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The Sabbath is a time of mindfulness and non-attachment. Even the building of the Sanctuary was halted for it.
Steinsaltz commentary points out that the sanctity of the Sabbath "is not overridden by the construction of the Tabernacle" and in fact this is where we derive the laws of melakhoth forbidden on the Sabbath.
The note on 35:3 also states that "lighting a fire was easy even in biblical times, not very different from igniting one nowadays." This is a rebuttal against the claim advanced by the Reform folks that "back then, lighting a fire took a lot of work, so that's why it was forbidden" and thus rationalizing a relaxation of the rule in the age of matches and lighters.
In fact, all of the forms of productive work forbidden on the Sabbath are, at their core, transformations of the world; and this is certainly true of fire as well. (Bronowski devotes a whole essay, 'The Hidden Structure', to this theme.) It has nothing to do with how much or how little physical effort is involved.
If you look at the practical details of the Sabbath restrictions, they are focused precisely on the things that we routinely do to change the world. The Sabbath calls on us to practice non-attachment by refraining from creative actions, and just let the world be.
The Sabbath is a time of mindfulness and non-attachment. Even the building of the Sanctuary was halted for it.
Steinsaltz commentary points out that the sanctity of the Sabbath "is not overridden by the construction of the Tabernacle" and in fact this is where we derive the laws of melakhoth forbidden on the Sabbath.
The note on 35:3 also states that "lighting a fire was easy even in biblical times, not very different from igniting one nowadays." This is a rebuttal against the claim advanced by the Reform folks that "back then, lighting a fire took a lot of work, so that's why it was forbidden" and thus rationalizing a relaxation of the rule in the age of matches and lighters.
In fact, all of the forms of productive work forbidden on the Sabbath are, at their core, transformations of the world; and this is certainly true of fire as well. (Bronowski devotes a whole essay, 'The Hidden Structure', to this theme.) It has nothing to do with how much or how little physical effort is involved.
If you look at the practical details of the Sabbath restrictions, they are focused precisely on the things that we routinely do to change the world. The Sabbath calls on us to practice non-attachment by refraining from creative actions, and just let the world be.
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Date: 2022-02-21 01:20 (UTC)OTOH, lighting a fire with matches is not exactly easy.
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Date: 2022-02-21 01:22 (UTC)Interesting. I didn't realize R' Steinsaltz commented on that. I haven't heard the Reform folks make that argument about fire. I've heard a lot of misunderstanding about "work", thinking it means "lots of effort", from various people. People without much education read the English word "work" and draw conclusions, but as you say, melacha is about creative work, hearkening back to the Creation that led to the first Shabbat. (And no, not "creative" in the sense of imagination or fiction.)