כִּי־כֹ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה לַסָּֽרִיסִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִשְׁמְרוּ֙ אֶת־שַׁבְּתוֹתַ֔י וּבָֽחֲר֖וּ בַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר חָפָ֑צְתִּי וּמַחֲזִיקִ֖ים בִּבְרִיתִֽי׃
Sebab beginilah firman Yang Mahakekal kepada orang-orang kebiri yang memelihara hari-hari Sabat-Ku, dan memilih apa yang Kukehendaki, dan berpegang teguh pada perjanjian-Ku:
Kedushat Levi
Leviticus 23,15. “you shall count for yourselves from the day following the festival, (Passover) etc.;” we need to understand first of all why the festival of Passover is referred to as Hashabbat in our verse. This has been explained by our sages, (Tanna de bey Eliyahu 14) where the author interprets the word בראשית as meaning בשביל ישראל, “for the sake of Israel.” Granted that this is true, it did however, not come to the attention of the world until G’d redeemed Israel from Egypt when His love for His people manifested itself. As a result, Passover became similar to the Sabbath. The Sabbath is unique as on the Sabbath G’d abstained from His creative activity, whereas, according to the Zohar, on Passover He abstained from entertaining thoughts. When G’d “rested” on the original Sabbath His work during the preceding six days was revealed for the first time. Similarly, His love for the Jewish people was revealed for the first time on the occasion of the redemption from Egypt, i.e. the day of the Exodus. On the first day of Passover it finally became clear why G’d had bothered to create the universe altogether. In other words, Passover may be looked upon as the logical conclusion of what had been set in motion the moment G’d had first thought of the people of Israel as a project for the future. This is also the meaning of a statement of the sages in Shabbat 118 that if the Israelites were to observe two Sabbath days, i.e. the terrestrial Sabbath as well as the celestial Sabbath, they would be redeemed immediately. The scholar to whom this statement is attributed quoted Isaiah 56,4 in support, where G’d promises redemption to the eunuchs who keep His Sabbaths, following up in verse 7 with: “and I will bring them to the Mountain of My holiness etc,. etc.” The “two” Sabbaths of which the Talmud speaks are not to be understood quantitatively, i.e. 2 separate Sabbath days, but refer to the שבת תחתון and the שבט עליון, observance of the Sabbath with our body, i.e. תחתון, and at the same time observing it with our hearts and minds, i.e. שבת עליון, the Sabbath in our upper regions, our heads. The more the Israelites engage in serving the Lord, the clearer it will become that G’d only created the universe on account of the Israelites. There is an allusion to this in the letters of the words מן פסח when we reverse the order of the aleph bet, i.e. that the letter א=ת, ב-ש, ג=ר etc. [Magen Avraham on the laws of the New Moon chapter 428, subsection 3 deals with this in greater detail, i.e. that certain festivals must occur on the weekdays corresponding to other festivals preceding them during the same year. Ed.] ...
Kedushat Levi
When we keep this in mind we may be better able to understand a strange statement in Shabbat 118 according to which if the entire Jewish people were to observe just two consecutive Sabbath days properly the messiah would arrive immediately. The Talmud quotes Isaiah 56,4-7 in support of this; we read thereכה אמר ה' לסריסים אשר ישמרו את שבתותי.....והביאותים אל הר קדשי ושמחתים בבית תפלתי, “thus says the Lord, as for the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,………I will bring them to My sacred Mountain and let them rejoice in My House of Prayer, etc.” Why did the Talmud choose to interpret Isaiah’s words as applying to the observance of two Sabbaths? Why would not the collective observance by all the Israelites of a single Sabbath suffice to bring on the redemption?
We have a rule that there is a spiritual awakening that occurs in the “lower” regions of the universe, just as there is a parallel spiritual awakening originating in the celestial regions. Translated loosely, the difference between these two “awakenings” is their origin. Spiritual awakenings can be the result of good deeds performed by man here on earth, or they can be the result of inspiration from above.
[I have heard that the difference between a psalm commencing with the words לדוד מזמור, and one commencing with מזמור לדוד, is that in the former the holy spirit had already entered David before he commenced composing, whereas in the latter type he commenced composing, as a result of which he was granted holy spirit. Ed.]
Whereas it is easy to understand the merit accruing to us if we by our own efforts decided to observe the Sabbath in deed and thought, the question is why we deserve credit when our Sabbath observance was inspired by G’d and not by our own efforts? We must remember that when G’d favours us with the inspiration to observe the Sabbath, (or some other commandment) He does so because of something good we must have done or our forefathers must have done. We have pointed out repeatedly that G’d “takes pride” in His creatures having performed the commandments. He does so when they did so without having to be prompted. This is proof that they did so enthusiastically. As a result of such enthusiasm by the person or persons or congregations when they perform G’d’s commandments, G’d is encouraged to provide stimulus for further mitzvah performance. [This is what the sages in Avot 4,2 call שכר מצוה מצוה, “the reward for performance of a commandment is the encouragement provided with the help of heaven to perform additional commandments.” Ed.] G’d’s largesse need not necessarily manifest itself in material benefits but it can take the form of human beings becoming endowed with greater intellectual capacity as a result of which they will desire to observe more commandments and with greater enthusiasm.
When the Talmud spoke about the observance of two Sabbaths being a requisite for the redemption following immediately on the heels of these two Sabbaths, the Talmud referred to the second such Sabbath being the result of G’d having inspired the people so that they can intensify the Sabbath observance and do so with greater enthusiasm than when they observed the first of these Sabbaths. When we attain the level of awareness so that we please the Creator by the way in which we observe His commandments, we truly deserve to be redeemed.
We have a rule that there is a spiritual awakening that occurs in the “lower” regions of the universe, just as there is a parallel spiritual awakening originating in the celestial regions. Translated loosely, the difference between these two “awakenings” is their origin. Spiritual awakenings can be the result of good deeds performed by man here on earth, or they can be the result of inspiration from above.
[I have heard that the difference between a psalm commencing with the words לדוד מזמור, and one commencing with מזמור לדוד, is that in the former the holy spirit had already entered David before he commenced composing, whereas in the latter type he commenced composing, as a result of which he was granted holy spirit. Ed.]
Whereas it is easy to understand the merit accruing to us if we by our own efforts decided to observe the Sabbath in deed and thought, the question is why we deserve credit when our Sabbath observance was inspired by G’d and not by our own efforts? We must remember that when G’d favours us with the inspiration to observe the Sabbath, (or some other commandment) He does so because of something good we must have done or our forefathers must have done. We have pointed out repeatedly that G’d “takes pride” in His creatures having performed the commandments. He does so when they did so without having to be prompted. This is proof that they did so enthusiastically. As a result of such enthusiasm by the person or persons or congregations when they perform G’d’s commandments, G’d is encouraged to provide stimulus for further mitzvah performance. [This is what the sages in Avot 4,2 call שכר מצוה מצוה, “the reward for performance of a commandment is the encouragement provided with the help of heaven to perform additional commandments.” Ed.] G’d’s largesse need not necessarily manifest itself in material benefits but it can take the form of human beings becoming endowed with greater intellectual capacity as a result of which they will desire to observe more commandments and with greater enthusiasm.
When the Talmud spoke about the observance of two Sabbaths being a requisite for the redemption following immediately on the heels of these two Sabbaths, the Talmud referred to the second such Sabbath being the result of G’d having inspired the people so that they can intensify the Sabbath observance and do so with greater enthusiasm than when they observed the first of these Sabbaths. When we attain the level of awareness so that we please the Creator by the way in which we observe His commandments, we truly deserve to be redeemed.