Shabbos elevates the week through ratzon

בפרשת זכור א"י השבת כו'.

In the passage of "Remember [the Shabbos day]"… "the Shabbos…"

The Sefas Emes opens on the section of the Aseres HaDibros that commands remembering and sanctifying the Shabbos day.

ששת ימים עשה כו' ע"כ ברך כו'.

"Six days [Hashem] made… therefore He blessed…"

The pasuk gives the reason for the blessing of Shabbos: because in six days Hashem made heaven and earth and rested on the seventh, He blessed and sanctified it.

בכל מקום שמזכיר שבת מזכיר ימי המעשה.

In every place where Shabbos is mentioned, the workdays are mentioned.

The Sefas Emes observes that the Torah consistently pairs Shabbos with the six days of activity — the two are never spoken of in isolation from one another.

שכן הי' בשבת בראשית דכ' וישבות מכל מלאכתו.

For so it was at the Shabbos of Creation, as it is written, "and He rested from all His work."

Already at the first Shabbos of Bereishis, the "rest" was defined in relation to the work that preceded it — "He rested from all His work."

א"כ נעשה השביתה מכל המלאכה.

If so, the resting was made "from all the work."

The very nature of Shabbos rest is to be the cessation and completion of all the work of the six days — it gathers all of them into itself.

כי השבת הוא תכלית ושורש כל הימים.

For Shabbos is the purpose and the root of all the days.

Shabbos is both the goal toward which the weekdays strive and the root from which they draw — it is the source and the culmination of the entire week.

ובמעשה בראשית דכ' וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה שראה והביט עד סוף כל הדורות.

And in the account of Creation, where it is written, "and God saw all that He had made" — that He saw and gazed until the end of all the generations.

When Hashem "saw all that He had made," His view encompassed not only the present creation but the entire span of history, down to its final purpose.

ועלה נ"ר לפניו מכל הבריאה.

And there arose a "spirit of satisfaction" (nachas ruach) before Him from all the creation.

From the whole of creation — seen through to its ultimate end — there arose nachas ruach before Hashem, His pleasure in what it would become.

כמו שיהי' נגמר בפועל ממש לעתיד ביום שכולו שבת.

As it will be actually completed in the future, on the day that is entirely Shabbos.

That nachas ruach corresponds to the final perfection of creation, which will be fully realized in the future "day that is entirely Shabbos" — the world to come.

ובעוה"ז עשה הקב"ה להיות ימי המעשה ושבת.

And in this world Hashem arranged that there be the workdays and Shabbos.

In olam hazeh, Hashem established the cycle of six workdays and a Shabbos as a reflection in miniature of the whole arc of creation and its culmination.

ויש עלי' מכל הנעשה בימי המעשה בש"ק.

And there is an elevation, on Shabbos Kodesh, from all that was done during the workdays.

Each Shabbos gathers up and elevates all the deeds and labors of the preceding six days, raising them to their root.

וכפי הרצון שיש בכל שבת לפניו מימי המעשה.

And according to the ratzon (the desire, the pleasure) that exists before Him each Shabbos from the workdays.

The degree to which the week's deeds give rise to ratzon — a pleasing desire — before Hashem determines what that Shabbos can become.

כך יש ברכה וקדושה.

So is there blessing and kedushah.

The blessing and holiness drawn down on a given Shabbos are proportional to the ratzon that the week's avodah has generated before Hashem.

וז"ש כי ששת ימים עשה כו' וינח כו' ע"כ ברך כו' ויקדשהו.

And this is the meaning of "for in six days [Hashem] made… and rested… therefore He blessed… and sanctified it."

The pasuk's sequence — six days of making, then rest, then blessing and sanctifying — expresses exactly this: the blessing and kedushah of Shabbos flow from and crown the work of the six days.

כמו שהי' אז בכלל.

Just as it was then in a general way.

At the original Creation this happened on the grand, all-encompassing scale — the entire creation culminating in the first Shabbos.

כן נגמר כל פרט ופרט מדי שבת בשבתו.

So too every single detail is completed, each Shabbos in its time.

What occurred once in general is renewed in particular every single week: each individual Shabbos completes and perfects the deeds of its own week.

לכן צריך כל איש ישראל לזכור תמיד ביום השבת.

Therefore every man of Yisrael must always remember, on the Shabbos day.

This is why the mitzvah is to "remember" the Shabbos — to keep in mind constantly throughout Shabbos its purpose.

שיהי' עלי' מכל אלה המעשים.

That there should be an elevation from all these deeds.

One should consciously intend that all the week's deeds be raised up and elevated through this Shabbos.

וזה ירא שבת.

And this is "fear of Shabbos" (yir'as Shabbos).

To hold this awareness — that Shabbos elevates all of one's deeds — is the essence of yir'as Shabbos, the awe of the day.

וזה האות שרצה בנו הקב"ה במה שנתן לנו השבת.

And this is the sign that Hashem desired us, in that He gave us the Shabbos.

The gift of Shabbos itself is the os (sign) that Hashem chose and desired Klal Yisrael — entrusting to us the day that elevates all creation.

לומר כי הברכה והקדושה בשבת הכל תלוי כפי הרצון שמעלין בנ"י במעשיהם.

To say that the blessing and the kedushah on Shabbos all depend on the ratzon that Bnei Yisrael raise up through their deeds.

Shabbos is a "sign" precisely because its blessing and holiness are not automatic but hinge on the ratzon that Bnei Yisrael generate by infusing their weekday deeds with avodah for Hashem.

לכן אומרים בקידוש היום ורצה בנו.

Therefore we say in the Kiddush of the day, "and He desired us (v'ratzah vanu)."

The Shabbos Kiddush voices this very theme — "v'ratzah vanu" — that Shabbos is bound up with Hashem's ratzon, His desire for and pleasure in Bnei Yisrael.

כי שבת הוא בחי' רצון ונק' חמדת הימים.

For Shabbos is the aspect of ratzon and is called "the delight of days" (chemdas hayamim).

Shabbos embodies ratzon — Divine desire and favor — and is therefore called chemdas hayamim, the most cherished and delightful of all days.

כי בו נגמר הרצון והתענוג העולה מכל הימים כמ"ש:

For in it is completed the ratzon and the delight (taanug) that ascends from all the days, as has been explained.

Shabbos brings to completion the ratzon and the spiritual taanug that rise up from all the deeds of the week — gathering the entire week's avodah into the day of delight before Hashem.

Summary: Shabbos is always paired with the workdays because it is both the root and the purpose of all the days, just as at Creation Hashem saw through to "the day that is entirely Shabbos" and took nachas ruach from the whole. Every week this is renewed in detail: each Shabbos elevates all the deeds of its week, and its blessing and kedushah depend on the ratzon that Bnei Yisrael raise through those deeds. To remember this is yir'as Shabbos, and it is the sign of Hashem's desire for us — which is why Shabbos, the aspect of ratzon, is called chemdas hayamim.