Timeless Torah

While most of the civilized world recognizes that there is but one set of Ten Commandments, what they may not know is that the Torah actually lists the Decalogue twice. Even more interesting are the slight variations that exist between the two. One example is the commandment to observe the Shabbat. In one verse we are told the reason for Shabbat is to, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt,” while in the other passage it recalls that, “It was during the six weekdays that G-d created the heaven and earth...but He rested on the seventh.”
The obvious question that arises is why the need for two rationales. The Midrash relates that while Moses was still in the good graces of Pharaoh, he convinced the Egyptian monarch to grant the Hebrew slaves a day of rest. He argued that slaves who are overworked and exhausted cannot be productive. A day of rest, he suggested, would benefit the king enabling the Israelites to produce a better quantity and quality of work.
This view of a day of rest is essentially secular. The weekly period of vacation is so that one can recharge their batteries in order to increase one’s work efficiency the following week. The day of rest is nothing more than a means to an end and is subservient to the work.
The Torah’s concept of Shabbat is just the opposite. One works in order to rest. Shabbat is not primarily related to exhaustion. Just as tiredness cannot be the reason for G-d’s resting on the seventh day, so too, it should not be our first motivation.
The concept of a day of rest in the purely physical sense, while valid for a group of overburdened slaves, is not the essential feature for a liberated people about to embark on the mission to become, “A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Shabbat is to be utilized as a time for spiritual growth and development. It is an oasis of holiness that we can create through prayer, study, and the proper observance of its laws. What the Torah’s weekly prescription consists of is not just abstinence from work and a day of rest for the body, but a day spent in active pursuit of spiritual achievement and perfection.
Thus, the first time Shabbat is mentioned, it addressed a group of slaves who could not appreciate the spirit of the day. The second Decalogue, however, was spoken to a nation that had spent forty years in the desert. During these four decades, all their needs had been taken care of by G-d. Indeed, they ‘physically’ rested not only on Shabbat, but also on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…..At last, the real purpose of G-d’s ‘weekend’ could be taught – Shabbat is more than a physical vacation, it is a spiritual vocation.