Комментарий к Шмот 35:3

לא תבערו אש YE SHALL NOT KINDLE A FIRE [THROUGHOUT YOUR HABITATIONS ON THEE SABBATH DAY] — There are some of our Rabbis who say that the law about kindling fire is singled out (more lit., goes forth from the general proposition; i. e. it is specially mentioned here although it is included in לא תעשה כל מלאכה, the law prohibiting all work on Sabbath) in order to constitute it a mere negative command (thus indicating that, like all other negative commands, its infringement is punishable by lashes but does not make the offender liable to death as does the doing of other work on Sabbath). Others, however, say that it was singled out in order to separate the various kinds of work comprised in the term כל מלאכה (thus indicating that each transgression of the Sabbath law is to be atoned for separately if several of them have been committed at the same time and under the same circumstances) (cf. Shabbat 70a; Yevamot 6b; Sanhedrin 35b; cf. also Pesachim 5b).

YE SHALL KINDLE NO FIRE THROUGHOUT YOUR HABITATIONS UPON THE SABBATH DAY. The meaning of this verse is clearly to prohibit also on the Sabbath doing any work necessary for the preparation of food, since He said, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death,⁹Verse 2. and He further explained that they should also not kindle fire, in order to bake bread and boil meat, for fire is needed in the preparation of all food. This had to be stated because He did not say here: “whosoever doeth ‘any manner’ of work,” just as He said in the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not do any manner of work,¹⁰Above, 20:10. but instead He merely said “work” without specifying any type. Therefore we might have excluded from the general statement [whosoever doeth work …] all activity necessary for the preparation of food, for we find it said about the feast of unleavened bread, thou shalt not do work therein,¹¹Deuteronomy 16:8. and yet the preparation of food is not included [in the scope of its prohibition]. It is for this reason that here He mentioned expressly that the preparation of food is also forbidden on the Sabbath.
I have found a similar text in the Midrash:¹²Mechilta here. “Rabbi Nathan says: Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath-day. Why is this said? Because it is stated, And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel.¹³Verse 1. — Reference here in the Mechilta is of course to Verse 2: whosoever doeth work therein…, and as Ramban explained above. The insertion of the word “etc.” at the end of the verse mentioned in the text of Ramban, would clarify the matter completely. It is present in texts of the Mechilta. I might think that one should be allowed to light a candle, to put away food to be kept warm, and to make a fire on the Sabbath. Therefore Scripture says, Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath-day.” This corresponds closely to that which we have said, that these works [mentioned in the Mechilta], since they are of direct benefit to the body, were not included in the first prohibition. Thus Rabbi Nathan wanted to say that the purpose of the verse here is not to prohibit baking, cooking, and the rest of the activities involved in the preparation of food, for these have already been prohibited to them by the verse, Bake that [on the sixth day of the week] which ye will bake [i.e., which ye intend to bake on the Sabbath], and seethe that which ye will seethe.¹⁴Above, 16:23. But yet I might think that all activities which benefit man in such a way that the benefit is only to the body — such as lighting a candle, making fire, or washing one’s whole body in hot water — should be allowed, for these are part of the delight of the Sabbath.¹⁵See Isaiah 58:13. Therefore it says, Ye shall kindle no fire — to prohibit all [mentioned activities even if done for these purposes].
Our Rabbis in the Talmud¹⁶Shabbath 70a. have yet another Midrash on this verse, because it does not say: “whosoever doeth any manner of work therein shall be put to death,” or: “whosoever kindles fire throughout your habitations shall be put to death.” Therefore they said that the kindling of fire was singled out in order to make it punishable in a less stringent manner, [namely by stripe], since it is a mere negative command, [whereas violation of the Sabbath by doing any of the other kinds of work is punishable by death]. But another Sage¹⁷This is Rabbi Nathan. holds that it was singled out in order to separate it, since it was included in the prohibition, thou shalt not do any manner of work.¹⁸Above, 20:10. It was thus singled out to indicate a general principle: just as in the case of kindling, which is specifically mentioned although it is included in the prohibition, thou shalt not do any manner of work in it, one becomes liable to punishment for transgressing it alone, so also in the case of all the other thirty-nine categories of forbidden work on the Sabbath, one becomes liable upon transgressing each one of them by itself. For otherwise we might have thought that only if one has done all thirty-nine main classes of “work” he is liable to punishment; therefore kindling of fire was singled out in order to teach that the punishment applies even if he has done but one kind of “work” (Rashi, Yebamoth 6 b). For it is one of the thirteen rules of interpretation of the Torah: “If anything is included in a general proposition and is then made the subject of a special statement, that which is predicated of it is not to be understood as limited to itself alone, but is to be applied to the whole of the general proposition.” Similarly we might have thought that if one has done all thirty-nine main classes of “work” on the Sabbath through error he is liable to bring but one sin-offering, therefore kindling of fire was singled out to teach that he is liable to bring such an offering for each of the main classes of “work” he has done.

לא תבערו אש, even though generally speaking, lighting a fire is not a productive but a destructive activity, seeing that it is an almost indispensable ingredient in most activities the Torah prohibited it as unsuitable for the Sabbath.