Shabbos as renewal that completes the week
Chayei Sarah · Shabbos · renewal · wholeheartedness · rectification
יש לפרש ימי תמימים הם שבתות השנה וימים טובים.
One may explain that "the days of the wholehearted" (yemei temimim) are the Shabbosos of the year and the Yamim Tovim.
The Sefas Emes reads the phrase "days of the temimim" as a reference to Shabbos and the festivals, the days that stand apart from the workweek.
שהם הימים שאין בהם מלאכה גשמיות וכל מה שנעשה בהם מתקשר ומתדבק בשורש החיות לכן נקראו ימי תמימים.
For these are the days in which there is no physical labor, and everything done in them becomes bound and attached to the root of all life; therefore they are called "whole days."
Because no melachah (creative work) intrudes, all that happens on these days connects directly to the source of vitality in Hashem, making them "complete" and unblemished.
גם נקראו ימי תמימים שהם מיוחדים רק לתמימי דרך.
They are also called "whole days" because they are designated only for those who are wholehearted in their way (temimei derech).
A second meaning: these days belong uniquely to those who walk a path of temimus (wholeheartedness) with Hashem.
והם בני ישראל שנאמר עליהם ועמך כולם צדיקים [ונחלתם לעולם תהי' כי מיני' מתברכין כל שיתא יומין] כי שבת הוא התחדשות שמיוחד לבנ"י.
And these are Bnei Yisrael, of whom it is said, "And Your people are all righteous" (Yeshayahu 60:21) [and their inheritance is forever, for from it all six days are blessed], for Shabbos is a renewal designated for Bnei Yisrael.
Bnei Yisrael are the "wholehearted ones," all called tzaddikim; Shabbos is a renewal (hischadshus) given uniquely to them, and from it the six weekdays draw their blessing.
לכן בנקל להתדבק בו בהשי"ת כי התחדשות כל יום הוא לכל הבריאה.
Therefore it is easy to cleave to Hashem on it, for the renewal of each ordinary day belongs to all of creation.
The daily renewal of the world is shared by every creature, but Shabbos offers a renewal so suited to Bnei Yisrael that devekus (attachment) to Hashem comes readily.
לכן מתערב בה גשמיות.
Therefore physicality becomes mixed into it.
Because the weekday renewal is shared with all creation, it is intermingled with materiality and is not wholly pure.
אבל התחדשות של שבת מיוחד לבני ישראל תמימי דרך כנ"ל.
But the renewal of Shabbos is designated for Bnei Yisrael, the wholehearted of the way, as stated above.
The renewal of Shabbos, by contrast, is reserved for Bnei Yisrael alone and is therefore unmixed and complete.
לכן אף שאין אדם מתקן בכל יום מה שצריך.
Therefore, even though a person does not rectify each day what he ought to.
Even when one fails during the week to accomplish the tikkun (rectification) required of him on a given day.
ע"י שבת יוכל לבוא להתחדשות ולתקן כל ימי השבוע כנ"ל:
Through Shabbos he is able to come to renewal and to rectify all the days of the week, as stated above.
Shabbos grants a fresh renewal that retroactively repairs and elevates all the days of the past week, completing what the weekdays left lacking.
Summary: Shabbos and Yom Tov are "whole days" because no physical labor intrudes and all done in them binds directly to the source of life; this renewal is given uniquely to Bnei Yisrael, the wholehearted, so that even when one fails to rectify the weekdays, Shabbos brings a renewal that repairs and completes the entire week.