Halakhah for Genesis 8:22

Since the sun inclines north and south, the year is divided into four seasons, namely “winter and spring and summer and autumn” (Genesis 8:22). For “planting” is the half year when the sun is in the southern signs (autumn and winter), and “reaping” is when the sun is in the northern signs (spring and summer).¹⁷ The verse reads: “Forever, all the days of the earth, planting and reaping, and winter and spring and summer and autumn, and day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). Ibn Ezra understands that four of these terms refer to the four seasons, while “planting and reaping” is an alternative division of the year into two halves, when the sun is in the southern signs and when it is in the northern signs. See Ibn Ezra’s commentary to that verse. The verse began with the winter days. This season commences when the sun is at its southern extremity (winter solstice). Then the days begin to lengthen and the nights to shorten. This season has cold and wet days. When the sun reaches the point of intersection (vernal equinox), then day and night are equal throughout the earth. This season (spring) has hot and wet days. From its commencement the days begin to be longer than the nights, for the sun bends towards the north. This season ends when the sun reaches its northern extremity (summer solstice). Then the next season (summer) begins. The sun recedes from the north and the days begin to shorten and the nights to lengthen. These days, which are the days of summer, are hot and dry. When the sun reaches the second point of intersection (autumnal equinox) the day and night are of equal length. From then on the days begin to be shorter than the nights, which grow longer. This season (autumn) has cold and dry days. Since the summer and autumn seasons are dry, Scripture states “this will be in summer and in autumn” (Zachariah 14:8).¹⁸ The verse reads: “It shall be on that day that fresh water will come forth from Jerusalem, half flowing to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, this will be in summer and in autumn.” For at those times the rivers diminish, except for the Nile which originates from springs in the Mountains of the Moon to the south.¹⁹ The Mountains of the Moon are a mountain range in central Africa. They were believed to be the source of the White Nile.

R. Jehoseph Schwartz bases his opposition to the ruling of R. Asher Lemel upon these midrashic comments. Moreover, contends Rabbi Schwartz, were the convert to have been forbidden to refrain from "labor" on the Sabbath day, he should not have been directed to write on Shabbat but should have been instructed to perform some other act of labor. Rabbi Schwartz advances the novel view that a gentile who performs no forms of "labor" on the Sabbath other than writing is in violation of his obligation to desist from observing the Sabbath as a day of rest. The Gemara, Sanhedrin 58b, derives this prohibition from the verse "day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22) which in talmudic exegesis is rendered "day and night they shall not rest."⁸For reasons that elude this writer, R. Moses Schick, Teshuvot Maharam Shik, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, no. 145, contends that a literal reading of the verse which begins “all the days of the earth” would indicate that the reference is to natural phenomena rather than to human activity and, accordingly, the concluding phrase should be understood as meaning that day and night shall not cease all the days of the earth. However, comments Maharam Schick, if that were the meaning of the verse, the verse should properly read lo yishbetu. Since, however, the verse reads lo yishbotu, Maharam Schick argues that the phrase must be understood as referring to people rather than days even though people are not previously mentioned in the verse, and, accordingly, the verse must be rendered “they shall not cease [from labor].” Noting the context in which the verse appears, Rabbi Schwartz understands the talmudic statement as requiring gentiles to engage in acts contributing to "settlement of the world" every day of the week, i.e., acts relating to agriculture or manufacture that are productive in nature.⁹This analysis follows Rashi’s interpretation of the talmudic discussion and is an interpretation and refinement of that position. See infra, note 19. In his opinion, acts such as writing, erasing, or even dyeing, do not satisfy that requirement. Thus, according to Rabbi Schwartz, forcing the convert to write on the Sabbath was both unnecessary and, if necessary, of no avail.

Subsequently, R. Akiva Eger had occasion to qualify and defend his exhortation. In a short item included in a series of addenda appended to later editions of his responsa collection, R. Akiva Eger, addendum to responsum no. 121, reports that "a long time" after his original note was published there appeared in print the work of R. Pinchas ha-Levi Horowitz on the Pentateuch, Panim Yafot. In a comment on Parashat Noaḥ, that scholar remarks that the "day" which a non-Jew is forbidden to observe as a day of rest is not a "day" of the Jewish calendar which begins in the evening and ends the following evening but consists of a twenty-four hour period beginning and ending at daybreak as indicated by the order of the words of the verse "day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Panim Yafot elaborates upon this thesis in explaining that the "day" of the pre-Sinaitic era referred to in early sections of the Bible is consistently a day beginning with daybreak and concluding with the ensuing night. The identical thesis is reiterated by R. Pinchas ha-Levi Horowitz in his talmudic commentary, Ha-Makneh, Kiddushin 37b. Accordingly, the talmudic rendition of the verse "day and night they shall not rest" should similarly be understood as positing a prohibition against observance of a twenty-four hour period of rest beginning with daybreak. Since Sabbath restrictions commence on Sabbath eve and continue until the next evening, a non-Jew who performs an act of "labor" during daylight hours on Friday and also on Saturday after nightfall has refrained from desecration of the Sabbath without violating the admonition not to rest for the span of an entire "day." If this thesis is accepted, observes R. Akiva Eger, it follows that his earlier admonition regarding Sabbath observance by non-Jewish maids was misplaced.