In the Ten Commandments it says: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work," whereas here it says, “Six days you shall do your work" - your work, but not all your work, for in the Sabbatical year agricultural labor is forbidden to him (Ohr HaChaim). Indeed, regarding a regular Shabbat it states: “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work… Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it."
What is included in “and sanctified it" in the Kiddush of Shabbat? The prophet Isaiah says: “If you turn away your foot because of the Sabbath, from pursuing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honored, and you honor it by not going your own ways nor pursuing your affairs nor speaking of them" (Isaiah 58:13). Shabbat includes not only the prohibition of labor but also the obligation to delight in and honor the Sabbath, including refraining from commerce, etc.
“Remember and observe" - Ramban explains that Shabbat must be blessed and sanctified, for God commanded us to remember and bless it, and to refrain from labor so that it remains holy for us.
Our Sages disagreed whether this obligation of delight and honor is only of prophetic origin, or whether, as maintained by the Chatam Sofer and the Yere’im, the obligation of delight and honor on Shabbat is biblical, with the prophet merely explaining what is already written in the Torah.
I was permitted to visit Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, author of Shevet HaLevi, head of Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin and one of the leading halachic decisors, a few months before he passed away at age 102. I asked how it had been practiced over the past hundred years - whether like the Chatam Sofer and the Yere’im, that delight and honor of Shabbat are biblical obligations, or rabbinic. He answered me sharply, clearly, and unequivocally that the custom of Israel is that delight and honor of Shabbat are only rabbinic obligations, based on the words of the prophets. In passing he added, “But the obligation to eat three meals on Shabbat is biblical."
Indeed, these are the words of the prophets - in the plural - for the prophet Jeremiah also warned about observing Shabbat, saying:
“So says the Lord: Take heed for your souls, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem. Nor shall you carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but sanctify the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers… And it shall be, if you diligently listen to Me… then there shall enter through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever… But if you do not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden and enter the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched" (Jeremiah 17:19-27).
Shabbat is not just another commandment; it is a sign of the covenant between God and His people: “Between Me and the children of Israel it is a sign forever, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: “I have a precious gift in My treasure house, and Shabbat is its name, and I seek to give it to Israel; go and inform them" (Shabbat 10b). A gift about which the Creator Himself testifies that it is an eternal sign “between Me and the children of Israel."
Yet the Gemara in Tractate Chagigah says that its details and fine points are as numerous as mountains hanging by a hair - little Scripture, but many laws. For this reason Rabbi Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth wrote the book Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah, edited by my revered father, Rabbi Asher Wasserman, who besides editing it added an index so that every law could be found with maximum speed - accessible to scholars, householders, homemakers, and every boy and girl.
Here I wish to share the wonders of Divine providence. The decision to write Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah resulted from a completely mistaken thought of Rabbi Neuwirth. He feared that he may have desecrated Shabbat when he immigrated to Israel by boarding an illegal immigrant ship on Shabbat, as he describes in the introduction to the third edition of the book.
In the years 1946-1947, before the establishment of the State, my late father was an emissary of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, the immigration of Holocaust survivors outlawed by the British mandate. As part of his role, he managed the displaced persons camps in southern France and prepared them for boarding the immigrant blockade runners, including the famous Exodus. Each person was permitted to bring only 10 kilograms aboard. In truth, the organizers of those camps were the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, including my father, who acted with halachic guidance and self-sacrifice to save Holocaust survivors. Operations were carried out discreetly, often on weekends when British and French officers were distracted, enabling the immigrants to board blockade runners without interference.
To clarify the mistaken assumption that Shabbat had been desecrated, I present the responsum of Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, author of Seridei Eish, to a letter my father sent him at that time. Rabbi Weinberg had been his teacher at the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary, which closed immediately after Kristallnacht. The letter deals with halachic questions regarding whether it is proper to board the immigrant ships on Shabbat, and whether one may commit a minor transgression to prevent another from committing a more severe one. It concludes with guidance regarding our relationship with secular Jews concerning Shabbat observance.
Rabbi Weinberg ruled that sailing on Shabbat is permitted according to Torah law, provided one establishes residence on the ship before Shabbat begins (as codified in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 248). In cases of great pressure, there may be room for leniency because of the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel and redeeming captives. However, one must stand firm regarding Shabbat observance and serve as an example of dedication and sanctification of God’s Name. Where there is even a doubt of danger to life, everything is permitted.
Rabbi Neuwirth later wrote that boarding the ship on Shabbat left a deep impression on him, and he accepted upon himself to do something for Shabbat in merit of that experience - which ultimately led to writing Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah. He also personally ruled in a similar case involving the Exodus deportees that compelling religious Jews to travel on Shabbat due to danger was correct and justified.
Rabbi Weinberg concluded that we must not seek leniencies, but fight not with sword or spear, but with spirit and courage of heart.
The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to grant Israel the merit of Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah. First, He stirred the conscience of Rabbi Neuwirth; then He arranged matters so that my father ensured everything was conducted according to halachah under the guidance of the Seridei Eish. Later, they were brought together again at Yeshivat Kol Torah, where my father assisted in editing and indexing the work. This is the tale of how Shabbat - the gift from God’s treasure house - continued to be an eternal sign between the Creator and the children of Israel.
The author is the CEO of Tzifha International