The Rebbe's Rambam | Marking the completion of the entire set

Hilchos Melachim | Ch 10

mikln zekld

419

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study is liable to the death penalty; he may engage only in the seven commandments that are theirs alone. Similarly, a gentile who ob serves Shabbos, even on one of the weekdays, is liable to the death penalty. Needless to say, this law also applies if he made his own holiday. The rule of the matter is as follows : they should not be permitted to innovate anything, or to create mitzvos for themselves based on their own reasoning. Rather, they must either become

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Pardes Hamelech

be the “planting season and harvest . . . summer and winter”; the words “they shall not cease” imply a constant duty to be productive. It seems to contradict the Rambam, who maintains that there is no issue with being idle, provided it is not enacted as a ritual. How does the Rambam understand this verse to prohibit new religious practices? In truth, there is a deeper question. Why are non-Jews forbidden to observe Shabbos, even on other days of the week? Shabbos commemorates Hashem’s resting from creation. As the Sefer HaChinuch writes, we rest on Shabbos to remind ourselves that the world did not always exist. By keeping Shabbos, we reaffirm within ourselves the belief in Hashem’s creation of the world. 308 Why is that affirmation denied to gentiles? To preface: At the outset of creation, there was a ‘higher’ spiritual reality and the ‘lower’ physical reality, and the two realities did not meet. 309 The world was a coarse, mundane place with little room for spirituality. These two realities converged at the giving of the Torah, but the world began to be conditioned for this revolution from earlier — beginning with the flood. The flood was like a mikvah, cleansing and refining the world to be able to retain a level of spirituality that it could not perceive before. This was reflected in the change in nature after the flood. People began to live shorter lifespans, while Hashem promised that the world will never again falter — as the above-mentioned verse stated, “day and night, they shall not cease.” This was not a contradic

tion; it was an expression of the fact that coarse physicality was weakened — shortening the lifespans — while spirituality was strengthened, leading to Hashem’s promise that the world will forever remain in existence. One important indicator of the synthesis between the “upper” and “lower” realities is the concept of Shabbos. The six days of creation are marked by creativity and production; these are an expression of the world’s existence. Shabbos is a day of rest — an expression of non-existence. In other words, it is a moment when the spiritual realm is revealed within the physical world. 310 The Jewish people have been charged with this task of joining the two realities, bringing spirituality and physicality together. Therefore, we are obligated to observe Shabbos. The gentile is tasked with establish ing a civilized society based on the precepts of the Seven Noahide Laws. He is commanded to engage with the world within its lower, physical reality. There fore, Shabbos is observed specifically by the Jewish people. This is also true of Torah study, a mitzvah singled out in this halachah as well, because it too, symbolyzes the connection of the physical with the Divine. In that light, the Rambam’s understanding of the words “they shall not cease” is in tune with the rest of the verse. The verse sets the tone for the physical reality: it is to be a constant place of productivity and creativity — to which Shabbos is a contradiction. Likkutei Sichos vol. 15 pg. 49

.312 .ïàë î"ñë .313 .âé ,ãì çìùéå ú"äò åùåøéôá .314 íéâøäð ð"á ïéà í''áîøä úòãì íâù ,ã"éñ íéèå÷éì ñ"úç ú"åù äàøå .ù"ééò .ð"á úåöî 'æá íâ ,ò"î ìåèéá ìò

.308 .áì¯àì äåöî êåðéç .309 .â ,á"éô ø"åîù .åè àøàå àîåçðú

.310 .á ,á úéùàøá .311 .á ,çð ïéøãäðñ