Why Saturday?
Before New Year’s Day, 2000, the New York Times created a mock front page for New Year’s Day, 2100. They concocted all kinds of news stories for the front page, and since New Year’s will fall on Friday that year, the editors added the time for Shabbat candle lighting. At that time, the NY Times published the time for candle lighting on the front page of every Friday edition.
The editor was asked why he included the candle-lighting time. He replied, “I have no idea what will happen on New Year’s Day, 2021, but I am certain of one thing. Before the sun sets that day, Jewish women will be lighting Shabbat candles.”
The tradition of resting one day each week dates back a long time. Our sages taught that Moses pitched the idea to Pharaoh when he was a prince in Egypt. Pharaoh put Moses in charge of the Jewish slaves, and Moses suggested the slaves be given a weekly day of rest. He argued that they would be more productive if they rested once a week.[1] Pharaoh agreed, and Moses chose Saturday. This is one reason we mention Moses every Shabbat morning in our prayers.[2]
Have you ever wondered why Moses chose Saturday? The easy answer is that his father taught him that G-d rested on Saturday, so our patriarchs and Matriarchs rested on Saturday. But that shifts the question to G-d: Why did G-d instruct us to rest on the day He rested?
The answer we all learn in grade school is that this is our way of commemorating G-d as our Creator. As He created the world for six days and rested on the seventh, so do we. But let’s dig deeper: why must we rest on the same day G-d rested? We could still commemorate G-d creating the world for six days and resting on the seventh if we rested any other day of the seven-day week,
Never On Sunday
Resting on the last day of the week proclaims that G-d didn’t merely begin the creation process and let someone else finish it. He didn’t create a system, put the laws of nature in motion, and let it evolve into what it is today. He created every aspect of existence from the very first to the very last.
Celebrating on the last day of the week proclaims that G-d controls everything throughout history until the last day of existence. He orchestrates the events of life and of the entire universe. Not an atom spins without G-d’s consent. Not a light ray travels without G-d’s instruction. Not an aquatic droplet flows without G-d’s permission. From beginning to end, the entire universe was and is created by G-d. The universe doesn’t expand simply because it does. It expands because G-d instructs it to expand. Quantum physics is only unpredictable because G-d fashioned it that way. It isn’t random; G-d continues to plan, fashion, and govern each particle and wave in accordance with His will.
If we were to celebrate Shabbat on the first day of the week, the implication would be that G-d got things started and handed control of the universe to the laws of physics. He set them in motion and stepped back. He got evolution started and allowed random selection and survival of the fittest to take over.
By celebrating Shabbat on the last day of the week, we attribute the entire process, from beginning to end, to G-d.[3]
Never On Friday
It is fascinating that the two global monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam, adopted the Shabbat doctrine, but neither chose Saturday. G-d promised that Shabbat would be a covenant between G-d and the Jewish people (Exodus 31:17). No other people would be entitled to enter this covenant. Only Jews are entitled to celebrate G-d’s creation.
One can easily see why others would feel excluded. After all, G-d created the world for all humanity; why should only Jews be permitted to celebrate this?
The truth is that anyone can thank G-d for creation, but not in the specific way that G-d prescribed exclusively for Jews. One can sing an ode to G-d. One can turn on a dime, dance on a mountain top, or rock in a cradle on a treetop. One can devise any ritual to celebrate creation, but the Shabbat ritual is exclusive to Jews. Non-Jews are not permitted by Jewish law to fully observe Shabbat. (Sanhedrin 56b)
This was a pledge G-d made to the people who accepted His mandate at Sinai. Anyone who wants to celebrate Shabbat is welcome to convert to Judaism and become a Jew. Then, they will be permitted to observe the Jewish Shabbat.
You can understand that the Christians and Muslims did not accept this Jewish teaching when they resolved to observe Shabbat. Yet, history got in their way. Rather than celebrate Shabbat in the way G-d made exclusive to Jews, the Christians bumped their Sabbath to Sunday and the Muslims pulled their Shabbat back to Friday.[4]
There are fascinating historical theories about how this came about, but they are beyond the scope of this essay. The fact remains that for whatever reason, the two great monotheistic religions, one that hoped to complete Judaism and the other that hoped to replace Judaism, failed in their bid to crash the Jewish Shabbat.
Every Shabbat morning, we recite in our prayers, “You did not give the Shabbat to the nations of the world, and you did not grant it to the worshippers of idols . . . instead you bestowed it upon your nation Israel with love to the children of Jacob whom you chose.”
It has been suggested that the first two stitches of this prayer refer to the Muslim Sabbath on Friday and the Christian Sabbath on Sunday. We thank G-d for not giving our Shabbat to the nations of the world—the Muslims who govern many nations. And we thank G-d for not granting it to those who worship idols. Though Christianity is a monotheistic religion, it incorporates faith elements that are deemed idolatrous for Jews to adopt. We thank G-d for arranging events in such a way that the Muslims chose Friday and the Christians chose Sunday. Both left the Jewish Shabbat to the Jews.
G-d did not give our Shabbat to the Muslims or the Christians. Rather, He gave it to us—the children of Jacob whom He chose. He did not give it to us because we are genetically superior or morally superior. He gave it to us because He chose us.
We made a pact with G-d at Sinai. We chose Him, and He chose Us. Shabbat is the day G-d set aside for Him and us to celebrate our mutual symbiotic choice and revel in our exclusive bond.
Shabbat has preserved our unique nature and exclusive bond with G-d. Asher Ginsberg, the famous Hebrew writer, Ahad Haam, wrote, “More than the Jew has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jew.”
[1] Midrash, Shemot Rabah 1:28. See also Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan, Bereshit Rabti on Genesis 1:6–8.
[2] Iyun Tefilah Ad Loc.
[3] Rabbi Moshe Sofer, Torat Moshe, Parshat Shemot.
[4] Changing the day was insufficient since non-Jews are proscribed from fully observing Shabbat any day of the week if they intend to adopt it as a Jewish practice. Thus, Christianity and Islam also modified their Shabbat observance. (Maimonides, Laws of Kings 9:10. However, see Rashi (Sanhedrin 56b), who says that even modified forms of rest days are forbidden to Non-Jews.)
