Sanctifying Shabbos through self-sanctification

זכור את יום השבת לקדשו.

"Remember the day of Shabbos to sanctify it."

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk (Shemos 20:8) that commands us to sanctify the Shabbos, and proceeds to ask how we could possibly add holiness to it.

הגם כי בודאי קדושת השבת גדלה מאוד ואיך מצוון אנחנו לקדש השבת.

Even though the kedushah of Shabbos is surely exceedingly great, how then are we commanded to sanctify the Shabbos?

The difficulty: Shabbos is already supremely holy on its own, so what does our sanctifying it add?

אבל באמת קדושת השבת תלוי בקדושת בני ישראל דאיתא קוב"ה וישראל ושבת מעידין זה על זה.

But in truth the kedushah of Shabbos depends on the kedushah of Bnei Yisrael, as it is taught: the Holy One, Bnei Yisrael, and Shabbos bear witness to one another.

The holiness of Shabbos is bound up with the holiness of Klal Yisrael; the three — Hashem, Yisrael, and Shabbos — are mutual witnesses, each testifying to the others (cf. Zohar).

וכפי הבירור שבנ"י מבררין דכתיב אתם עדי כמו כן מבורר עדות זה בשבת.

And according to the clarification that Bnei Yisrael bring about — as it is written "You are My witnesses" — so too this testimony is made clear through Shabbos.

The more Bnei Yisrael refine themselves and testify to Hashem (as "You are My witnesses," Yeshayahu 43:10), the more clearly that same testimony shines forth in the Shabbos.

והכלל כי מאחר שהש"ק מיוחד לבנ"י קדושים.

The principle is: since the holy Shabbos is designated for the holy Bnei Yisrael.

Because Shabbos is uniquely given to Bnei Yisrael, who are holy, its kedushah is tied to theirs.

ממילא כפי קדושתינו מקבל השבת קדושה ביותר.

It follows automatically that according to our holiness, the Shabbos receives all the more kedushah.

Our own kedushah determines how much holiness the Shabbos draws down and reveals.

כי כפי קבלת המקבל כך נתרבה כח המשפיע.

For according to the receptivity of the recipient, so the power of the bestower is increased.

A general rule of shefa (Divine flow): the more prepared the receiver, the greater the abundance that the source pours forth.

ולכן צריך האדם לזכור תמיד לקדש את עצמו כדי שיוכל לקבל השבת כראוי ומכש"כ שלא יפגום בו ח"ו כנ"ל.

Therefore a person must always remember to sanctify himself so that he can receive the Shabbos properly, and all the more so that he not blemish it, chas v'shalom, as above.

The practical lesson of "Zachor": one must constantly prepare and sanctify himself to be a fitting vessel for Shabbos kedushah, and certainly must guard against damaging it.

[והענין מרומז בברכת אתה קדוש ושמך קדוש וקדושים בכל יום יהללוך כו'. כידוע למשכילים]

[And the idea is hinted at in the berachah "You are holy and Your Name is holy, and holy ones praise You every day, etc." — as is known to the enlightened.]

The wording of the berachah Atah Kadosh alludes to this interplay: Hashem's holiness and the holiness of His people are praised together, a hint understood by those who delve into penimiyus.

וזה ג"כ רמז תנופת שתי הלחם שמרמזין לתורה שבכתב ושבע"פ וכביכול יש עלי' והתרוממות להם בעבור בנ"י.

And this too is hinted at in the waving of the Shtei HaLechem (two loaves), which allude to the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, and as it were there is an elevation and uplift for them on account of Bnei Yisrael.

The two loaves of Shavuos, waved upward, symbolize the two Torahs; their "lifting" hints that even the Torah is, so to speak, elevated through the avodah of Bnei Yisrael.

והלא מצינו ג"כ אלקי אתה ארוממך וכדומה ללשונות כאלו.

And indeed we likewise find "My God, You, I will exalt," and similar expressions of this kind.

Scripture itself uses language of a person "exalting" Hashem (Tehillim 118:28; cf. Shemos 15:2), supporting the idea that man's avodah brings, as it were, an uplift Above.

הכל עפ"י ענין הנ"ל שכפי התרוממות נעשות בנ"י ממילא כביכול מתרומם כבוד מלכותו יתברך:

All of this is according to the aforementioned principle: that to the degree Bnei Yisrael are elevated, automatically, as it were, the glory of His blessed kingship is exalted.

The closing principle: when Bnei Yisrael raise themselves in kedushah, the revealed glory of Hashem's kingship is correspondingly magnified in the world.

Summary: We are commanded to "sanctify" Shabbos because its kedushah is bound to ours — Hashem, Yisrael, and Shabbos testify to one another, and a recipient's readiness draws down greater shefa. By sanctifying ourselves we become fit vessels, and the elevation of Bnei Yisrael, as it were, exalts the glory of Hashem's kingship.