<b>And the Lord said unto Moses: “Write thou these words” (Exod. 34:27).</b> May our masters teach us: Is one who writes two letters on the Sabbath (while unmindful of the prohibition or of the Sabbath) obligated (to bring a sin-offering)? Thus do our masters teach us: One who writes two letters thoughtlessly on the Sabbath is obligated (to bring a sin-offering) because he has made a mark and profaned the Sabbath. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Be zealous of the glory of the Sabbath, for on that day I rested from the work of creation, as it is said: <i>And He rested on the seventh day</i> (ibid. 20:9).
It happened that the wicked Turnus Rufus encountered R. Akiba and asked him: “What difference is there between today and yesterday?” He responded: “What difference is there between one strong man and another?” Rufus retorted: “I asked you a question, yet you reply with another question.” R. Akiba then said: “You asked me what difference was there between the Sabbath and any other day, and I asked you what is the difference between Turnus Rufus and any other man.” “The king among kings wished to honor me,” he answered. R. Akiba replied: “It is the King of Kings who demands that Israel honor the Sabbath.” “If that is so,” he argued, why does He labor on the Sabbath?” “What labor does he perform on the Sabbath?” queried Akiba. “Exactly what He does during the week,” said Rufus. “He makes the winds to blow, the clouds to soar, the rain to fall, the sun and the moon to shine, the fruits to grow, and answers (the prayers) of women giving birth as they do on any other day of the week.” Akiba retorted: “I know that you are familiar with the law of <i>eruv</i>. Now if two men reside in one courtyard and one deposits an <i>eruv</i> while the other does not, you would not maintain that they are both permitted to walk about on the Sabbath.
However, if a man lived alone in a courtyard as large as Antioch itself, he could walk about that courtyard, for no one else shares the area with him. So, too, the Holy One, blessed be He, may His name and His memory be blessed, has His throne in heaven and the earth is His footstool, His glory fills the earth and no one shares it with him, hence He goes about in his world. Nevertheless those who ate the manna testify that it descended on weekdays and not on the Sabbath, as it is said: <i>Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath</i> (ibid. 16:25). Likewise, those who conjure up the dead through witchcraft testify that the dead arise on weekdays but not on the Sabbath. If you doubt this, consult your father’s (corpse), may his bones be ground to dust.”
He went to the sorcerer on the first day of the week and his father’s corpse was brought up. That occurred also on the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth day of the week, but on the Sabbath day it did not ascend. Then, on the first day of the next week, it reappeared. He asked his father’s corpse: “Now that you are dead, why do you behave as a Jew, observing the Sabbath?” He replied: “My son, everyone among you who does not observe the Sabbath as it is decreed will do so unwillingly when he arrives here.” He asked him: “What work do you do on weekdays? He answered: “On weekdays we are judged, but on the Sabbath we rest until the Sabbath ends and the Sabbath reading is completed. When the Sabbath reading is concluded, the angel in charge of souls comes and takes the souls of those people and casts them back into the pit of the earth that is called <i>A land of thick darkness as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without any order</i> (Job 10:22).” What is meant by <i>tzalmavet</i> (“shadow of death”)? It means <i>tze’u lemavet</i> (“they go out to death”), since they have already completed reading the text for the Sabbath. He then asked him: “If that is so, then why does the Holy One, blessed be He, work on that day?” He replied: “He is like one who walks about a courtyard four cubits in size. Furthermore, the river Sabbatyon<sup class="footnote-marker">38</sup><i class="footnote">The legendary river Sabbatyon flowed, and therefore was impassable, on the six weekdays, but was still on Sabbaths and holy days. According to legend it formed the boundary of the territory in which the ten lost tribes were exiled. See Gen. R. Chapter 73, sect. 6 and San.h. 65b</i> testifies to this fact, for it carries stones and sand throughout the week, but on the Sabbath it rests.” He said to him: “Do you intend to fob me off (with this answer)?” He said to him: “It is written: <i>He rested on the seventh day from all His labors</i> (Gen. 2:2) (My answer is intended seriously).”
R. Phinehas stated in the name of R. Joshua: Though it is written concerning Him that <i>He rested from all His labors</i>, it indicates merely that He rested from the work of creation, but not that He rests from considering the deeds of the righteous and the acts of the wicked. Rather, He works with them. He reveals to these (the righteous) the essential character of their deeds and to those (the wicked) the essential nature of their acts. How do we know that the punishment of the wicked is called <i>work</i>? It is said: <i>The Lord hath opened His armory and hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation; for it is a work that the Lord God of hosts hath to do</i> (Jer. 50:25). How do we know that rewarding the righteous is considered <i>work</i>? It is said: <i>Oh, how abundant is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou has wrought for them</i> (Ps. 31:20).
Thus you learn that even the dead are aware of the Sabbath day. R. Joshua the son of Hanina declared: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: “Keep the Sabbath, for it is equal to the entire law.” About the Sabbath, it is written: <i>Keep the Sabbath day</i> (Deut. 5:12), and concerning the law it states: <i>Ye shall diligently keep the commandments</i> (ibid. 6:17). The Sabbath was given through Moses: <i>See that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath</i> (Exod. 16:29), and similarly, the law was given through Moses.