The One Mitzvah That Can Shape Your Whole Life: Shabbat

Question: “I believe in Hashem. I respect every person. I am careful with other people’s money. I try to help anyone in need to the best of my ability. I set aside part of my income for the poor and for the synagogue. From all my friends and acquaintances I hear only thanks and praise, with no complaints at all. If I do not keep Shabbat, is that really so serious in the eyes of Hashem?”

Rabbi Zamir Cohen responds:

Measuring the Severity of a Transgression

When we seek to measure how severely the law views an offense, one clear criterion is the severity of the penalty imposed on the person who commits it.

Similarly, when we seek to understand how severely Hashem views a transgression, one clear indicator is the punishment He established for it.

Regarding one who steals another person’s money, Hashem says (Exodus 21:37; 22:3): “If a person steals … he shall pay double.” Meaning, because he did not spare his fellow the toil and effort required to earn that money, he must repay double the amount he took. In this way, his fellow is compensated for the distress he felt upon discovering the theft, and the thief is educated through experiencing the pain of losing twice what he stole.

But regarding one who desecrates the Shabbat, He says (Exodus 31:14): “You shall keep the Shabbat … whoever desecrates it shall surely be put to death.” This requires explanation. Is one who desecrates Shabbat worse in the eyes of Hashem than a thief?

The Essence of Shabbat

To understand this, we must look deeper and grasp the essence of Shabbat: why we were commanded regarding it, and what message lies within its observance.

Consider the following verses:

“And the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their array.

And Hashem completed His work that He had made,

and He ceased from all the work that He had made.

And Hashem blessed the seventh day and sanctified it

(kadosh means separate and distinct. Here too, He elevated the essence and stature of the seventh day and thereby set it apart from the other six working days)

for on it He ceased from all His work that He had created.” (Genesis 2:1–3)

It also says, in the continuation of the verses dealing with one who desecrates the Shabbat:

“The Children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat … an eternal covenant.

It is a sign forever between Me and the Children of Israel,

for in six days Hashem made the heavens and the earth,

and on the seventh day He ceased and rested.” (Exodus 31:16–18)

A Declaration Through Action

Immediately after completing Creation, the Creator designated the seventh day as fundamentally different from the other six days of labor. He declared that refraining from work on this day is a sign that one recognizes that the world was created by Hashem and did not come into being on its own.

By contrast, one who desecrates the Shabbat is, through his actions, expressing denial of Hashem. Hashem established refraining from work on this day as the sign of acknowledging Creation, and yet this person performs labor.

Since the purpose of creating the human being and the material world is to confront life’s challenges according to the Creator’s instructions, in order to earn eternal reward and delight through merit rather than as unearned charity, it follows that one who, through his deeds, proclaims denial of Hashem undermines the very purpose of his existence.