Comentário sobre Êxodo 20:9

ועשית כל מלאכתך [SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOUR] AND DO ALL THY WORK — When the Sabbath comes it should be in thy eyes as though all thy work were done (completed), so that thou shouldst not think at all about work (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:9).

SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR, AND DO ALL THY WORK. The term “labor” applies to work which is not for the needs of the body, such as cooking and the like, something like it is said: and in all manner of labor in the field;⁴⁵²Above, 1:14. when thou tillest the ground;⁴⁵³Genesis 4:12. and ye shall be tilled and sown,⁴⁵⁴Ezekiel 36:9. and as I will yet explain with the help of G-d.⁴⁵⁵Leviticus 23:7. It is for this reason that He said: “Six days you shall work the ground and do all thy work which is for your physical needs and your benefit, something like, bake that which you will bake.⁴⁵⁶Above, 16:23. But on the Sabbath, you shall not do any kind of work, thou, thy son, nor thy daughter — i.e., the minors.” Thus He has warned us against our minor children doing work on the Sabbath with our knowledge and consent. Nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant means the servants who have undergone circumcision and immersion,⁴⁵⁷And are thus b’nei b’rith (children of the covenant). See Mechilta here. See also above, Note 79. who are obligated to observe all laws of the Sabbath just as Israelites, even as He said in the Book of Deuteronomy, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.⁴⁵⁸Deuteronomy 5:14. In all [other] commandments of the Torah, observance is incumbent upon them as it is upon women, as is explained in the words of our Rabbis.⁴⁵⁹Chagigah 4 a, etc. And see Note 415 above. Now it would have been proper that He warn them directly, for they themselves are duty-bound to observe the Sabbath. Scripture, however, speaks to us because the servants are in our possession, thus telling us that their resting is incumbent upon us and that if they are not hindered from doing work, we will be punished on account of them. Besides, it is with Israel that G-d speaks in all of the Ten Commandments, [and for this reason, the command is not given directly to the servants].

ששת ימים תעבוד, during those days you will give attention predominantly to mundane matters, most of which involve difficulties and frustrations seeing that such mundane matters concentrate on events in a world which is not ours.

ששת ימים תעבוד, "During six days you shall labour, etc." Seeing that the Torah also speaks about "and you shall do all your work," what exactly did G'd mean when He said: "you shall labour during six days?" We may have to understand this in terms of Leviticus 25,20-21. The Torah quotes the Jewish farmer who has been asked to observe the Shmittah year as asking in the seventh year: "what shall we eat?" The Torah there answers that G'd will command the earth to supply sufficient harvests during the sixth year to last for three years. This is exactly what G'd alludes to here. When the Torah commanded us to keep the Sabbath holy this means that no profane matters are to be performed on the Sabbath. If so, seeing that most people perform enough work on one day to feed themselves on that day, what are they to eat on the Sabbath? G'd answers: "you shall labour for six days and do all your work." The clear implication is that the amount of work you perform on the six days will produce your needs also for the Sabbath. G'd assures those who keep His commandments that they will not suffer any hardship as a result.

ששת ימים תעבוד, For six days you will work (for your livelihood).” The word עבודה refers to activities not performed because of bodily needs, such as tilling the soil. The Torah says that such activities as tilling the earth, or similar type of activities should be performed for six days during the week. On the other hand, the words:ועשית כל מלאכתך, refer to activities which are needed to maintain the body in healthy condition, and activities designed to make life more comfortable and enjoyable. The Sabbath is a day on which neither of these two kinds of activities is to be performed. The prohibition extends to male and female adults as well as their children even while they are minors. It includes even the slaves in a Jewish household who have been circumcised and have undergone the ritual immersion and have thus become subject to the prohibitions applicable to the Sabbath. This is spelled out specifically in the second version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy Actually, it could be argued that such people deserved to be addressed by G’d directly, just as the Israelites, in order to commit them more deeply to this commandment. However, seeing that the slaves are subject to constant directives by their masters, their employers, the Torah preferred to inform them of their duties via their masters who are in the habit of giving them instructions as to what to do and when, all the time. Furthermore, seeing that at the time when G’d addressed the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people they did not have any slaves, it would have been impractical to orchestrate a special revelation for such slaves at a later time in history.

ששת ימים תעבור ועשית כל מלאכתך “during six days you shall work and perform all your activities.” The meaning of this line is: “during all the six preceding days you will be preoccupied with serving the Lord while you perform your work, just as the patriarchs who served the Lord by the work they performed with herding sheep and cattle and other physical activities. But the seventh day is Sabbath; this day will be devoted to G’d exclusively. You must not perform any labour on it at all.” This is the interpretation of this verse which I have heard attributed to Maimonides.

(Exodus, Ibid. 9) "Six days shall you work": Now is it possible for a man to do his work in six days? The meaning is, rather: Rest as if all your work has been done. Variantly: Rest from thoughts of work. As it is written (Isaiah 59:13) "If you turn your feet back from the Sabbath," (Ibid. 14) "then you will find pleasure in the L rd."

V. 9. תעבוד: nicht als Selbstherrlichkeit, als "Dienst" sollst du dein werkschaffendes Herrschen in Mitte der Erdwelt betrachten, als Dienst im Reiche Gottes, als Dienst deinem Gotte und, in seinem Auftrage, seiner Welt geleistet, in die er dich gesetzt, לעבדה ולשמרה, ihr zu dienen und sie zu hüten, sie durch Aneignung, Umwandlung und Verwandlung aus dem Bereiche physischer Unfreiheit in den Kreis sittlich freier, Gott frei dienender Zwecke zu erheben. In diesem Sinne: ועשית כל מלאכתך sollst du all dein Werk vollbringen. Wir haben bereits (Bereschit S. 44) den Begriff מלאכה definiert. Wie מלאך ein persönliches Wesen ist, das den Willen und den Auftrag eines andern, in dieser Beziehung eines Höhern vollbringt, so ist מלאכה eine jede Sache, die dem Willen und dem Auftrage einer Intelligenz, hier des Menschen, dienstbar gemacht ist, עשית מלאכה ist das Umschaffen eines Stoffes oder einer Sache zu unserm מלאך d. h. einem Stoffe oder einer Sache eine solche bleibende Beschaffenheit aufzudrücken, dass sie fortan für einen von uns gewollten und bestimmten Zweck tauglich werden, somit der Ausführung unseres Willens und unserer Zwecke dienen. Jede עשית מלאכה ist die Ausübung unserer Herrschaft an einem Dinge der Erdwelt. Und diese Herrschaft: תעבוד, sollst du nur als "Dienst" vollbringen.

ועשית כל מלאכתך, “and you may (or must) go about all your weekday activities;” our author does not understand the word: כל in our verse as literally “all” or “every,” but as a euphemism for “part of all your activities,” as for instance in the expression: כל מגפותי, “usually translated as “all My plagues,” which we all know was not meant to mean: “all the plagues at G-d’s disposal.” (Compare Exodus 9,14,) and numerous similar occasions when such an expression is used.

ועשית כל מלאכתך, the type of activities essential for earning one’s livelihood.

Another aspect of the phrase ששת ימים is that once the Sabbath arrives you are to feel that the work week is over; you are not to think about work you have not been able to complete last week and have to continue next week, etc. The domain called ששת ימים and the domain called שבת are mutually exclusive. The author refers the reader to a story related in Shabbat 150 of someone who imposed a penalty on himself for having contemplated repairing a fence which had collapsed on the Sabbath. As a result of his decision not to repair the fence and thereby to expose himself to serious financial loss, a miracle happened and in the place where the break had occurred a caper bush grew which provided him and his family with an adequate income forthwith so that he did not need to restore the breach in the fence.