5784/2023

Rashi

While Shamor V’Zachor B’Dibbur Echad is a popular belief, much is needed to discuss and clarify.  Rashi to Devarim (5:11) notes the famous contradiction.  Sefer Shemot (20:7) records Hashem commanding Zachor Et Yom HaShabbat L’Kadesho, and Sefer Devarim (5:11) presents this command as Shamor Et Yom HaShabbat L’Kadesho. Rashi resolves the issue by citing Chazal (Shevu’ot 20b) that Hashem simultaneously uttered both versions at Mount Sinai.

Ramban, Ibn Ezra and Chikzuni

However, the commentaries (such as Ramban, Ibn Ezra, and Chizkuni) that focus on the Peshat, the non-Midrashic manner of Tanach interpretation, articulate an alternative. Namely, Moshe Rabbeinu modified the Aseret HaDibrot appropriately for the new generation about to enter Eretz Yisrael forty years after Yetzi’at Mitzrayim.  

For example, in Sefer Shemot (20:14), Hashem commands us not to be jealous of our neighbor’s wife, ox, donkey, and all that belongs to him.  However, in Sefer Devarim, Moshe Rabbeinu formulates the prohibition as forbidding jealousy of one’s neighbor’s wife, house, field, ox, and anything he has.  

Why does Moshe Rabbeinu add the neighbor’s house and field in Sefer Devarim?  An answer is that in the Midbar, we did not have homes, and we did not have fields.  Now that we, in Sefer Devarim, are on the verge of entering Eretz Yisrael, jealousy of a neighbor’s house and field emerges as relevant.  

Is Moshe Rabbeinu changing the Torah?  Certainly not!  He applies Hashem’s word to the new circumstances, a process that continues in perpetuity.  

According to the Derash approach, Sefer Devarim records the second way Hashem expressed the Shabbat command at Har Sinai. However, according to the Peshat approach, Shamor Et Yom HaShabbat L’Kadesho was first uttered by Moshe Rabbeinu in the fortieth year after we left Mitzrayim.

The Roles of Shamor and Zachor 

Why is Zachor appropriate for Sefer Shemot, and Shemor fits with Devarim?  Chizkuni explains: Zachor summons Bnai Yisrael to remember the Shabbat that was commanded a few weeks before at Marah (see Rashi to Shemot 15:25). Shamor demands we preserve the Shabbat they have been observing for years.  

We suggest an alternative based on (see Brachot 20b) Zachor referring to the negative commands of Shabbat and Shamor to its positive Mitzvot. During the forty years in the Midbar, we did not work; thus, throughout the week, we refrained (de facto) from Melacha.  Therefore, there was little need to command us to refrain from work even during the week, except regarding gathering Mahn (see Shemot Perek 16). Thus, Shabbat in the Midbar focused on Zachor, the positive aspects of Shabbat, such as Kiddush. 

However, as we transition to a more natural life in Eretz Yisrael, where we work to earn a living, we need to hear Shamor Et Yom HaShabbat, to refrain from Melacha on Shabbat.  It is much more difficult to refrain from working on Shabbat after leaving the isolation in the Midbar. Moreover, in Eretz Yisrael, we will compete with non-Jews who do not observe Shabbat. Therefore, as we prepare to grapple with this challenge, we need the reinforcement of Shamor Et Yom HaShabbat L’Kadesho.   

Returning to the Midrashic approach of Shamor V’Zachor B’Dibbur Echad, Hashem’s simultaneous presentation of Zachor and Shamor balances the positive and negative of Shabbat. Those who sleep through most of Shabbat have not violated Shamor but have not fulfilled Zachor (in the broader sense, even if they heard Kiddush). On the other hand, the Shabbat of those who recite Kiddush, light Shabbat candles, and eat special Shabbat meals but do not refrain from Melacha is also profoundly flawed. 

Each Friday night, at Shabbat’s start, our Tefilla reminds us Shamor V’Zachor B’Dibbur Echad, Zachor, and Shamor are inseparable. We cannot have Shabbat with one without the other.   

Zecher L’Maaseh Breishit and Yetzi’at Mitzrayim

Another major difference between the Shemot and Devarim versions of the Aseret HaDibrot is the reason offered for Shemirat Shabbat.  In Shemot, the goal is Zecher L’Maaseh Breishit (recalling Creation); in Devarim, it is to remember Yetzi’at Mitzrayim. The primary reason for Shabbat is to commemorate Creation in six days and Hashem resting on the seventh. Hashem introduces the very concept of Shabbat after Maaseh Breishit.   

In Sefer Devarim, we suggest, we need to hear the reason for Yetziat Mitzrayim to fortify our Shemirat Shabbat.  If we never refrain from work, we are the equivalent of a slave. 

Many years ago, I asked a Torah Academy of Bergen County graduate who held a very responsible position at Fidelity Investments if he was dating. He responded that (although he was entirely Shomer Shabbat) he had no time to date since his work consumed him. I replied that if he had no time to date, he was not working for Fidelity but would be a corporate slave (no matter how much the company paid him).  

Thus, we must restrain our capitalist drive by observing Shabbat; otherwise, it is as if we remain enslaved to a “Paroh” in a different guise. Moshe Rabbeinu in Sefer Devarim bids us to remember that we are no longer enslaved and free to refrain from Shabbat. Only by observing Shabbat are we truly free. 

Of course, Zecher L’Yetzi’at Mitzrayim adds a uniquely Jewish dimension to Shabbat.  While remembering Creation is a universal theme, Yetzi’at Mitzrayim is specifically Jewish, which fits with Shabbat expressing the special Brit between Hashem and Am Yisrael (Shemot 31:17). The Meshech Chochma beautifully develops this theme in his commentary to Devarim 5:15. 

Conclusion

Even according to Chazal’s approach that Hashem said both Zachor and Shamor at Har Sinai we must explain why Zachor is appropriate for Sefer Shemot and Shamor for Sefer Devarim. Thus, our explanations for the connection of Zachor to Shemot and Shamor to Devarim also fit with Chazal’s approach.