Commentaire sur Les Nombres 28:9

וביום השבת שני כבשים, "And on the Sabbath day, two sheep, etc." The reason that the additional communal offering on the Sabbath was smaller than any of the parallel offerings on the festivals and even the intermediate days of the festivals is the mystical dimension of לחם משנה, the two loaves we eat on the Sabbath at each meal. The two additional sheep offered on the Sabbath symbolise the idea which has been eternalised in the custom of the two loaves, themselves a reminder of how G'd provided a double portion of manna to the Israelites in the desert each Friday. The mystical element of the number seven is alluded to by the fact that only this day is also called "the seventh day." Even though some festivals have a seventh day, the significance of the seventh day of a festival does not have anything in common with the mystical dimension of the seventh day which occurs regularly every week.

וביום השבת שני כבשים, “and on the Sabbath day, two male lambs (additionally).” On the holidays including New Moon and New Year and the day of Atonement a total of seven male sheep were part of the day’s communal additional offerings. These were additional to the daily two lambs. On the Sabbath, however, only two additional male lambs were offered. According to the Talmud Yuma we quoted these definitely had to match each other in their size, appearance and value if possible. The word למצוה, “for performance of the commandment,” used in the Talmud when stipulating this means that this was an a priori requirement, i.e. efforts had to be made to find two such matching animals. In the event it was impossible to find such, the next best match was acceptable.
The reason that on the Sabbath only two extra male lambs were required for the Mussaf offering is that the Sabbath, by definition, has a dual significance, i.e. the Torah once wrote the word זכור and once the word שמור in the two versions of the Ten Commandments concerning its observance. In other words, the positive and negative aspects of the Sabbath observance carry equal weight When the Torah speaks of Sabbath observance, G’d refers to this as את שבתותי תשמרו, “observe My Sabbath days,” i.e. each Sabbath has two aspects to it (Leviticus 26,2). Every piece of legislation in connection with the Sabbath appears in pairs, even the amount of manna which fell on Friday (on account of the Sabbath) comprised two omer instead of one. Warnings of penalties are worded as מות ימות, promises of reward for its observance are similarly expressed in dual form, i.e. the hymn recited on the Sabbath is called both מזמור and שיר. Also the reward promised for its observance is described in such terms, i.e. Isaiah 58,13-14: “then you will enjoy the favour of the Lord, I will set you astride the heights of the earth, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Yaakov.” According to a Midrash based on the wording of the mussaph prayer on Sabbath, G’d explained the reason why He is content with only two extra male sheep on that day as that He does not want to ask us for more than we ourselves enjoy on the Sabbath, i.e. two extra meals.

V. 9. וביום השבת וגו׳. Das zum Ausdruck des besonderen Tagescharakters am Schabbat zu dem täglichen Tamidopfer hinzukommende Emporopfer unterscheidet sich vom Tamidopfer in nichts, als darin, dass das Tamidopfer aus einem כבש, das מוסף-Opfer des שבת aber aus zwei כבשים besteht. Es muss daher das unterscheidende Charakteristische lediglich in der verschiedenen Bedeutung der Zahl eins und zwei bei den Tieren der Nationalopfer liegen. Nun haben wir bereits den wesentlichen Unterschied zwischen dem Nationalopferausdruck durch ein Tier und demjenigen durch zwei Tiere (Wajikra 23, 13 u. 17. 19 und sonst) kennen gelernt. Die Zahl eins drückt die Nation in ihrer Einheit, die Zahl zwei jedoch in ihrer Vielheit, in allen ihren einzelnen Gliedern aus. Und das bildet auch sofort den spezifischen Unterschied zwischen dem עולת תמיד und dem עולת שבת. Im כבש אחד des תמיד tritt die Nation als solche zu dem Lenker und Leiter ihres Nationalgeschickes und erneut mit jedem steigenden und fallenden Tageslichte das Nationalgelöbnis der Treue, der Folgsamkeit und Hingebung an die ihr von ihrem "Hirten" und ihrem Herrn und Meister zur Lösung gesteckten Ziele.