposeful intent, so too the work stated regarding the Sabbath is work accompanied by purposeful intent.

"You, your son and your daughter": one might think one's grown son and daughter; when it says "you," the grown son and daughter are already accounted for. Why then does it say "your son and your daughter"? These are one's minor son and daughter, that one should not say to one's minor son, "bring me this vessel from the market," "bring me this basket from the market." Minors who come to extinguish a fire, one does not listen to them, for they too are commanded regarding rest. One might think one must chase after them so they do not break shards or scatter pebbles; therefore it says "you", just as you act of your own knowledge upon your own work, so they act of their own knowledge upon their own work. If it says "son," why say "daughter"? Because there is in the son what is not in the daughter, and in the daughter what is not in the son. Regarding a son, his father is obligated in commandments concerning him: to circumcise him, to redeem him, to teach him Torah, to teach him a craft, to make him swim upon the water, and to marry him to a wife, which is not so with a daughter. Regarding a daughter, her father is entitled to what she finds, to the work of her hands, and to the annulment of her vows, which is not so with a son. Thus, because there is in the son what is not in the daughter and in the daughter what is not in the son, it must say "son" and must say "daughter."

"Your manservant and your maidservant": one might think the Hebrew manservant and maidservant, but these are like you. Which then are these? The resident manservant and maidservant. "And your animal": why do I need this? If to say that one may not do work with it, that has already been said in "you shall not do any work." Why then say "and your animal"? That a person should not rent out his animal to a gentile, nor lend it, and that it should not go out bearing a burden on the Sabbath. "And your stranger who is within your gates": if Scripture speaks of the righteous convert, it has already said, "one statute shall be for you, for the assembly, and for the stranger who sojourns" (Numbers 15:16). How then do I uphold "your stranger"? Scripture speaks of the resident alien, who is the hired hand and gatherer of an Israelite, that he should not let him do work for him on the Sabbath; but for himself, of his own accord, he may do work.

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 20:11Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth" (Exodus 20:11): were they created in six days? Is it not already said, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made" (Psalms 33:6)? If so, why does it say "for in six days the LORD made the heavens"? Rather, to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy a world created in six days, and to grant good reward to the righteous who sustain a world created in six days. Another interpretation: "for in six days the LORD made", for three reasons the Sabbath was given to Israel: on account of the exodus from Egypt, as it is written, "and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 5:15); and on account of "for in six days the LORD made"; and on account of "and He rested on the seventh day." "The sea and all that is in them": the sea was included in the work of creation, yet Scripture tells that there is praise in the sea equal to all the works of creation. Similarly you say, "this Leviathan You formed to play with" (Psalms 104:26), was Leviathan not included in the works of the sea? Rather, Scripture tells that there is praise in Leviathan equal to all the works of the sea.

"And He rested on the seventh day": this teaches that rest was not created until the seventh day. Another interpretation: "and He rested on the seventh day", is there toil and weariness before Him? Is it not already said, "He does not faint nor grow weary" (Isaiah 40:28)? If so, why does it say "and He rested"? Rather, to exact punishment from the wicked who destroy a world created with toil and weariness. Another interpretation: "and He rested", is this not a matter of lighter-to-heavier reasoning? If He who spoke and the world came to be, before whom there is no toil and weariness, wrote of Himself "and He rested," then a human being, of whom it is written, "man is born to toil" (Job 5:7), how much more is he obligated to rest on the seventh.

"Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy": with what did He bless it and make it holy? He blessed it with the manna and made it holy with the manna. He blessed it with the manna: on every day it says, "an omer per head" (Exodus 16:16), but on the Sabbath it says, "two omers for each" (Exodus 16:22); on every day it says, "it bred worms and stank" (Exodus 16:20), but on the Sabbath it says, "it did not stink, nor was there any worm in it" (Exodus 16:24). Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah, a man of the village of Akkos, says: He blessed it with luminaries and made it holy with luminaries. He blessed it with the light of a person's face and made it holy with the light of a person's face; and even though the luminaries were impaired from the eve of the Sabbath, they were not struck until the conclusion of the Sabbath. And even though the light of a person's face was impaired from the eve of the Sabbath, it was not struck until the conclusion of the Sabbath, as it says, "the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days" (Isaiah 30:26). Rabbi Yose said to him: why do I need this? Is it not already said, "man in his splendor does not abide" (Psalms 49:13), his glory did not abide with him, but his glory was nullified and he became like the beasts that perish? He said to him: no; the decree was passed on the eve of the Sabbath, yet it did not take hold until the decree was passed upon him, and he was not struck until the conclusion of the Sabbath.

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 31:3Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you" (Exodus 31:14). This is what Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya says: the Sabbath is handed over to you, and you are not handed over to the Sabbath. "For it is holy to you": this tells that the Sabbath always adds holiness to Israel. Why is this one's shop closed? Because he keeps the Sabbath. Why is that one idle from his work? Because he keeps the Sabbath. And he thereby testifies before the One who spoke and the world came into being that He created the world in the six days of creation and rested on the seventh day. So it says, "You are My witnesses, says the LORD, and I am God" (Isaiah 43:10).

"Those who profane it shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:14). Why is this said? Because it says, "Whoever does work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:15), we have heard the punishment but not the warning; Scripture teaches, saying, "The seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall do no manner of work" (Exodus 20:10). I would know only of punishment and warning for daytime work; punishment and warning for nighttime work from where? Scripture teaches, "Those who profane it shall surely be put to death." We have heard the punishment but not the warning; Scripture teaches, "The seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD"; the word "sabbath" need not be stated except to bring the night under the warning. These are the words of Rabbi Achi son of Rabbi Yoshiyah. Rabbi Yehudah ben Beterah says: If gentiles came to a city and Israelites profaned the Sabbath [in defense], one might think that Israel would say, since we have already profaned part of it, let the whole Sabbath be profaned; Scripture teaches, "Those who profane it shall surely be put to death": even for the blink of an eye, "those who profane it shall surely be put to death."

"For whoever does work on it" (Exodus 31:14): until he does a complete labor. If one wrote a single letter in the morning and a single letter toward evening, or wove one thread in the morning and one thread toward evening, I might think he is liable; Scripture teaches, "For whoever does work on it," until he does a complete labor. "Shall be cut off": why is this said? Because it says, "Those who profane it shall surely be put to death," I would know only of one who acted deliberately with the warning of witnesses; one who acted deliberately by himself, from where? Scripture teaches, "shall be cut off," to include the one who acted deliberately by himself. "Shall be cut off": cutting off means nothing other than the ending of the soul. "That [soul]": when it acted deliberately, the words of Rabbi Akiva. "From the midst of its people": but its people are at peace.

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 31:4Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

Translation of the source text.Mechilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai, ed. D. Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1905 · Public Domain

"Six days work shall be done" (Exodus 31:15). Rabbi Ishmael says: one verse says "Six days work shall be done," and another verse says, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work" (Exodus 20:9). How can both verses stand? When Israel does the will of the Omnipresent, their work is done by others, as it says, "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks" (Isaiah 61:5); and when Israel does not do the will of the Omnipresent, their work is done by themselves, and not only that, but even the work of others is done by them, as it says, "You shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and in thirst" (Deuteronomy 28:48).

"And on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD" (Exodus 31:15). Why is this said? Because it says, "These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations" (Leviticus 23:4), one might think that just as the festivals are handed over to the court [to fix by the calendar], so too the Sabbath would be handed over to the court; Scripture teaches, "And on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD," the Sabbath is handed over to the Name and the Sabbath is not handed over to the court. So it says, "It is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings" (Leviticus 23:3).

"Whoever does work on the sabbath day" (Exodus 31:15): even the work of the Tabernacle. "Shall surely be put to death": I might understand by any form of death; Scripture teaches, "And the LORD said to Moses, the man shall surely be put to death; the whole congregation shall pelt him with stones" (Numbers 15:35), that is to say, by stoning.

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