Shabbos Beyond Created Nature
בפ' שמור כו' וזכרת כי עבד היית כו' ויוציאך כו' ביד חזקה כו' ע"כ צוך כו' לעשות כו' השבת
In the parsha, regarding 'Shamor' (the command to 'Guard' the Shabbos), it says, 'And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Mitzrayim, and Hashem your God took you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm; therefore Hashem your God commanded you to make the day of Shabbos' (Devarim 5:15).
The Sfas Emes opens with the pasuk that ties the mitzvah of Shabbos to Yetzias Mitzrayim, asking why our slavery and redemption are the reason given for keeping Shabbos.
הענין הוא כי ששת ימים עשה ה' שמים וארץ
The matter is as follows: for in six days Hashem made the heavens and the earth.
He begins building the foundation: Hashem created heaven and earth in six days.
א"כ כל מעשה בראשית בכח הששת ימים ושבת למעלה מכל הבריאה
If so, all of the work of Creation came about through the power of the six days, while Shabbos stands above the entire creation.
Since all of creation flows from the power of those six days, Shabbos itself is on a higher plane than the entire created order.
א"כ איך יוכל אדם נברא להיות לו חלק בשבת
If so, how can a created human being possibly have any portion in Shabbos?
This raises the difficulty: if Shabbos transcends creation, how can a created person, who is part of that creation, lay claim to any share in it?
ורק ביצ"מ ניתן לבנ"י ההנהגה למעלה מן הטבע שהרי ביטל הקב"ה הטבע בעבורינו ולכן יש לנו חלק בשבת קודש
Rather, it was specifically through Yetzias Mitzrayim that Bnei Yisrael were granted a conduct that is above nature, for Hashem set aside the natural order on our behalf; therefore we do have a portion in the holy Shabbos.
The answer is Yetzias Mitzrayim. By overriding nature to redeem us, Hashem lifted Bnei Yisrael above the natural order, which is precisely what gives us a portion in the supernatural kedushah of Shabbos.
ובאמת שבת הוא זמן גאולה כי הרי כל הטבע הוא צימצום הקדושה להיות במדה וקצבה וזמן שאין החיות יכול להתגלות בזה העולם כמו שהוא רק ע"י צמצום וכמ"ש ימי המעשה יהי' סגור
And in truth, Shabbos is a time of geulah, for all of nature is a contraction of kedushah, causing it to exist within measure, limit, and time, such that the inner life-force cannot reveal itself in this world as it truly is, but only by way of contraction (tzimtzum), as it is written, 'the days of labor it shall be closed' (Yechezkel 46:1).
Shabbos is itself a time of geulah, because the natural order is a tzimtzum, a contraction that squeezes kedushah into the bounds of measure and time so its inner life-force stays hidden, as the navi hints that the weekday gate stays 'closed.'
ובשבת נתגלה הפנימיות והיא גאולה
And on Shabbos the inner dimension is revealed, and that is geulah.
On Shabbos that hidden inner dimension breaks through and is revealed, and such revelation is the very definition of geulah.
והנה כל מה שברא הקב"ה לכבודו ברא
Now, everything that Hashem created, He created for His honor.
He introduces a new point: the purpose of all creation is to bring honor to Hashem.
אך בעוה"ז אין התכלית מבורר עד לעתיד יום שכולו שבת לכן עוה"ז דומה לפרוזדור בפני עוה"ב
Yet in this world the ultimate purpose is not made clear until the future, the day that is entirely Shabbos; therefore this world resembles an antechamber before the World to Come.
But in this world that purpose stays hidden until the future 'day that is all Shabbos,' so olam hazeh is only a corridor leading to Olam Haba.
ואנשי העולם טועין שזו הטבע היא התכלית הטוב להם
And the people of the world err, imagining that this nature is itself the good and ultimate purpose for them.
Most people of the world make the mistake of treating the physical, natural world as the goal and the true good in itself.
ונהפוך הוא שהיא גלות והסתר ומניעות הטוב האמיתי
But the very opposite is true, for it is galus and concealment and a withholding of the true good.
In reality it is the reverse: nature is a state of galus and concealment that blocks access to the genuine good.
רק שהקב"ה יודע איך לעתיד יתברר מכל אלה ההסתרות טוב הגנוז
Only that Hashem knows how, in the future, the hidden good will be drawn forth and clarified out of all these concealments.
Only Hashem knows how, in the future, the good that is hidden within all these concealments will be revealed and clarified.
ובנ"י המחכין באמת לזה האור הגנוז ואין חפצים להתדבק בטבע ובגשמיות
And as for Bnei Yisrael, who truly await this hidden light and have no desire to cling to nature and physicality,
Bnei Yisrael are those who genuinely wait for that hidden light and refuse to attach themselves to mere nature and physicality.
ניתן להם השבת שהוא מעין עוה"ב
to them was given the Shabbos, which is a foretaste of the World to Come.
Because of that yearning, they were granted Shabbos, which serves as a taste of Olam Haba already in this world.
וזה נאמר להם בהר סיני אחר שזכו לקבלת התורה אחר שעברו כל אותן היסורין שהי' להם במצרים וזכו שיתגלה להם הפנימיות ובזה הבינו ענין שבת שאחר ימי המעשה
And this was said to them at Har Sinai, after they merited the receiving of the Torah, after they had passed through all those sufferings that they endured in Mitzrayim and merited that the inner dimension be revealed to them; and through this they grasped the matter of Shabbos which comes after the days of labor.
This gift of Shabbos was given at Har Sinai, fittingly after they received the Torah and after the sufferings of Mitzrayim had refined them enough that the inner dimension was revealed and they could grasp what Shabbos is.
שששת ימי המעשה הם כפרוזדור לשבת שהוא הטרקלין כנ"ל:
For the six days of labor are like an antechamber to Shabbos, which is the banquet hall, as explained above.
The piece closes with the mashal that the six weekdays are merely the antechamber, while Shabbos is the banquet hall that the antechamber leads into.
Summary: The Sfas Emes asks why the mitzvah of Shabbos is grounded in Yetzias Mitzrayim. He explains that since all of creation flows from the power of the six days, Shabbos transcends the created order entirely, so a created person would seemingly have no portion in it; it was only through Yetzias Mitzrayim, when Hashem set nature aside for our sake, that Bnei Yisrael were elevated above the natural order and granted a share in the holy Shabbos. Nature itself is a tzimtzum, a contraction that conceals the inner life-force and keeps the world in a state of galus, whereas on Shabbos that hidden inner dimension is revealed, which is the essence of geulah. The world mistakenly treats nature as the goal, but in truth it is only an antechamber concealing the hidden good that Hashem will clarify in the future, the day that is entirely Shabbos. Because Bnei Yisrael truly await that hidden light and refuse to cling to physicality, they were given Shabbos at Har Sinai as a foretaste of Olam Haba, the banquet hall toward which the weekdays merely lead.