A Thought on Parshas B'reishis

"...va'Yikadesh oso ki vo Shovas mi'kol Melach'to..." "...and He sanctified it, for He rested on that day from all His work..." (2:3) The Torah introduces the Shabbos within its account of the Creation. Later on, we are given the formal instruction, or mitzva, to observe and keep the Sabbath. This shows up in the Ten Commandments which were given to us on Har Sinai (Shmos 19:8), where HaShem says that the Shabbos commemorates those Days of Creation. Rabbeinu Avigdor writes that the halachic practice of beginning the Shabbos with kiddush, sanctification of the day by means of a blessing over wine, can be traced to the contiguity of verse 1 which announces that "creation was finished" (Va'yachulu) with our verse which says that HaShem sanctified (kadesh) the close of the sixth day, which was the eve (eruv) of Shabbos. He then peers further into the word "va'Yikadesh" and ponders the "vav" at the onset of the word. As a letter, that vav is the suffix for "and" but as a number, that vav is six. He then suggests that this is why we find six expressions of the word "kadesh" within the evening Kiddush prayer. We find the words kidishanu, Shabbos kadsho, l'mikra'ae kodesh, v'osanu kidashta, Shabbos kadshecha and Mikadesh haShabbos. He suggests that this is the reason that our sages inserted six expressions of sanctification into the Kiddush, and why they are recited Shabbos eve. He then queries the term Shovas in our verse. Apparently, this conjugation of the word Shabbos must mean, in context, that HaShem rested. Yet, going ahead again to the verse in the Ten Commandments, the Torah writes "va'yanach", which definitely means "He rested", since that word is derived from menucha. Rabbeinu Avigdor then wonders why our verse does not say "ki vo Noch" rather than "ki vo Shovas." Here too he finds a basis for another halachic practice: the word Shovas, while related to the word Shabbos, has a more common link to the more familiar word yoshev which means to sit or to set in place. Rabbeinu Avigdor then suggests that our verse uses the word Shovas because HaShem set the Shabbos into a different role than the other six days of the week. Our sages refer to Shabbos as "the Sabbath Bride", which we also use in chanting Lecha Dodi when we say "bo'ee Kallah". Rabbeinu Avigdor envisions this as if Shabbos has been enthroned amidst the other days of the week. Those week days sing the praise of Shabbos, Mizmor Shir l'yom haShabbos (Tehillim 92:1), the only day of the week to have a psalm of its own. It is through this midrashic imagery that Rabbeinu Avigdor traces the origin of our custom to sit a bride down in a special throne at the wedding, facing her groom, and for the guests to dance and sing her praises. From precise analysis of words, their position and their context, Rabbeinu Avigdor shows how the Torah signals to us the sanctified origins and unity of our Torah practices. Good Shabbos, yom Menucha, Shabbos Kallah. D Fox