Yisro 2020 Ladies Shiur

(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

The Sages taught in a baraita with regard to the verse: “Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it” (Exodus 20:7): Remember it over wine, through the recitation of kiddush. I have only derived that there is a mitzva to recite kiddush during the day, as the verse is referring to the day of Shabbat. From where do I derive that one must also recite kiddush at night? The verse states: “Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it,” which indicates that one should also remember Shabbat as soon as it is sanctified. The Gemara expresses surprise at this last question: From where is it derived that one must recite kiddush at night? Is this the appropriate question? On the contrary, the essential mitzva of kiddush is to sanctify the day at night, as one must sanctify the beginning of the day, i.e., Friday night; there is no reason to sanctify Shabbat in the middle of the day, i.e., in the morning. And furthermore, the continuation of the baraita states: From where do we derive the obligation of kiddush at night? The verse states: “Remember the day of Shabbat.” The tanna is seeking a source for kiddush at night, and yet he cites a verse that is referring to the day. The Gemara answers that this is what the tanna is saying: “Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it” is a mitzva to remember it over wine when it begins. I have only derived the obligation to recite kiddush at night; from where do I derive that one must also recite kiddush during the day? The verse states: “Remember the day of Shabbat.” The emphasis of the word day indicates that one must recite kiddush again during the day.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said: Women are obligated to recite the sanctification of the Shabbat day [kiddush]by Torah law. The Gemara asks: Why? Kiddush is a time-bound, positive mitzva, and women are exempt from all time-bound, positive mitzvot. Abaye said: Indeed, women are obligated to recite kiddush by rabbinic, but not by Torah law. Rava said to Abaye: There are two refutations to your explanation. First, Rav Adda bar Ahava said that women are obligated to recite kiddush by Torah law, and, furthermore, the very explanation is difficult to understand. If the Sages do indeed institute ordinances in these circumstances, let us obligate them to fulfill all time-bound, positive mitzvot by rabbinic law, even though they are exempt by Torah law. Rather, Rava said: This has a unique explanation. In the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus, the verse said: “Remember Shabbat and sanctify it” (Exodus 20:8), while in the book of Deuteronomy it is said: “Observe Shabbat and sanctify it” (Deuteronomy 5:12). From these two variants we can deduce that anyone included in the obligation to observe Shabbat by avoiding its desecration, is also included in the mitzva to remember Shabbat by reciting kiddush. Since these women are included in the mitzva to observe Shabbat, as there is no distinction between men and women in the obligation to observe prohibitions in general and to refrain from the desecration of Shabbat in particular, so too are they included in the mitzva of remembering Shabbat.

Exodus 20,8“keep remembering the Sabbath day to keep ‎it holy.”In the review of the Ten Commandments by Moses ‎in Deuteronomy 5,12 the Torah writes: ‎שמור את יום השבת לקדשו‎, ‎‎“observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
‎[Moses there adds the apparently unnecessary words: ‎כאשר צוך ה' אלוקיך‎, “just as the Lord your G’d has commanded ‎you.” Apparently, aware of the slight variation in the text from ‎our verse, Moses reassures the people that this is not a deviation. ‎Ed.]‎
‎[Most students in elementary school are already familiar ‎with the line in the hymn of ‎לכה דודי‎ that ‎שמור וזכור בדבור אחד ‏השמיענו א-ל המיוחד‎, “shamor and zachor the One and ‎only G’d has let us hear as a single word.” Ed.] The source ‎of the words in the hymn are found already in the Talmud Rosh ‎Hashanah 27. The deeper meaning of this somewhat enigmatic ‎statement is that the commandments of the Torah may be ‎divided into two parts; 1) the actual physical performance of the ‎commandment; 2) awareness at the time of performance of the ‎underlying intention of the Creator when He gave us this ‎commandment.. The qualitative difference between these two ‎aspects of the commandment is that only the performance is of ‎the essence, the underlying intention of G’d when formulating ‎the commandment is secondary.‎
There is, however an exception to this rule, and this ‎exception is the commandment of keeping the Sabbath holy. In ‎this instance the Torah clearly spelled out what our thoughts ‎must be when observing the Sabbath properly, i.e. the fact that it ‎is a testimonial of G’d having created the universe in the 6 days ‎preceding the first Sabbath. When a Jew refrains from doing any ‎of the activities which are forbidden on the Sabbath but he fails ‎to reflect on the fact that the sanctity of this day is due to G’d ‎having bidden us to remember that he created the universe in the ‎‎6 days preceding the original Sabbath, such a Jew has not ‎observed the commandment of “keeping the Sabbath.” Seeing ‎that the ‎זכירה‎, “the remembering,” primarily by reciting the ‎‎Kiddush is an integral part of the Sabbath is cited first ‎shows that as opposed to the other positive commandments ‎where the performance by the body is the primary element, this ‎is not the case in respect of the commandment of the Sabbath. ‎The very expression ‎זכר למעשה בראשית‎, “in commemoration of ‎the process of creation,” (on several occasions (in both the ‎‎shacharit and mussaph prayers) is proof that our ‎sages viewed this element of the Sabbath day as an essential part ‎thereof, no less so than the abstention from the type of work that ‎G’d “rested” from, i.e. ‎וינפש‎, on the original Sabbath of creation. ‎The Sabbath is the symbol of our faith that G’d preceded the ‎universe and therefore is the only Being in the universe deserving ‎to be worshipped as Deity.‎ ‎