Weekdays as pillars joining will to deed

במדרש שוקיו עמודי שש זה העולם שהשתוקק הקב"ה לבוראו ויכלו כו' כלתה נפשי כו' שש ששת ימי בראשית כו'.

In the Midrash on "His legs are pillars of marble (shesh)" (Shir HaShirim 5:15) — this refers to the world, which HaKadosh Baruch Hu longed (hishtokek) to create; "and they were completed (vayechulu)…", "my soul yearns (kalsah)…", and "shesh" alludes to the sheshes yemei Bereishis (the six days of creation).

The Midrash links the word shesh ("marble," but also "six") to the six days of creation, and reads "amudei shesh" as the world that Hashem yearned and longed to bring into being. The Sefas Emes notes the recurring language of longing and yearning (hishtokek, kalsah nafshi) attached to creation.

אף כי התשוקה נאמר על שבת יום המנוחה.

This is so even though the "yearning" is [usually] said with regard to Shabbos, the day of rest.

One would expect the language of yearning and delight to belong to Shabbos, the goal and completion of creation. Yet here the Midrash attaches the longing to the six weekday days of creation.

רק הרצון הי' לחבר בימי המעשה כל הבריאה והמעשים לרצונו ית'.

Rather, the [divine] will was to connect, during the weekdays of activity, all of creation and all deeds to His ratzon.

Hashem's true desire was not only the rest of Shabbos but that throughout the working days all of creation and all human activity should be bound back to His will. The yearning is for the weekdays to become a vehicle that unites everything to Hashem.

ובחול הי' רצונו ית' מלובש בהמעשה.

On the weekday His will is clothed within the deed.

During the six days, the ratzon Hashem is not openly visible; it is enclothed and hidden inside the physical activity of the world.

ובשבת רצון בלי מעשה.

And on Shabbos there is will without deed.

On Shabbos, when work ceases, the divine ratzon stands revealed on its own, no longer clothed in or hidden behind action.

לכן ימי המעשה הם עמודים לחבר הרצון עם המעשה.

Therefore the weekdays are "pillars" — to connect the will with the deed.

This is why the Midrash calls them amudim, pillars: the working days are the supports that join the hidden divine will to physical action, drawing the ratzon Hashem down into the deeds of this world.

ובשבת מתבטלין בפועל כל המעשים והוא רצון בלי מעשה.

And on Shabbos all deeds are nullified in practice, and this is "will without deed."

On Shabbos all melachah ceases — there is a real bittul of action. With deed set aside, what remains is pure divine ratzon, revealed without the garment of activity.

וכן גם עתה כפי הביטול בשבת מתחדש רצון חדש לימי המעשה שאח"כ:

And so too now: according to the bittul attained on Shabbos, a new will is renewed for the weekdays that follow.

This dynamic continues in our own time. The degree to which a person reaches bittul on Shabbos — setting aside his own doing and revealing the pure ratzon Hashem — determines the fresh divine will and vitality that is then drawn down into the coming week's days of activity.

Summary: Hashem's yearning in creation was that the very weekdays of activity should bind all deeds back to His will. On weekdays the ratzon Hashem is clothed within action; on Shabbos, when all deeds are nullified, it stands revealed as pure will. The weekdays are thus "pillars" joining will to deed — and the bittul reached on Shabbos renews fresh divine will for the week that follows.