Parshas Noach
1. From the verse[1] "day and night shall not cease" (lo yishbosu), the Gemara[2] derives: "A gentile who rests [keeps a Shabbos] is liable to death, as it says, 'day and night shall not cease'; and the Master said: their prohibition is their death penalty." The Gemara then adds: "Ravina said: even on Monday." Rashi[3] explains that Ravina's novel point is that the prohibition "shall not cease" applies not only to "Shabbos, which is a day of rest for Jews, or Sunday, on which the Christians rest"[4]; rather, "it prohibits them from mere rest — that they should not desist from work, even on a day that is not a day of rest."
From the Rambam[5], however, it is evident that the prohibition of resting for Noahides "even on one of the weekdays" is (not because "it prohibits them from mere rest," but) because "they are not permitted to originate a religion or to make mitzvos for themselves of their own accord"[6]. Therefore the law that "a gentile who rests, even on one of the weekdays … is liable to death" applies specifically when "he made it for himself like a Shabbos." It follows that according to the Rambam, "shall not cease" means: Noahides may not keep Shabbos, or even make another day "like a Shabbos"[7].
We must therefore understand (according to the Rambam): what connection is there between this prohibition (that Noahides may not keep Shabbos, or even make another day "like a Shabbos") and the content of "shall not cease" in its plain sense — that there will be no interruption or break in the orders by which the world is conducted ("seedtime and harvest… and day and night")?
According to Rashi's explanation, that "it prohibits them from mere rest, that they should not desist from work," the connection between the two meanings of "shall not cease" is understood: there will be — and accordingly there should be — no cessation or break. As Rashi[8] himself explains, "shall not cease" refers not only to the six seasons ("seedtime and harvest…"), that in them there will be no interruption or break, but also to human beings: they too should not cease from work.
But according to the Rambam, for whom the prohibition "shall not cease" addressed to the Noahides means (not cessation and desisting from work, but) that they should not designate a particular day as a Shabbos — there is a difficulty: what connection does this prohibition have with the plain meaning of "shall not cease," which speaks of "seedtime and harvest…"?
2. The above derivation from "shall not cease" is also brought in the Midrash[9] on the verse[10] "See, that G‑d has given you the Shabbos"[11]. These are the words of the Midrash: "'To you' it was given, and not to the gentiles. From here they said: if gentiles come and keep the Shabbos, not only do they receive no reward, but they are liable to death[11*], as it says, 'day and night shall not cease'; and so too it says[12], 'Between Me and the children of Israel…' — a parable: a king sits and a queen sits opposite him; whoever passes between them is liable."
[Although the Midrash connects "shall not cease" regarding gentiles with "See, that G‑d has given you the Shabbos," it is nevertheless not necessarily a dispute with the Talmud. Rather, "'to you' it was given, and not to the gentiles" refers not (only) to the day of Shabbos (the seventh day), but (also) to the concept of Shabbos — a day of rest — on whatever day it may be (as the Gemara says: "even on Monday")[13].]
Accordingly it is understood that in the view of the Midrash, the prohibition of a gentile resting consists not in "mere rest … that they should not desist from work," as Rashi holds, but in their not being allowed to make a day "like a Shabbos," as the Rambam holds.
There is, however, a difference between the Rambam's view and that of the Midrash. According to the Rambam, the prohibition against keeping a day "like a Shabbos" is because "they are not permitted to originate a religion and to make mitzvos"; whereas according to the Midrash, it is because the concept of Shabbos was given only to Jews, and not to Noahides[13*].
Also according to the Midrash we must understand [in addition to the question raised above in section 1: what connection is there between the prohibition against making a Shabbos day and "shall not cease" in its plain sense]: why is the concept of Shabbos so utterly negated for the Noahides (to the point that they may not designate even another day as a Shabbos)? On the contrary: the matter of "G‑d finished on the seventh day His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day…"[14] is bound up (not specifically with Jews, as is the Exodus from Egypt and the like, but) with creation[15]. Shabbos ought therefore to have had a connection to the conduct of the Noahides as well[16] — yet the law is the very opposite: a Noahide may not observe the rest of Shabbos!
The wonder is greater still. Jews were commanded not to do any work on Shabbos "in order to establish in our souls belief in the creation of the world"[17] — that the world is not, G‑d forbid, eternal, but was created by G‑d. Now since the Noahides not only need not observe Shabbos but are forbidden to observe it[18], it emerges that they are being prevented[19] from belief in the creation of the world!
3. This will be understood by first noting that in the change that took place in the world after the Flood (compared with how it had been before), we find two extremes:
On the one hand, we see that after the Flood the world received (the promise, and thereby) the "strength" of "shall not cease." This strength in the world is an addition and innovation compared with the state of the world as it was by virtue of its coming into being. For by virtue of its coming into being — even though "G‑d saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good"[20] — it was such that (through sins) there could be (and there was) an interruption in the orders of the world: "G‑d regretted that He had made… I will blot out…"[21]. After the Flood, however, G‑d swore[22] and made a covenant that whatever the conduct of human beings may be, there will never again be an interruption or cessation in the orders of the world.
On the other hand, we find that after the Flood a weakening came about in the world. For example (in the words of the Ramban[23]), "until the Flood their days were long," and from the Flood onward "their days went on diminishing."
4. The explanation of this:
Since the world was created for the sake of the Torah[24] [to the point that "the Holy One, blessed be He, made a condition with the works of creation … if they accept My Torah"[25]], and what the Giving of the Torah accomplishes is the bond between the "higher realms" and the "lower realms"[26] — therefore there had to be in the world "higher realms" and "lower realms," so that afterwards — at the Giving of the Torah, and even earlier, in the era of "two thousand years of Torah"[27], when the preparation for the Torah began — the bond between the two dimensions of the world ("higher realms" and "lower realms") would be brought about, that "the lower realms shall ascend to the higher realms and the higher realms shall descend to the lower realms."
And in these two dimensions of the world there was a change between before the Flood and after the Flood: before the Flood, the world was — in general — in the state in which it is from the perspective of "Above"; and after the Flood — as it is from the perspective of "below," as will be explained.
5. On the verse[28] "I have placed My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth," the commentators[29] ask: a rainbow is a natural phenomenon; it comes about through the rays of the sun being reflected (in a certain manner) from the clouds — how, then, can it be a "sign of the covenant"? And they answer that nature itself (that the rays of the sun and the clouds should be in a particular state in which the rays are reflected from the clouds in the form of a rainbow) was created by G‑d after the Flood:
Before the Flood, the air of the world was more material, and therefore the clouds too (which form from the "mist that rose from the earth"[30]) were more material, and they could not receive and reflect the light of the sun — which is why the rainbow did not then exist. Only after the world as a whole became refined did the clouds too become "finer" — not so dense — at least at times, to the extent that they reflect the colors of the sunlight.
[So it is also in the spiritual dimension of things: before the Flood the world was "at the lowest level," to the point that "refinement (birur) was not applicable"[31]; and on account of this came the Flood — "to purify the earth"[32] "so that there could be the work of refinement (avodas habirurim)"[31].]
That is why the rainbow is a "sign of the covenant between Me and the earth": through the rainbow is expressed the purity and refinement that came about in the earth.
6. We must understand: the Flood "to purify the earth" came (only) because in the generation of the Flood "the earth became corrupt… and the earth was filled with violence"[33].
Since "He has also placed the world in their heart"[34] (the heart of man), the sins of human beings caused the world too to become utterly material[35] — and it was this impurity and materiality that the Flood removed.
According to the above, however — that the rainbow came into existence only after the Flood, because then the clouds (and the world in general) became finer — it emerges that through the Flood the world (not only became cleansed of the impurity and corruption of the generation of the Flood, but) became more refined than it had been before the sin of the generation of the Flood, and even more than it had been at the beginning of creation (for then there was no rainbow, which indicates the refinement of the world, as above).
7. The explanation of this:
At the beginning of creation, the perfection of the world was bound up (not with the nature and characteristics of the world's own existence, but) with (the manner and power of) its creation — "the world was created in its fullness"[36]. The creating of the world was in a manner of "in its fullness."
But that the world, from its own side, should be able to attain refinement — this was brought about through the Flood[37]: G‑d instilled a new capacity and characteristic in the world, that it itself should be able to become refined and elevated.
And this is the reason why it was specifically then that the (nature of the) existence of the rainbow was newly introduced. Although the rainbow is formed by the rays of the sun and the clouds together, it is chiefly bound up with the clouds — not with the rays of the sun (the level of "the sun, Havayah"), which are simple in their color and are split into the colors of the rainbow by the clouds. The clouds form from the vapors that rise from the earth, and the vapors that rise from the earth are (refined) in such a manner that the light of the sun is reflected in them.
And since the characteristic of the refinement of the earth (that the world itself should have the possibility of refinement and elevation) was introduced after the Flood — that is why it was specifically then that there came about "I have placed My rainbow in the cloud": G‑d placed into the cloud (which forms from the earth) the matter of the rainbow, meaning that the "mist that rose from the earth" should be in a refined manner, so that the light of the sun can be seen in it.
8. In light of the above, it will be better understood why the Supreme Will (which existed at the outset) to create the world (and also the fact that "G‑d saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" at the completion of creation) did not hold back the decree of "I will blot out…" when "the wickedness of man on earth was great"; whereas after the Flood G‑d made a covenant that even when the world will be in a state that calls forth the thought "to bring darkness and destruction upon the world"[38], nevertheless — "all flesh shall not be cut off…"[39]:
As said above (section 7), since "the world was created in its fullness" by virtue of (the manner of) its creation by the Creator (not by virtue of the content of the world itself), the sins (which distanced the world from the Creator and His will) therefore caused a descent of such a kind that it was not (so) possible for it to become refined and elevated.
And since through the sin of the generation of the Flood the world was so corrupted that "the earth was filled with violence" — and from the side of the world itself there was then no possibility of refinement and elevation
[which is also an inner reason[39*] why Noach's rebuke and his warning, "The Holy One, blessed be He, is bringing the Flood upon you"[40], did not arouse the generation of the Flood to teshuvah[41]]
— therefore no reason remained for its existence, and "G‑d regretted that He had made man… and He said… I will blot out…" (For through the descent of the world and its distancing from the Creator, the Creator's will departed from it.)
After the Flood, however, since there was then brought about the matter of purity and refinement in the world itself — that even when it stands in a most lowly state it should be able to become refined and elevated (through the service of teshuvah) — there was therefore then made the covenant, "All flesh shall not be cut off … and there shall never again be a flood…" — whatever state the world may be in.
9. In light of the above, it will also be understood that the two extremes mentioned above which came about in the world after the Flood — on the one hand the strength of "shall not cease," and on the other hand "their days went on diminishing" — do not contradict one another. On the contrary, they come from one and the same point that was newly introduced after the Flood: the existence of the world by virtue of the "below." Before the Flood, the (coming into being and) existence of the world was by virtue of the will of the Creator (by virtue of "He desires kindness"); whereas after the innovation of the purification of the earth through the Flood, G‑d continually brings it into being and sustains it by virtue of its own quality — by virtue of the purity and refinement within it[42].
And this point is the cause of the two extremes mentioned above. On the one hand, since the world itself has become worthy that G‑d, Who "has not changed"[43], should sustain it — its existence is therefore in the manner of "shall not cease." On the other hand — precisely because after the Flood G‑d sustains the world by virtue of its own quality, its existence is therefore in a state of weakness (in the manner of "their days went on diminishing"), according to the measure of created beings. It is not as it was before the Flood, when (since the existence of the world then was by virtue of the kindness of the Holy One, blessed be He) "their days were long" [as stated in Tikkunei Zohar[44], that the length of days at that time was because the flow of influence then came from "Erech Apayim" (Arich Anpin)].
10. The two eras — the era before the Flood, when the world was as it is from the perspective of "Above," and the era after the Flood, when the world was as it is from the perspective of "below" — were (as stated in section 4) a preparation for the third era, that of "two thousand years of Torah," when there began (as a preparation for the Giving of the Torah) the bond between the "higher realms" and the "lower realms."
This also explains why Avraham and Sarah bore Yitzchak specifically in their old age (Avraham at a hundred years and Sarah at ninety), for thereby was expressed the bond between the two eras mentioned above. Although "in the days of Avraham the years were diminished"[45] (even more than in the ten generations from Noach to Avraham[46]), because the flow of influence then came (not from the level of "Erech Apayim," which is higher than the worlds, but) from a level that is in proportion to the worlds[47] — nevertheless they bore Yitzchak at that age, as was the order before the Flood, when the flow of influence came from the level of Erech Apayim.
And the bond between the two eras and states in the world, of "higher realms" and "lower realms," came openly into expression in the birth of Yitzchak — the first to be born as a Jew, whose children received the Torah, when the bond between "higher realms" and "lower realms" was actually brought about.
11. In order that Jews should be able to bind and join the world ("lower realms") with the level (in G‑dliness) that is higher than the world ("higher realms"), the world was created (from the outset) in such a manner that it contains within it also the matter of the cessation from the work of creation (of the world).
As Rashi says on the verse[48] "G‑d finished on the seventh day": "What did the world lack? Rest. Shabbos came, rest came; the work was finished and completed." That is, the work of creation of the six days of creation was not completed with the creation of the world's existence, but with the "rest" (with — not existence) that was instilled in it through the cessation from the work of creation[49].
And since every week the same matters of the first week, of the seven days of creation, repeat themselves[50] — therefore every Shabbos the matter of "rest" is drawn down into the world.
12. However, since the matter of the rest of Shabbos is higher than all six days (and the creation within them), higher than the existence of the world[51], and the world is not a "vessel" for it — as is explained in many places[52], Shabbos is a level that is above time — the matter of "rest" is therefore drawn down (in a revealed and perceptible manner) only in the inwardness of the world; in the externality of the worlds, however, no difference is perceptible between Shabbos and the weekdays[53].
With regard to Jews, however, who bring about the bond of the world (the lower realms) with what is higher than the world (the higher realms) — in them the light of Shabbos acts openly also upon their existence. As is known, the additional soul (neshamah yeseirah) that is drawn down on Shabbos effects a change even in the nature of the animal soul [which is why even an unlearned person (am ha'aretz) does not lie on Shabbos[54]], and even in the nature of the body[55], the physical body[56].
But with regard to the world in general — since it is defined within the bounds of time and space, which are bound up with "motion" (the opposite of "rest")[49], the matter of rest, which is bound up with what is higher than time and space, cannot shine in it openly[57].
13. This is also the reason why the matter of the cessation of Shabbos is negated for a Noahide — to the point that for this reason he may not make even another day of the weekdays "like a Shabbos":
The intent of creation is that the world (including also the category of the speaking being) should be "lacking rest," that it should be in the order of "motion" (and work), which is bound up with the existence (time and space) of the world (which was created through the work of creation in the six days of creation) — and into this very world Jews are to bring the rest of Shabbos, which is higher than the existence of the world[58].
Therefore, when a Noahide changes his mode of conduct as determined by creation, in that he wants to "bring about" in the world the matter of Shabbos, he is liable to death — he forfeits his existence, because this is contrary to the purpose for which he was created[59].
14. This is also the reason why the prohibition to the Noahides against designating a day as a Shabbos is alluded to in "shall not cease" — which speaks, in its plain sense, of ordinary cessation of "seedtime and harvest…" (and not of cessation as Shabbos): because the Noahides' being excluded from Shabbos comes as a consequence of "shall not cease" with regard to the six seasons. Since after the Flood G‑d established the world so that it should be in this strength of existence, to the point of the manner of "shall not cease" — therefore[60] they (the Noahides) may not bring into it the matter of Shabbos, which is beyond limitation (higher than existence)[61], because this contradicts (the strength of) the existence of the world[62], as it derives, as it were, from "I, Havayah, have not changed"[63].
(From talks of Shabbos Parshas Noach, 5721 and 5724)
Key Lesson
After the Flood, G‑d anchored the world in its own existence: it would endure "day and night shall not cease," sustained by the refinement now within it rather than only by His kindness from Above. That is why a Noahide may not make a Shabbos — the world, as world, is meant to be in motion and work, and Shabbos's rest is higher than the world's existence. Bringing that rest into the world is the mission given to the Jewish people, so that a Jew's Shabbos is not a pause from life but the very point where the world below is joined with what transcends it.