Shabbos Unifying The Weekdays
במדרש מנורה של פרקים כו'
In the Midrash there is the image of the Menorah, composed of distinct sections, and so forth.
The Sfas Emes opens by citing the Midrash that likens something to the Menorah, which is built of distinct parts, setting up his comparison of the days of the week to the lamps of the Menorah.
כי ששת ימי המעשה כל יום הוא מדה בפ"ע כי יש עבודה בפרט באהבה ויראה ושמחה והם הן כמו ששה נרות של המנורה
For each of the six days of the week is, in itself, a distinct middah; for there is a particular avodah in love, in fear, and in joy, and these correspond to the six lamps of the Menorah.
Each weekday carries its own particular form of avodah, whether in love, fear, or joy of Hashem, and these six modes of service parallel the six lamps of the Menorah.
שלשה מכל צד ג' דקמי שבתא ובתר שבתא
Three on each side: three of the days that precede Shabbos and three of the days that follow Shabbos.
The six weekdays divide into two sets of three, with three days leading up to Shabbos and three following it.
[והם כמו ו' קצות
[And they correspond to the six extremities,
He begins a bracketed aside comparing the six days to the six spatial directions or extremities.
ימינא ושמאלא
right and left,
Two of those extremities are right and left.
רום תחת
above and below,
Two more are above and below.
פנים ואחור
front and back,
And the last two are front and back, completing the six directions.
לכן יש לכל א' בן זוג] והשבת היא הנקודה כללית שצריך להיות התכלית שבאין ע"י כל המדות בפרט אל השלימות לכוון הלב להבורא ית'
and therefore each one has its partner.] And Shabbos is the all-encompassing point, which must be the ultimate purpose that one arrives at by means of all the individual middos, reaching the completeness of directing the heart to the Creator, may He be blessed.
Just as the spatial extremities pair off, so too each weekday has its counterpart; and Shabbos itself is the unifying central point, the goal toward which all the individual middos lead, so that the heart is wholly directed to the Creator.
וזו המנוחה היא רק בעוה"ב לכן שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא כמ"ש עקב תשמעון
And this menuchah exists only in Olam Haba; therefore the reward of a mitzvah is not in this world, as it is written, "And it shall come to pass, because (eikev) you hearken" (Devarim 7:12).
This perfect rest belongs fully only to Olam Haba, which is why the reward for a mitzvah is not paid out in this world, hinted at in the word eikev, meaning the consequence that follows hearkening.
אכן בש"ק שהוא מעין עוה"ב מתנה טובה זוכין להארה כללית הנ"ל
Yet on the holy Shabbos, which is a foretaste of Olam Haba, a good gift, one merits the all-encompassing illumination mentioned above.
Nevertheless, since Shabbos is a taste of Olam Haba and a precious gift from Hashem, on Shabbos one already merits that same all-encompassing illumination.
[וזה שהתחיל תשמעון לשון רבים ומסיים לשון יחיד] ובאמת כשזוכין להשלימות הנ"ל לית שולטנא אחרא כמ"ש בזוה"ק כי כל התערובת טו"ר היא בפרודא ובימי המעשה שהוא בפרטות יש תערובת כנ"ל
[And this is why the verse begins with "you hearken" in the plural and concludes in the singular.] And in truth, when one merits the aforementioned completeness, no other dominion holds sway, as is stated in the Zohar HaKadosh; for the entire admixture of good and evil exists only in a state of separation, and during the weekdays, which are a state of particularization, there is such an admixture, as explained above.
When a person reaches this completeness, no opposing force of evil can take hold, because the mixture of good and evil only exists in a state of fragmentation, which characterizes the scattered, particularized nature of the weekdays.
וז"ש המד' כי השבת ניתן רק לטובתך וכבר כ' במ"א:
And this is what the Midrash means when it says that Shabbos was given solely for your own benefit; and this has already been written elsewhere.
The Midrash teaches that Shabbos was given purely for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael, granting them this unifying light, a theme the Sfas Emes notes he has developed elsewhere.
Summary: The Sfas Emes compares the six days of the week to the six lamps of the Menorah, each weekday demanding its own particular avodah in love, fear, and joy, divided into three days before Shabbos and three after, paralleling the six spatial extremities that each pair off. Shabbos is the all-encompassing central point toward which all these individual middos lead, uniting them in the single purpose of directing the heart to the Creator. This perfect menuchah belongs fully to Olam Haba, which is why the reward of a mitzvah is not paid in this world; yet because Shabbos is a foretaste of Olam Haba, one already merits its unifying illumination. In that state of completeness no force of evil can rule, since the admixture of good and evil exists only amid the fragmentation of the particularized weekdays. Thus the Midrash teaches that Shabbos was given purely for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael.