Shabbat Is About Love: Discovering the Heart of the Seventh Day

Parashat Beshalach

Shabbat Is About Love

“The Holy One Blessed be He said to Moses: I have a good gift in my treasure house and Shabbat is its name, and I seek to give it to Israel.” (Shabbat 10b)

To keep Shabbat is to enter another dimension. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously called Shabbat “a sanctuary in time.” On Shabbat, we experience something other-worldly— a “me’ein Olam Haba”— a taste of the World to Come.

But did you know that the essence of Shabbat is love?

The Netivot Shalom (R’ Shalom Noach Berezovksy) points out that prior to the Exodus from Egypt, Shabbat is referred to as “Yom Hashevii” —the seventh day of creation. As we recite in our Friday night kiddush: “On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken…And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy” (Bereishit 2:2-3).  But commemorating creation is only one aspect of Shabbat.

In Parashat Beshalach, after the nation of Israel is redeemed from Egypt and becomes God’s chosen nation, they are commanded for the first time, at Marah, to observe the seventh day as Shabbat, a day of holiness and light. As the verse states, “See that the Lord has given you the Sabbath” (Shemot 16:29) Further along in the Book of Shemot, the special nature of Shabbat is underscored with these words: “The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant for all time. It shall be an ot— a sign— forever between Me and the people of Israel” (Shemot 31:17).  Shabbat is a gift, but it is also a sign that affirms the love and closeness between God and the Jewish people, and the day when they draw closer to one another. For this reason, the word “be’ahava” is often included in our Shabbat prayers and inserted when Yom Tov falls on Shabbat. And in the Friday night Kiddush we say, “He has made us holy through his commandments, “v’ratza banu”—desired us— and with love and favor gave us his Holy Sabbath as a heritage.”

The relationship between God and the Jewish people has often been compared to that of a husband and wife or bride and groom. The Netivot Shalom cites the Sochatchover Rebbe who compares the three periods of Shabbat to the three stages of marriage: Friday night is the kiddushin (betrothal); Shabbat morning is the chuppah; and Seudah Shlishit is the time of yichud—the holy union between God and Israel. On Erev Shabbat, we already begin to anticipate this intense closeness with God. For this reason, many have the custom to recite the “Shir Hashirim” (the Song of Songs) on Erev Shabbat, which is an allegory for the love between God and the Jewish people. Before Kabbalat Shabbat, we sing the beautiful piyut of “Yedid Nefesh” (“Beloved of the Soul”), a love song composed by the Safed kabbalist Rabbi Elazar Azikri that expresses the Jewish people’s yearning to cleave to God.

Stories abound of impoverished and downtrodden Jews—most notably in Eastern Europe— who were transformed into royalty on Shabbos. Women lit Shabbos candles. Families dressed in their Shabbos best and sat around a table bedecked with a white cloth, as they delighted in their special Shabbos food and sang zemirot. Once a week they were able to transcend their mundane existence and bask in God’s love.

In today’s high tech, fast-paced world, Shabbat feels even more like a gift—in fact, it feels like salvation. It is the one day that we are able to free ourselves from the constant pull of our devices, the incessant bombardment of posts and notifications. On Shabbat, we give up our need to be constantly “connected”— to social media and news updates. Instead, we seek a deeper connection with God and one another. We operate at a slower pace and nurture our relationships.  Shabbat cultivates not only physical rest but a sense of inner peace— a sense of oneness with God and the universe.

Let us continue to cherish this precious gift from the Creator as we look forward to the days of our final redemption, a period of time characterized as “Yom Shekulo Shabbat”— an era infused with Shabbat’s peace and love.