Hashem and Shabbos

Rugelech

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 2:48 am

Hashem created the world in six days and "rested" on the seventh which is why we have Shabbos.

Does Hashem still "rest" now on Shabbos? If yes, what does it mean that Hashem actually rests on Shabbos?

Chickensoupprof

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 2:58 am

Good question. What I've learned is that Hashem also rests on shabbos, but also not because hashem is bigger than shabbos. Hashem gave shabbos to the Yidden as an eternal gift so shabbos is more of a gift. The world gets renewed every week because we as Yidden keep shabbos. If we didn't keep shabbos the world would stop existing chas ve shalom. So in my understanding hashem gave us the ultimate chessed of shabbos.

Wolfsbane

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 3:01 am

I would think the "resting" we are referring to in the context of Shabbos is the cessation of the act of creation way back in the 6 days of creation, not a current state of rest. Think about all the pesukim we say in kiddush--they're all about how we rest because Hashem "rested" after creating the world. (Not sure if zemiros are a good prooftext, but there we see past tense as well--יום זה מכובד מכל ימים כי בו שבת צור עולמים--this day is special because that is when Hashem rested, past tense).
Interestingly, Mahar"I Kara on Bereishis 2:3 is very adamant that "shavas" does not refer to resting, but stopping, since Hashem does not rest.
"כי בו שבת – אינו לשון מנוחה, שהרי גבי הקב״ה כתיב: לא ייעף ולא יגע (ישעיהו מ׳:כ״ח), ובלא טורח ברא הוא את עולמו, אלא לשון הפסקה"

Shefa

Sun, Dec 11 2022, 9:56 am

I learned that the rest HaSh-m takes on Shabbos is from creating the world through speech. He's constantly recreating the world through speech, except on Shabbos. Speech, by the nature of it in our world, is something that comes from within us and leaves us, as the words leave our mouth. When HaSh-m creates the world during the week through His speech we get a world that is "removed," in a figurative way, from Him. (I say figurative because it's all HaSh-m, ain od milvadO. Just from our perspective it is removed.) The little bit of effort HaSh-m exerts to create the world through speech, which to Him is the extent it takes to pronounce the letter "Hey", He rests from on Shabbos.

On Shabbos, HaSh-m creates the world only through thought. He does not speak the world into existence. On Shabbos we can access HaSh-m from a place of oneness from within Him. How so... Thought is internal, never leaving the thinker. Because HaSh-m is creating the world through thought on Shabbos, the world never descends in revelation. We have a greater revelation of ain od milvadO. This is the gift of Shabbos - a rest from separation. It's also what we are moving towards in zman geulah - may it be now!!!!