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שבת שלום - פרשת בראשית

Video Shiur

Click play to watch the video shiur by Rav Pesach Wolicki

News and Notes

We wish a big mazal tov to our former madrich, Daniel Krentzman, on his marriage on Thursday night to Malka Mendlowitz of Ramat Beit Shemesh. The wedding was held in Binyanei Ha'umah in Yerushalayim. Shetizku livnot bayit ne'eman b'yisrael! The yeshiva experienced an amazing Simchat Torah this week. The dancing and singing were both beautiful and intense, and everyone - students, rabbeim, and their families - had a wonderful time celebrating the completion of and rededication to the Torah. The minhag of the yeshiva is to auction off various Simchat Torah honors in exchange for commitments to Torah learning. The "currency" was units of learning - that is, a daf (two sides of a page) of Gemara is equivalent to a perek of Mishnayot or two perakim of Nach. All learning must be completed by the end of the upcoming zman, on Rosh Chodesh Nisan. Aryeh Sklar and Dovi Muchnick purchased Ata Hareita on the first night for 205 units. Leib Kris and Jon Rosenbloom purchased Ata Hareita on the first day for 255 units. Michael Amar and Shachar Lobl purchased Chatan Torah - with which they honored Rav Kahn - for 600 units. Yedidya Gorsetman and Yosef Mitchneck purchased Chatan Bereshit - with which they honored Rav Lichtman - for 613 units. Adam Friedman and Harold Hershman purchased Kol HaNe'arim - with which they honored Rav Wolicki - for 540 units. Shimshon Seligson and Dov Adler purchased Maftir - with which they honored Rav Katz - for 600 units. Michael Marx and Avi Kotlicky purchased Ata Hareita on the second night for 350 units. Yarom Packer purchased Hagbahah on the second day for 87 units. We're extremely proud of the tremendous commitments to learning made by the above students, and anticipate an especially bustling beit midrash as they grow in Torah over the zman. Mazal tov!

Parsha Insights
By Rabbi Scott Kahn

G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; for on it He rested from all His work, that G-d created to do. (Bereshit 2:3)

The Torah tells us that G-d both blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and there are numerous midrashim and commentators who explain the meaning of these two terms. One of the most famous explanations is recited every week during Maariv on Shabbat: "You blessed it beyond all other days, and sanctified it beyond all other holidays."

Rashi, however, offers an interpretation that seems to stray far from the pshat - the simple meaning of the text. Quoting Rabbi Yishmael (Bereshit Raba 11:2), Rashi explains that the "blessing" refers to the fact that during the Children of Israel's sojourn in the desert after the Exodus, they received a double portion of manna on Friday, while the "sanctification" is the fact that no manna fell on Shabbat at all.

Rashi has clearly explained elsewhere that his commentary aims at determining the simple meaning of the text. While the term "blessed" indeed means "increase" and the word "sanctified" means to set aside, why did Rashi feel that they have anything to do with the miraculous manna that fell from the sky many years after Creation? What led him to believe that this interpretation is the pshat?

The answer can be ascertained by looking at the second half of the pasuk, which is perhaps more puzzling than the first. The last words of the verse tell us why Shabbat was both blessed and sanctified: "For on it He rested from all His work, that G-d created to do." Rashi, in explaining the unusual phrase, "created to do," explains, "The work that was 'supposed' to be done on Shabbat - [G-d] instead doubled it and did it on the sixth day." In other words, G-d rested on Shabbat from the work that should have been done that day, by instead doing twice as much on Erev Shabbat.

The second clause of the pasuk is explaining the reason for G-d's blessing and sanctification of Shabbat: that G-d created twice as much on Erev Shabbat in order to create nothing on Shabbat. Given that this is the reason for both the blessing and the sanctification of Shabbat, it only makes sense that this blessing and sanctification reflect a similar process. Accordingly, Rashi determines that the primary example of doubling the work on Erev Shabbat in order to refrain from work on Shabbat is the manna. His determination of the pshat of the first half of the pasuk derives directly from his understanding of the second clause. What initially seemed distant from the pshat is actually the simplest understanding of the verse.

Rashi's understanding of the nature of Shabbat emphasizes a crucial element in our attitude towards the holy day. In the words of the Gemara, "He who works hard on Erev Shabbat will eat on Shabbat; he who does not work hard on Erev Shabbat - from where will he get food to eat on Shabbat?" (Avodah Zarah 3a) This parable certainly states a truth regarding divine service and its reward (see Mesilat Yesharim, Perek 1); but with Rashi's explanation in place, it also informs us that preparing for Shabbat is not only a means to the goal of enjoying Shabbat, but is part of the observance of Shabbat itself. Without preparations, Shabbat is, by definition, lacking a crucial theological component. Even more importantly, our Shabbat preparations are a vital fulfillment of the requirement of vehalachta bidrachav - to approximate our own actions to those of G-d. Just as G-d worked extra on the sixth day in order to cease working on Shabbat, our own Shabbat preparations are an expression of imitatio dei - making ourselves similar to G-d Himself.