FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)We all know the story of Creation. Each day God added new components to the world until on the seventh day He rested. Hence, we have Shabbat.
Why would an all-powerful being need a break? The answer is that while most English versions of the Torah translate shavat as “rested,” a more accurate translation of the word is “abstained.” On the seventh day, then, God “abstained from all His work which God created to make” (Gen 2:4).
The 12th-century Torah scholar Nachmanides interprets this verse to mean God ceased to perform all of God’s creative work. In fact, later, in Exodus 31: 17, we read, “It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day God abstained from work and rested.”
Here it is clear there is a distinction between abstention and rest. The Hebrew word for rested in this verse is “v’yenafesh.”
What can we learn from God’s actions? The rabbis say God wanted to teach us that work is not an end in itself. To be healthy and balanced, we must have a “Shabbat” and renew our strength and spirits.