G-d shall fight for you, and you shall hold your
peace" (Ex. 14:14). Rabbi Aba opened his discourse by saying: "If you restrain your foot
because of the Shabbat, from pursuing your business on My Holy Day" (Isaiah
58:13). Fortunate are Israel that G-d desires them and wishes to join together
with them more than with all other nations of the world. [In Egypt, Israel
was small and their virtues were equal to those of rest of the nations, and G-d
took them out to be His great inheritance; not for the sake of their own
good deeds] Because of His love for them, He brought them close to Him and
gave them the Torah and the Shabbat, which is holier than all the other days. And it is rest from everything, and the joy of everyone. Shabbat is
equal to the entire Torah, and one who observes the Shabbat is as though he
observed the whole Torah.
...He brought them close to Him and
gave them the Torah and the Shabbat...
"And call the Shabbat a delight"
(Ibid. 58:13), delight of all, delight of the soul and the body, delight of those
above and those below. "And call the Shabbat." What does "call"
mean? That he should invite it, as is written: "holy gatherings
(lit. 'callings of holiness')" (Lev. 23:4), which means invited, as when inviting a
guest to his home. And, "And call the Shabbat a delight," is that you
should call and invite it as you invite a guest with a set table, with a house
which is in order as it should be, with proper food and drink, more than on the
other days. "And call the Shabbat," meaning while it is still the day before [to bring in Shabbat earlier than sundown and to add to its holiness]. "The
holy day of G-d, Honorable" is Yom Kippur [that we must also bring in Yom
Kippur earlier than sundown and add to its holiness] and they are two
that are one [both Shabbat and Yom Kippur are called Sabbath, as Yom Kippur is called Sabbath of Sabbaths].
"And you shall honor it by not doing your own ways",
as we explained [to dress and walk differently on Shabbat than on a weekday]. "Not
pursuing your own business, nor speaking of mundane matters [to talk
differently on the Shabbat] (Isaiah 58:13). And it is explained. Because
that talk rises and stimulates secular things above. One who invites a
guest should strive to please him, and not someone else.
Come and see that a word that comes from the mouth of a
person rises and stimulates an awakening above, either for good or for evil. And
whoever dwells in the delight of Shabbat is forbidden to arouse secular
subjects, because he causes a blemish on the Holy Day. One who participates in
the celebration of a king is not permitted to forsake the king and deal with
someone else.
Every day, it is necessary to perform an action to awaken
what must be awakened. On Shabbat, it is necessary to arouse oneself in spiritual matters and the Holiness of the day, and not any other thing.
BeRahamim LeHayyim:
...Zohar stresses the need for mindful living...
Has anything changed in your Shabbos-ing?
Have these Daily Zohars [and KabbalaOnline.org] done anything to elevate your Shabbat
consciousness? The above Zohar stresses the need for mindful living, to be in
the moment, and to be sensitive to the sacred energies of every minute.
Shabbat simply must be different than the 6 days of the week. One needs to
intend this in deed, word, and thought. How every individual does this is
special to himself. If one does this to the best of one's ability, then we
are promised that G-d shall fight for you, during the following weekdays.
[Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries]
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