Becoming Shabbos through Torah

עוד לסמיכות שבת וינפש ויתן אל משה ככלותו כו'.

Further, regarding the juxtaposition of Shabbos — "and He rested (vayinafash)" — with "and He gave to Moshe... when He finished..."

The Sefas Emes draws meaning from the fact that the Torah places the verse about Hashem resting on Shabbos right next to the giving of the Torah to Moshe.

ע"פ מ"ש במ"א פי' שבת שבתון פועל יוצא להיות האדם נמשך אחר השבת להיות הוא עצמו בחי' שבת.

Based on what was said elsewhere: "Shabbas Shabbason" is a transitive form — that a person should be drawn after the Shabbos to become himself an aspect of Shabbos.

The doubled expression "Shabbas Shabbason" teaches that Shabbos is meant to act upon a person, drawing him in until he himself becomes Shabbos-like — a vessel of rest and holiness.

ובאמת איתא ת"ח נקראו שבת.

And indeed it is taught that talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars) are called "Shabbos."

Chazal already identify a true talmid chacham with Shabbos itself, supporting the idea that a person can embody Shabbos.

בשבת ניתנה תורה.

On Shabbos the Torah was given.

The giving of the Torah took place on Shabbos, linking Torah and Shabbos at their very root.

א"כ כפי התורה שנמצא באדם הוא אצל השבת.

If so, according to the measure of Torah found in a person, so is his closeness to Shabbos.

Because Torah and Shabbos are bound together, the more Torah a person carries within him, the more he is connected to the holiness of Shabbos.

וגם כפי שמירת שבת כך זוכין אל התורה.

And likewise, according to one's keeping of Shabbos, so does one merit the Torah.

The relationship runs both ways: guarding Shabbos properly opens a person up to receive and acquire Torah.

ובשבת כ' כי אות הוא ביני וביניכם.

And regarding Shabbos it is written: "For it is a sign between Me and you."

Shabbos is described as an "os" (sign), a mark of the bond between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael.

וזוכין להתקשר בדביקות עליון ע"י השבת.

And through Shabbos one merits to be bound in a supernal devekus (cleaving to Hashem).

This "sign" is not merely symbolic — Shabbos actually connects a person to Hashem in the deepest cleaving.

נמצא הת"ח שדבוק בו ית' הרי הוא עצמו אות כמו השבת.

It emerges that the talmid chacham who is bound to Him, may He be blessed, is himself a sign, like the Shabbos.

Since a true Torah scholar is cleaving to Hashem, he becomes a living "sign" of the bond — exactly as Shabbos is a sign.

וכעין שאמרו חז"ל בשבת א"צ תפילין שהוא עצמו אות.

Similar to what Chazal said, that on Shabbos one does not need tefillin, since it itself is a sign.

Just as Shabbos already is a sign and so does not require the additional sign of tefillin, so too one who embodies Shabbos carries that sign within himself.

כמו כן ת"ח בפרט מרע"ה שר התורה הוא עצמו שבת.

So too a talmid chacham — and in particular Moshe Rabbeinu, the master of the Torah — is himself Shabbos.

Moshe Rabbeinu, as the supreme bearer of Torah, is the fullest example of a person who has become Shabbos itself.

ז"ש וינפש ויתן אל משה כי השבת עצמו ניתן למשה.

This is the meaning of "and He rested (vayinafash)... and He gave to Moshe" — for Shabbos itself was given to Moshe.

The juxtaposition now makes sense: in giving the Torah to Moshe, Hashem was in effect giving Moshe the very essence of Shabbos.

ובמד' שכל מ' יום הי' לומד ושוכח ואח"כ ניתן לו התורה במתנה.

And in the Midrash: that for all forty days Moshe would learn and forget, and afterward the Torah was given to him as a gift.

The Midrash relates that during the forty days on Har Sinai Moshe kept forgetting what he learned, until Hashem granted him the Torah outright as a present.

וכבר כ' מזה במ"א כי מ' יום הכנה אל התורה.

And it has already been written elsewhere that the forty days were a preparation for the Torah.

Those forty days were not wasted — they were the necessary hachanah (preparation) that made Moshe a fit vessel to receive the Torah.

כמו ששת ימי המעשה הכנה אל השבת שהוא תכלית מעשה בראשית.

Just as the six days of work are a preparation for Shabbos, which is the purpose of the act of Creation.

The weekdays exist in order to lead up to Shabbos, the goal and culmination of all Creation — a model for how the forty days led up to Torah.

כמו כן מ' יום נגד ציור הולד.

So too the forty days correspond to the formation of the embryo.

The forty days parallel the forty days of the embryo's formation in the womb — a period of taking shape and structure.

דהיינו התפשטות התורה ברמ"ח ושס"ה בציור האדם.

That is to say, the spreading of the Torah through the 248 [limbs] and 365 [sinews] in the form of the human being.

During those forty days the Torah was, as it were, being woven into the full human structure — its 248 limbs and 365 sinews, corresponding to the mitzvos asei and lo saaseh.

ובזה יש עוד התחברות אל הגוף והטבע.

And in this there is still a connection to the body and to nature.

Torah at this stage is bound up with the physical body and the natural world, embedded in a person's limbs.

ויש בו שכחה כי הטבע משכח.

And in it there is forgetting, for nature causes forgetting.

Because this level of Torah is tied to the body and nature, it is subject to forgetfulness — for the physical world, by its nature, induces forgetting.

אבל אח"כ ניתן התורה במתנה היא תורה עליונה כלל התורה.

But afterward the Torah was given as a gift — this is the supernal Torah, the all-encompassing principle of the Torah.

The Torah finally given to Moshe as a matanah (gift) is a higher Torah: not the detailed forms scattered through the limbs, but the unified, general essence of all Torah.

כמ"ש ככלתו כללים ניתנו לו.

As it is written, "when He finished (kechaloso)" — the general principles (kelalim) were given to him.

Chazal read "kechaloso" as alluding to "kelalim" — the comprehensive, overarching principles of Torah that were granted to Moshe at the end.

וכמו כן שבת כלל ימי המעשה והוא יומא דנשמתא.

And so too Shabbos is the general principle of the days of work, and it is the day of the neshamah.

Shabbos likewise stands above the individual weekdays as their unifying principle — it is the "day of the soul," a higher, all-embracing reality.

יומא דזכירה.

The day of remembering.

Shabbos is characterized as a day of zechirah (remembrance), the opposite of forgetting.

דלית בי' שכחה.

For there is no forgetting in it.

On the level of Shabbos and the higher Torah, forgetfulness has no place at all.

דכל השכחה מצד הגוף.

For all forgetting comes from the side of the body.

Forgetting stems entirely from the physical body and its connection to nature, not from the soul.

ובשבת נתגלה זה שורש התורה ומרע"ה כמ"ש "מזמור "שיר "ליום "השבת ר"ת למש"ה.

And on Shabbos this is revealed — the root of the Torah and of Moshe Rabbeinu — as it is written, "Mizmor Shir LeYom HaShabbos," the initial letters of which spell "LeMoshe" (to Moshe).

The hint that the four opening words of the Shabbos psalm spell "LeMoshe" shows that Shabbos reveals the very root that Moshe embodies — the highest, unforgettable Torah.

והתורה שלומדין בשבת אין בה שכחה:

And the Torah that one learns on Shabbos — there is no forgetting in it.

Practically, Torah studied on Shabbos partakes of that supernal, soul-rooted level and is therefore protected from forgetfulness.

Summary: Torah and Shabbos are deeply intertwined: the Torah was given on Shabbos, and one who is full of Torah — above all Moshe Rabbeinu — becomes himself a "sign" like Shabbos. The forty days of preparation correspond to Torah being woven into the body, where it is subject to forgetting; but the higher, all-encompassing Torah given as a gift, like Shabbos itself, is the day of the soul and of remembrance, beyond all forgetfulness.