פרשת כי-תשא תש"ל - שבת

’Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctify you.

ואתה תדבר אל בני ישראל, "You too speak to the children of Israel, etc." Why does the Torah use the unusual ואתה in this instance? The letter ו is also unusual, as is the repetitive דבר, seeing the Torah already reported G'd as saying to Moses לאמור? Besides, why was the word לאמור repeated once more in this verse? To whom were the children of Israel supposed to communicate this directive? Even though I have already explained at the beginning of פרשת תרומה that the word דבר is needed and it is not enough to write לאמור, in this instance even the word לאמור has been repeated! Another problem is the word שבתותי in the plural. According to Shabbat 69 the reason for the plural is to decrease the liability of someone who through lack of knowledge of the principle of work-prohibition on the Sabbath has violated a string of Sabbaths. His offence would be considered as being only one offence covering all these Sabbaths and a single sin-offering would suffice to obtain atonement for such a person.. In the Mechilta on our verse the use of the plural is explained as including liability for transgressions of rabbinic commandments commonly known as שבות.

’Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctify you.

אך את שבתתי תשמרו BUT NEVERTHELESS MY SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP — Even though you be anxious and alert to do the work promptly the Sabbath nevertheless you must not set aside on its account. The words אך and רק wherever they occur in Scripture have limitative force (Rosh Hashanah 17b; cf. Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 17b on אכין ורקין). Here Scripture intends by the word אך to except the Sabbath from the days on which the work of the Tabernacle may be done.

אך את שבתותי תשמרו, “However, My Sabbaths you must observe.” This verse teaches that the construction of the Tabernacle did not supersede the laws of the Sabbath. Our sages in Sifra Kedoshim 3,7 explain that the sequence of the words את שבתותי תשמורו ומקדשי תיראו, “observe My Sabbath days and revere My Sanctuary” (Leviticus 19,13), clearly shows that Sabbath observance takes precedence over the commandment to construct the Sanctuary. This is why the word אך in our verse should be translated as אכן, i.e. ”surely, indeed.” The meter of the verse is: “I have indeed commanded you to proceed with the construction of the Tabernacle; however you must continue to observe the laws of the Sabbath inasmuch as they interfere with construction of the Tabernacle.” Seeing that the word אך always is used to exclude something, (compare Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 9,7 that the words אך, רק are always used to exclude something), it seems to me that also in this instance the use of the word אך conforms to that Talmudic principle. The Torah teaches with the word אך that here too it conforms to the principle mentioned by the Talmud and that certain communal sacrifices which are brought at a certain time as directed by the Torah override the Sabbath legislation. Whenever the rules about such offerings are accompanied by the word במועדו, “at its appointed time,” this means that the offering overrides the restrictions imposed on such work on the Sabbath (compare Pesachim 66 on Numbers 28,2). We have another example of the word אך being used in such a context in Leviticus 23,27 where the Torah writes אך בעשור לחודש השביעי הזה יום הכפורים הוא which is also an exclusion. The Talmud explains that the word אך excludes atonement being granted on the Day of Atonement to people who are unrepentant. Delving still further into the meaning of the restrictive אך, the Talmud reasons that if we took the lesson from the word אך in our verses at face value then even violating the Sabbath in order to save a life would be forbidden; in order for us not to make this mistake, the Talmud points out that the word אך was placed in a position where it restricts the application of the very commandments it promotes (Yuma 85).

’Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctify you.

לדעת TO KNOW — (not, “for you to know”, but) for the nations of the world to know through it, כי אני ה' מקדשכם THAT I AM THE LORD THAT DOTH SANCTIFY YOU.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no.

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.