The classic understanding of maaseh bereishis is that Hashem created the world in 6 days, and on the seventh, He rested. Just like Hashem ‘rested,’ so too, we rest. And the world seems content at relating to Shabbos as a ‘Day Off.’
Let’s take a closer look at the metaphysical dynamics of what was really going on when Hashem ‘rested.’ For six days, Hashem spoke, and the world came into being. These ten utterances generated all of physical creation, and our world is continuously being held up by Hashem’s speech. But if after Day Six, Hashem stopped speaking, what is holding up the world on Shabbos?
On Shabbos, we enter the realm of Hashem’s pure thought, a higher and closer level. Initially, Hashem had the thought to create the world; it was pure, creative, infinite will. He then had to contract that will into concrete terminology that would create a finite world.
Those words are but a tzimtzum, contraction, of Hashem’s will to create the world. They’re everything Hashem wanted for us, narrowed into 10 phrases. But as we enter Shabbos, we leave behind the world of tzimtzum, or concrete definitions and cause-and-effect parameters. We enter the sublime world of Hashem’s pure will, boundless. This is why we don’t speak about business on Shabbos — how petty to be busy with small transactional elements of the strictly natural world we left behind. On Shabbos, we’re on a different plane of reality, tasting and reveling much closer to Divinity. Shabbos is very much a Day On, not a day Off.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 90.
