Нехемья 9:14 Мидраш: Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Shemot Rabbah & Midrash Tehillim

A parable: To what is this matter to be compared? To a man who had precious utensils. And he did not desire to give them as an inheritance except to his son; likewise with the Holy One, blessed be He. The day of blessing and holiness which was before Him, He did not desire to give it as an inheritance except to Israel. Know that it is so ! Come and see ! for when the Israelites went forth from Egypt, whilst yet the Torah had not been given to them, He gave them the Sabbath as an inheritance. Israel kept two Sabbaths whilst as yet the Torah had not been given to them, as it is said, "And thou madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath" (Neh. 9:14). And afterwards He gave them the Torah, as it is said, "And commandedst them commandments, and statutes, and Torah by the hand of Moses, thy servant" (ibid.).

Rabbi Levi said: If Israel observes Shabbat properly, even one day, the son of David²⁵The Messiah. will come. Why? Because it is equivalent to all the mitzvot. Likewise it says: “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the flock of His hand; today, would you only heed His voice” (Psalms 95:7). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘Even though I set a limit for the end, and it will come whether they repent or do not repent, it will come only at its time. If they repent, even one day, I will bring it not at its appointed time. That is, “today, would you only heed His voice.” Just as we saw that for all the mitzvot, the son of David comes, for the observance of one day of Shabbat, the son of David comes, because Shabbat is equivalent to all mitzvot.
Rabbi Elazar bar Avina said: We find in the Torah, in the Prophets, and in the Writings that Shabbat is equivalent to all the mitzvot. In the Torah, from where is it derived? From the fact that when Moses forgot to tell them the mitzva of Shabbat, the Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Until when do you refuse to observe My commandments…” (Exodus 16:28). What is written thereafter? “See that the Lord has given you the Shabbat” (Exodus 16:28). In the prophets, from where is it derived? From that which is stated: “The house of Israel defied Me in the wilderness, they did not follow My statutes” (Ezekiel 20:13). What is written thereafter? “They desecrated My Shabbats” (Ezekiel 20:13). In the Writings, from where is it derived? From that which is stated: “You came down upon Mount Sinai and spoke to them [from heaven and gave them upright ordinances and laws of truth, good statutes and mitzvot]” (Nehemiah 9:13). What is written thereafter? “You informed them of Your holy Shabbat” (Nehemiah 9:14). The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘If you merit to observe Shabbat, I consider it for you as though you observed all the mitzvot of the Torah. If you desecrate it, I consider it for you as though you desecrated all the mitzvot.’ Likewise, it says: “Who keeps the Shabbat from its desecration and prevents his hand from performing any evil” (Isaiah 56:2).
When a person observes the Shabbat, he issues a decree and the Holy One blessed be He fulfills it, as it is stated: "If you restrain your walking because of the Sabbath” (Isaiah 58:13). What is written thereafter? “Then you will delight in the Lord” (Isaiah 58:14), just as it says: “Delight in the Lord, and He will grant you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4). Moreover, everything that you eat in this world is only from the profits, but the principal remains for the World to Come, as it is stated: “I will feed you the inheritance of Jacob your forefather, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 58:14).

A Psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. Rabbi Yitzchak said (Exodus 16:29), "See that the Lord has given you the Sabbath." What is meant by "see"? Rabbi Yosei of Marganita said, "[It means] it was given to you." Rabbi Yitzchak said, "Every engagement of the Sabbath is doubled." The omer offering is doubled (Leviticus 23:16), [combining] the two omer offerings into one. Its sacrifice is doubled (Numbers 28:9), with two lambs offered on the Sabbath day. Its punishment is doubled (Exodus 31:14), one who violates it shall surely be put to death. Its reward is doubled (Isaiah 58:13), "And you shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy [day] of the Lord honored." Its warnings are doubled, "Remember" and "Keep." Its Psalm is doubled, "A Psalm, a song for the Sabbath day." This is what the verse means when it says (Ecclesiastes 1:2), "Vanity of vanities," said Kohelet, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Kohelet said there are seven vanities. One vanity is [the fact] that the seven days of Creation correspond to it. Solomon said, "What was created on the first day? The heavens and the earth. And what will be their end? 'The heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment' (Isaiah 51:6)." [This is] vanity. [He said,] "And what was created on the second day? The firmament. And what will be its end? 'And the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll' (Isaiah 34:4)." [This is] vanity. [He said,] "And what was created on the third day? The gathering of the waters. And what will be their end? 'And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea' (Isaiah 11:15)." [This is] vanity. [He said,] "And what was created on the fourth day? The luminaries. As it is said (Genesis 1:17), 'And God set them in the firmament of the heaven.' And what will be their end? 'And the moon will be confounded' (Isaiah 24:23)." [This is] vanity. [He said,] And what was created on the fifth day? "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" (Genesis 1:20). And what is their end? "I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth" (Zephaniah 1:2). Says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities!" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And what was created on the sixth day? Man. And what is his end? "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities!" And what was created on the seventh day, the Sabbath? He looked around to see if there was any flaw in it, but found it all holy and serene. Rabbi Isaac said that afterwards he saw that man sinned on it and was held accountable, and he also said, "This too is vanity." Thus, all seven days are considered vanity. As it says, "Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind" (Ecclesiastes 2:11). The reason why all seven days are considered vanity is that on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, no work is done. This is expressed by the phrase "And there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day" (Genesis 2:2-3). This is similar to a king who had a precious vessel that he did not want to bequeath to anyone but his son. Similarly, Thus, the Sabbath is a day of rest and holiness, and God only wanted to bestow it upon the Israelites. Know that it was the same when the Israelites left Egypt, before they were given the Torah, God gave them the Sabbath and they observed two Sabbaths until they received the Torah, as it is said in Nehemiah 9:14, "You made known to them Your holy Sabbath." And the Lord blessed and sanctified the Sabbath, and the Israelites are obligated to sanctify it. It is known that every forty years that the Israelites were in the wilderness, during the six days of the week, God provided them with manna, but on the Sabbath, no manna would come down, not because God lacked the power to give it, but because of the Sabbath. When the people saw this, they also observed the Sabbath, as it is said in Exodus 16:30, "So the people rested on the seventh day." Then God said, "This Sabbath I have given to Israel as a sign between Me and them." During the six days of creation, God worked on the world, and on the Sabbath, He rested. Therefore, it is said in Exodus 31:17, "Between Me and the children of Israel, it is a sign forever." God created seven heavens, but He did not choose any of them as His dwelling place except the Sabbath, as it is said in Psalm 68:5, "A father of orphans and a judge of widows is God in His holy dwelling." God created seven lands, but He did not choose any of them except for the land of Israel, as it is said in Deuteronomy 11:12, As it is said (Deuteronomy 11:12) "the eyes of God are always upon it." I created seven seas, and from all of them, I chose none except the Sea of Galilee, which I gave as an inheritance to the tribe of Naphtali. As it is said (Joshua 19:32-33) "Naphtali, he possesses the Sea and the south." I created seven worlds, and from all of them, I chose none except the seventh. Six were created for coming and going, and one, the entire seventh, was created for rest and repose for the life of the world. I created seven days, and from all of them, I chose none except the seventh day, as it is said (Genesis 2:3) "God blessed the seventh day." I created seven cycles of seven years, and from all of them, I chose none except the year of release, as it is said (Deuteronomy 15:1) "At the end of every seven years, you shall grant a release." And anyone who observes the Sabbath, the Holy One, blessed be He, forgives all his sins, as it is said (Isaiah 56:2) "Happy is the man who does this, he who holds fast to the Sabbath, not profaning it. And he who abstains from evil shall find favor."