I like Jewish jokes. One of the better-known ones tells about Moishe who wanted to sell his car. On Friday night, in schul, between one Lecha Dodi and another, he remarked to his friend, Yankel: “Nicht Shabbos geret (not on Shabbat), but I’m selling my car.” Yankel thought and said, “Nicht Shabbos geret, I think it would be suitable for us. I’ll speak with my wife.” The next morning, during Shacharit, before the reading of the Torah, Yankel asked Moishe: “Nicht Shabbos geret, how much do you want for it?” “Nicht Shabbos geret,” answered Moishe, “Fifty-seven thousand.”
At minchah on Shabbos, Yankel stretched after his Shabbat afternoon nap and said: “My wife and I want to buy your car, nicht Shabbos geret, of course.” “Sorry,” answered Moishe, “but, nicht Shabbos geret, the car has been sold already.”
We all know that it is prohibited to work on Shabbat, and it is also prohibited to speak about business matters on Shabbat. Shabbat is kodesh LaShem – it is to be devoted to Hashem. But we don’t always remember clearly that just like it is prohibited to work on Shabbat, so it is incumbent upon us to labor during the six days of the week. As it says in parashat Emor, which we will read tomorrow (in the diaspora) in schul: “For six days labor may be done and on the seventh day is a day of complete rest.”
We are coming from Lag ba’Omer, the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the great disciple of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is associated mainly with the Zohar, but there is another well-known book that is called “Mechilta d’Rashbi.” So, in addition to the Mishnah and the Talmud we also have the Mechilta. The Mechilta is a collection of sayings, directions and midrashim of our Sages. Mechilta d’Rashbi, as one can imagine from its name, is considered to have been written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and one can say that its content comes from Rabbi Akiva’s study circle. This is logical, of course, when we know that Rabbi Akiva was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s rebbe.
On the pasuk “Six days you shall work,” it says as follows: “The same way that Yisrael were commanded about the positive mitzvah of Shabbat, so they were commanded about the labor.” In other words, it’s not only a recommendation, but an actual mitzvah: it’s a mitzvah to work and make a living.
May we all have a Shabbat of rest and peace, preferably without “Nicht Shabbos geret.”
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski