Remember

This week in reading the portion for the first day of Shavuot, which includes the Decalogue, I was struck by a commandment that I think a lot of us overlook. I know I tend to forget it, which is ironic, because the commandment is “Remember the day of the Sabbath to sanctify it.” (Exodus 20:8)

This has traditionally been understood in a number of ways, and lead to a number of practices. Probably the most frequently cited observance associated with this commandment is to recite Kiddush on the Sabbath eve, and Havdalla at the end of the Sabbath (Mishneh Torah, Shabbat, 29:1). This is to remember to set it apart from the week days. It makes it holy by separating the Sabbath from the mundane work days, creating a clear dividing line.

However, this also applies throughout the week. R. Israel of Modzhitz mentioned that throughout the week if he found a particularly special food or item of clothing he would set it aside for the following Sabbath. The sages also instituted the practice of reciting this commandment every day after morning prayers, so that we remember the Sabbath throughout the week. This gives us something to look forward to, a definite end goal. Rather than an endless cycle of the same mundane existence, the commandment to remember the Sabbath keeps us focused on an end that comes every week, a break, a chance to recouperate.

This is also a way of doing as Isaiah says, to “Declare the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of HaShem, honorable.” By eating special foods and looking forward to the Sabbath, keeping it a separate day of rest and delight, we fulfil this injunction (The Concise Book of Mitzvoth, Positive Commandments, 19).

Even more importantly, though, we can always remember the Sabbath to make it holy, even when we can’t keep the Sabbath the way we would like to. This is one way to understand what R. Yeshua told us in Luke 6, “‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.’” (Luke 6:3-5 RSV)

It is more important to sustain life by eating than to keep the Sabbath, however, we still remember the Sabbath and keep it holy in that way, trying to make it special in whatever way possible.