The Relationship Between Shabbat and The Festivals

Parashat Emor 5776, 2016:
The Relationship Between Shabbat and the Festivals

Rabbi David Etengoff
Dedicated to the sacred memories of my mother, Miriam Tovah bat Aharon Hakohen, father-in-law, Levi ben
Yitzhak, sister-in-law, Ruchama Rivka Sondra bat Yechiel, sister, Shulamit bat Menachem, Chaim Mordechai
Hakohen ben Natan Yitzchak, Yehonatan Binyamin ben Mordechai Meir Halevi, Avraham Yechezkel ben
Yaakov Halevy, HaRav Yosef Shemuel ben HaRav Reuven Aharon, David ben Elazar Yehoshua, the refuah
shlaimah of Devorah bat Chana, and Yitzhak Akiva ben Malka, and the safety of our brothers and sisters in
Israel and around the world.
One of the most unusual textual juxtapositions in our parasha occurs at the onset of the Torahs
discussion of the Moadim (the Festivals, Sefer Vayikra, chapter 23). The first two verses state:
And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: [These are] the
L-rd's appointed [holy days] that you shall designate as holy occasions. These are My appointed [holy
days]. (These and all Bible and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
Since the Jewish people are commanded to designate certain specific days as holy occasions (mikraei
kodesh), one would naturally expect the following verse to speak about one of the festivals, such as
Passover or Succot. The very next pasuk (verse), however, focuses upon Shabbat: [For] six days, work
may be performed, but on the seventh day, it is a complete rest day, a holy occasion; you shall not
perform any work. It is a Sabbath to the L-rd in all your dwelling places. On the surface, this pasuk
certainly seems to be out of place. After all, G-d, not man, sanctifies Shabbat, as we find in a very
famous passage in Parashat Bereishit:
Now the heavens and the earth were completed and all their host. And G-d completed on the seventh day
His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did. And G-d
blessed the seventh day and He hallowed it, for thereon He abstained from all His work that G-d created
to do. (2:1-3, underlining my own)
Not too surprisingly, a number of Torah commentators have addressed this exegetical problem. Rashi
(1040-1105), based upon the Sifra, the halachic Midrash to Sefer Vayikra, explains the placement of
Shabbat at the beginning of the presentation of the Moadim in the following fashion:
Why does the Sabbath [designated by G-d,] appear here amidst the festivals? To teach you that whoever
desecrates the festivals is considered [to have transgressed as severely] as if he had desecrated the
Sabbath, and that whoever fulfills the festivals is considered as if he has fulfilled the Sabbath, [and his
reward is as great].
In sum, Rashi presents the classic opinion that, in some very significant ways, the Moadim are
equivalent to Shabbat, even though it is man, rather than G-d, who designates the actual calendrical
dates of the mikraei kodesh.
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky zatzal (1891-1986) takes a different approach than that of Rashi in his
response to Why does the Sabbath appear amidst the festivals? His answer is at one and the same
time sociological and spiritual in nature:
It appears to me that all nations and ethnicities have their different festivals and appointed times. Given
that this is the case, in order to prevent us from erring and thinking that our festivals are no different in
kind or degree from those of the other nations of the world, the Torah begins with the notion that without
the Shabbat there would be no importance whatsoever to the Moadim. The reason for this is eminently
clear for without the declaration of the holiness of Shabbat [by Hashem], no holiness would inhere in
the Moadim. (Emet lYaakov, Parashat Emor 23:2, translation and brackets my own)
Thus, for Rav Kamenetsky, the holiness of Shabbat imbues the Moadim with their singular status and
holiness. True, the Jewish people declare the dates for the onset of the mikraei kodesh; yet, their
kedushah (holiness) ultimately derives from the Shabbat itself.
Rabbi Nissan Alpert zatzal (1928-1986) was one of the great roshei yeshivah of Yeshivat Rabbi
Yitzhak Elhanan and one of the greatest students of Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal (1895-1986). In his
posthumously published work of Torah analysis entitled Limudei Nissan, Rav Alpert presented an
independent examination of Shabbats connection to the Moadim that at once parallels and expands
upon Rav Kamenetskys conceptualization:
[The reason why Shabbat appears in the midst of the festivals] is to emphasize that it is the mother of all
the Moadim, and the holiness of these [appointed] times flows from Shabbat. By way of explanation,
this means that it is possible to extend the holiness of Shabbat to the other Moadim. It is as if Hashem
said, I have sanctified the Shabbat, now, I give you [the Jewish people] the power and the permission to
consecrate the rest of the appointed times. Moreover, just as it is the purpose of the Shabbat to cease
from the creative activities of the workweek through complete and total [spiritual] relaxation in order to
draw near to Hashem, so, too, this should be our orientation on the other yamim tovim. In other words,
our actions and behaviors on these days should be aimed at strengthening our faith and trust in Hashem.
(Parashat Emor, page 50, s.v. vnireh li, translation and brackets my own)
Let us briefly review the far-reaching themes in Rav Alperts compelling answer to our question:
1. Shabbat appears in the midst of the festivals because it is the mother of the Moadim.
2. The holiness of the mikraei kodesh flows directly from Shabbat.
3. Just as Hashem consecrates the Shabbat, we, too, are given the power and permission to
sanctify the festivals.
4. The purpose of the Moadim is similar in kind to that of Shabbat, namely, we should utilize the
holy moments of both the Shabbat and the festivals to strengthen our faith and trust in the
Master of the Universe.
With Hashems never-ending beneficence, may we be zocheh (merit) to draw closer to Him each and
every Shabbat and Yom Tov as we rededicate ourselves to the holy task of strengthening our faith and
trust in Him. Vchane yihi ratzon.
Shabbat Shalom
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The Relationship Between Shabbat and the Festivals

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