Page 13 - Harlem Shavuot Companion 2020

Zachor: The Ways We Remember
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By Leah Franklin, 5 Grader and Member of Harlem Minyan
On Shavuot we celebrate the giving of the Torah. Fittingly, the
description of that event is also the Torah reading for the first day of
the holiday. But we read only one of the two versions that appear in
the Torah, that in Parashat Yitro, in Sefer Shemot. Parashat Va-
ethanan contains a second account and a second version of the ten
commandments. While the two versions are generally similar, there
are also some interesting differences, one of which is the way the
mitzvah of shabbat is presented.

A famous midrash states דחא רובידב ורמאנ םהינש רומשו רוכז “‘Remember
[the sabbath day]’ and ‘observe [the sabbath day]’ were said in the
same statement.” Many of us are familiar with these words since they are quoted in the first stanza
of lechah dodi, which we say every Friday night. (As an interesting aside, the order there is
reversed -- we say shamor ve-zakhor -- to allow for the acrostic, which spells the author’s name,
Shlomo Alkabetz.) One way to understand the midrash is that the two versions of the mitzvah of
shabbat are extremely similar in meaning. What I would like to talk about today is how they differ.

The two versions contain astonishingly different reasons for the observance of shabbat. In Shemot,
perek kaf, pasuk yud-alef, God tells us to rest on the seventh day of each week to commemorate
his rest during the creation of the world.

ֹ ָ
ָ
ָ
םו֥י־תֶׁא הָ֛ו הְי ךְ ַַ֧ר ב ן ָ֗כ־לַע יִִ֑עי ִב ְשַה ם וִּ֣יַב חַנָָּ֖יַו ם ָּ֔ב־ר ֶׁשֲא־לָכ־תֶׁאְו ֙םָיַה־ת ֶׁא ץ ֶׁר ָ֗אָה־תֶׁאְו םִיִַּ֣מ ָשַה־תֶׁא הֹ֜וֹהְי ה ָׂ֨שָע ֩םי ִמָי־ת ֶׁש ֵֽׁ ש יכ “ ִִּ֣
ָ
ָ
:וּה ֵֽׁ ש ְדַקְיֵַַֽֽׁו תָָּ֖ב ַשַה
“For [in] six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He
rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.”

In Devarim, perek heh, pasuk tet-vav, however, we are told to keep shabbat as a way of
remembering that god brought us out of bondage in Egypt.
ִ
ֶׁ
֥
ָ
ִ
־תֶׁא תו ָּ֖שֲעֵַֽׁל ךי ָּ֔הלֱֹא הִָּ֣וֹהְי ֙ךְוּ ִצ ן ָ֗כ־לַע הִָ֑יוּטְנ ְז ִּ֣ ֹר ַע ִבוּ ה ָָּ֖קָזֲח דָי ְב ם ָּ֔ש ִמ ֙ךי ָׂ֨הלֱֹא הֶָ֤וֹהְי ֹ֜ךֲא ָׂ֨צֹיַו םִי ַָּ֔ר ְצ ִמ ץ ֶׁרִֶּׁ֣א ְב ָ֙תיָׂ֨יָה דֶׁבֶֶׁ֤ע יִִּ֣כ ָ֗ת ְרַכֵָֽׁזְו
ָ

ֶׁ
:ת ֵָֽׁב ַשַה םו֥י
“And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God
took you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord, your
God, commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

At first these two reasons for observing shabbat confused me. What does slavery have to do with
shabbat? And how are two separate events linked to one holiday? After thinking about this for a
while, I had the thought that maybe each reason represents a different aspect of a larger package,
of which shabbat is just a part. When acknowledging God's six days of work, we are celebrating
the importance of creativity and productivity during the week, the focus being on the yemei
hamaaseh, ‘the days of creation’. When comparing shabbat to our freedom from slavery, we
recognize the importance of pausing our creative activity, highlighting rest and reflection.

To me this suggests the idea that work and rest go hand in hand.You can’t have one without the
other. If you work yourself too hard with no breaks, your performance fails and your body forces
you to rest. The same thing works the other way around. Without work, rest is meaningless and

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