Tell the Truth!

(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl)

 

The fourth of the Ten Commandments is, “Remember the Shabbat day” (Exodus 20:8). Its parallel is the ninth commandment, “Do not give false witness against your countryman” (v. 13). [One sense of “parallel” is that when the Ten Commandments are written in two columns of five, the fourth and the ninth align with one another.] Rebbe Yosi pointed out that Shabbat is called “testimony.” So a Jew must testify to the following, “For in six days God made the Heaven, the earth, the sea and everything in them, and He rested on the seventh day” (v.11).

Since Shabbat contains within her all the other six days, a Jew who testifies to God’s resting, testifies to God’s having created Heaven and Earth.

Rebbe Yosi also said, “Do you know what ‘Give truth to Yaakov’ (Micah 7:20) is alluding to? This: ‘The Children of Yisrael will keep the Shabbat’ (Exodus 31:16). A Jew who observes Shabbat is living proof of God’s having created the world.

“One who gives false witness testifies falsely against the honest testimony and truth of Shabbat. And one who lies about Shabbat—by desecrating it—declares the whole Torah a lie, because the two are inter-dependent.”

Zohar 2:90a

© Copyright 2014 148west.com/O. Bergman

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