Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Shabbat 24:13
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Shabbat 24:13
Since some of the people are not artisans, and are idle all their days, such as travelers and caravaners (for they manage to avoid labor all their lives), if they were permitted to walk and speak and move [things]about as they do on all other days, they would not end up engaging in a shevita ha-nikeret (a differentiated rest).
讛诇讻讜转 砖讘转 驻专拽 讻讚: 讬讙
诪驻谞讬 砖诪拽爪转 讛注诐 讗讬谞诐 讘注诇讬 讗讜诪谞讬讬讜转, 讗诇讗 讘讟讬诇讬谉 讻诇 讬诪讬讛谉, 讻讙讜谉 讛讟讬讬诇讬谉 讜讬讜砖讘讬 拽专谞讜转, 砖讻诇 讬诪讬讛谉 讛谉 砖讜讘转讬诐 诪诪诇讗讻讛; 讜讗诐 讛讬讛 诪讜转专 诇讛诇讱 讜诇讚讘专 讜诇讟诇讟诇 讻砖讗专 讛讬诪讬诐, 谞诪爪讗 砖诇讗 砖讘转 砖讘讬转讛 讛谞讬讻专转.
Often the Talmud will offer a range of related laws without expressing the coherent goal standing behind them. We have seen an example of this phenomenon over the last several weeks. We have studied a range of sources from the Talmud propounding Rabbinic expansions on Shabbat rest. We have not encountered, however, a single statement that distills the major concern standing behind these non-Torah prohibitions.
In the source above, Maimonides (who was born in Cordova, Spain, on March 30, 1135, died in Egypt on December 13, 1204, and was popularly known as the Rambam) sums up the vision of Shabbat underpinning these Rabbinic requirements in a single phrase: shevita ha-nikeret. The Rambam understands the Sages as demanding not only that we rest on Shabbat, but that the quality of that rest be different from our rest on other days. The unemployed also refrain from work, but without an elevation of the spirit. Our rest on Shabbat is to be transcendent, a taste of the world redeemed. It should consist of behaviors that are differentiated from our weekday idleness. Thus, the Sages demand that we walk, speak, and arrange our lives differently than during the week. May we find in Shabbat, a window into the world to come, a world that we build with our own behaviors.
Questions:
1. Can rest be more than abstaining from labor? How?
2. What are ways that we can differentiate our Shabbat rest from our weekday rest?
