One of the well-known themes of the creation story is that God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, we too rest on Shabbat. However, does Shabbat only mark the end of a period or also the beginning of a new week?
Rabbi Chayim ibn Attar (1696-1743) writes in his commentary on the Torah that the first Shabbat in the Genesis story fuels the following six days (Ohr Hachayim 2:3). Without that first Shabbat, the world would have returned to the tohu va’vohu, “chaotic void”, before creation.
Rabbi Yehuda Lowe, also known as the Maharal (circa 1512-1609), considers the concept of the number seven as being at the centre of the physical world with everything flowing from it. For example, a cube such as a die has six sides and each side represents a day of the week. The seventh point is at the very centre of the cube, hidden, and the three dimensions or six sides spread forth from this foundation point in the middle of the die (Be’er Hagolah, 6).
The Maharal’s model suggests that Shabbat shapes the subsequent six days (especially the Shabbat shluf/nap).
How we consider the concept of Shabbat and the marking of time is also evident in the talmudic dispute regarding when a person lost in the wilderness, ignorant of which day it is, should celebrate Shabbat (Shabbat 69b). The first option is the “World’s Shabbat”, which means the desert island Jew should count six days and then rest on the seventh.
The second option is represented by “Adam’s Shabbat”. Primordial Adam was created on the sixth day and entered straight into Shabbat. In this approach, the castaway should observe Shabbat immediately, similar to Adam.
What meaning can we derive from the particular timing of that first Shabbat?
Shabbat is both a time to reflect and mark the culmination of the previous week, while also setting the stage for the week to come. I appreciate the liminal space that Shabbat provides to punctuate time, to take stock of the past and to plan for the future.
The sidrah columnists for 5781 are:
Rabbi Michael Rosenfeld-Schueler, University Jewish Chaplaincy, Oxford
Rabbi Zahavit Shalev, New North London (Masorti) Synagogue
Rabbi Mendel Kalmenson, Chabad Belgravia
Rabbi Celia Surget,Radlett Reform Synagogue
Rebbetzin Lauren Levin,South Hampstead (United) Synagogue
