Parashat Emor

Every time the Torah mentions the observance of Shabbat, it also mentions the six working days, as it is written: “Six days shall work be done, and the seventh day shall be a day of rest. We see that the commandment does not imply taking care of Shabbat only, but also working the rest of the days. But what is the relationship between the six days of the week and the rest on Shabbat, is not the commandment not to work on the seventh day enough? Rabbi “Bechaie” opens a window for us to understand the matter: “During the six days we must serve God even while working, just as the patriarchs did it even while tending the flock, or performing other physical labor”. However, the seventh day should be exclusively for God without involving our work. If we analyze the verse again, we will appreciate that it does not say “Six days shall you labor”, actively, but “Six days shall work be done” passively. But did not God condemn man to toil for a living? Certainly, He did so after Adam sinned by eating of the fruit. However, since it is possible that a person may want to turn his work into his main goal in life, as well as believing that his work success depends only on him, which is not the case, since according to our tradition, God is the provider of all our goods, that is why the Torah said “work shall be done” in a passive way, to remind us that we only contribute our grain of sand, and that work should be a means to connect us to God.