פרשת ויקהל starts with the words ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל, Moshe Rabbeinu gathered the whole community of the בני ישראל, ויאמר אלהם and he said to them, אלה הדברים אשר צוה ה׳ לעשת אתם, these are the things that Hashem commanded to do. ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, six days work should be done, וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש, and on the seventh day should be holy, שבת שבתון לה׳, a שבת שבתון to Hashem. כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת, anybody who will do work on Shabbos will die. And then the pasuk continues that you're not allowed to make a fire on Shabbos, and then the pasuk says over again, ויאמר משה אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר, Moshe said to the whole community of the Bnei Yisrael saying, זה הדבר אשר צוה ה׳ לאמר, this is the thing that Hashem commanded to say, and he continues with the נדבת המשכן, telling them that we have to donate all the different things to build the Mishkan, he goes into the details of the Mishkan. So, we see here that there were two separate sayings, so to speak, of Moshe to the Bnei Yisrael. He gathered them, and he said to them, אלה הדברים אשר צוה ה׳ לעשת אתם, these are the things that Hashem commanded to do, and he goes into the halachah of Shabbos. Then, he starts over again, ויאמר משה אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר, Moshe spoke to the עדת בני ישראל saying, זה הדבר אשר צוה ה׳ לאמר, this is the thing Hashem commanded, and he spoke about the Mishkan. Is mashma, it seems, that when Moshe Rabbeinu told them about Shabbos, there was a special inyan in Shabbos that he was going to tell us, because the simple pshat in the pasuk is that the reason Moshe Rabbeinu told them about Shabbos was to teach them, as Rashi says, that the מלאכת המשכן is not דוחה שבת, and even though it's very important to build the Mishkan, but it does not push away Shabbos, and therefore he was makdim, he first told them about Shabbos, and then he told them about the Mishkan. But there must be also other explanations here, because according to this, why does the Torah divide it into two parts? First he said to them, אלה הדברים אשר צוה ה׳ לעשת אתם, when he told them about Shabbos, and then it starts off with a new amirah, with a new saying, ויאמר משה אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר, זה הדבר אשר צוה ה׳ לאמר, and he tells them about the Mishkan. If the only reason he told them about Shabbos was just to tell them that Shabbos is more important than building the Mishkan, then this should have been all included in the same amirah. Should have said, Moshe Rabbeinu gathered them and he said to them, this is the thing that Hashem said, you have to keep Shabbos, and then continue, you have to build the Mishkan. Since the Torah divides it into two amirot, first the Torah says that he said that you have to keep Shabbos, and then the Torah starts over again, Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to the Bnei Yisrael a new thing, that you have to donate to the Mishkan and build the Mishkan, so it seems that not only was the inyan of Shabbos an introduction to the building of the Mishkan, but there is something special here about Shabbos that the Torah is trying to tell us mitzad the din of Shabbos itself. In addition to the din of Shabbos that we already know from before, from Parshat Yitro, from the Aseret HaDibrot. So, here the Torah is telling us a special din within Shabbos itself, and it must be a very important, major din in Shabbos, not just a little detail of a melachah or a certain din in Shabbos, because the Torah gives the introduction, ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל, that Moshe gathered all the Yidden. And it seems that he gathered them to tell them this. Even though he gathered them also to tell them about the Mishkan, but since the Torah divides it into two amirot, is mashma that for this first thing, the Torah also tells us that Moshe gathered them just to tell them this. So, obviously, he must have told them something special about Shabbos, not just a din that you're not allowed to make a fire, whatever the reasons are behind it, as Rashi explains, etc., etc., but there must be a very major din in הלכות שבת here that Moshe Rabbeinu was telling the Bnei Yisrael, and therefore there was this introduction of ויקהל משה, that Moshe gathered all the Yidden in order to tell them this. So, the question is, which major thing is the Torah here to tell us about Shabbos? Another thing here, Rashi says that this ויקהל משה took place למחרת יום הכפורים, the day after Yom Kippur. So, is mashma that there must be a special connection between Shabbos the way Moshe Rabbeinu told them here and the inyan of Yom Kippur. Concerning the second amirah, which is concerning the building of the Mishkan, we understand the connection between that and Yom Kippur, because we know as Rashi says in Parshas Pekudei that the Mishkan was supposed to show them that Hashem forgave them for the חטא העגל. Yom Kippur was the day when Hashem said, I forgive you for the חטא העגל. So, right after Yom Kippur, when Hashem forgave them the חטא העגל, that's when Moshe Rabbeinu told the Bnei Yisrael, Hashem wants you to build the Mishkan, and this will be the edus, the testimony that Hashem forgave you for the חטא העגל. But now that we're saying that the ויקהל משה was also concerning Shabbos in itself, not only in concerning Shabbos as an introduction to the building of the mishkan, but concerning the din of Shabbos itself. So why was it that it was told on the day after Yom Kippur? So there must be some connection between what Moshe Rabbeinu was trying to tell them here about Shabbos and inyan of Yom Kippur. The question is, what is the connection between the two? Another thing, we see here that the Torah refers to Shabbos as שבת שבתון, which is the double expression of Shabbos. The Torah does that sometimes, sometimes not. Why here does the Torah choose to refer to Shabbos as שבת שבתון לה׳?

To understand that, we first have to bring in what the Chazal say in the Mechilta, that here the Torah uses the lashon concerning the six days a week that you work, the לשון תעשה, it says ״ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה״. Six days melachah shall be done. It doesn't say ״ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה״, six days you should do melachah, but it says, six days melachah should be done. And the Mechilta explains that what the Torah is trying to tell us here is that בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום, בשעה the Yidden do the will of Hashem, then מלאכתן נעשית על ידי אחרים. Then their work is done through others, because the difference between תעשה and תעשה is, תעשה means you shall do, תעשה means it will be done. So the Mechilta says the Torah is telling us that there is a possibility for the melachah to be done by others, and that is if you are עושה רצונו של מקום, if you do the will of Hashem. So Hashem will give you a brachah that you won't have to work, the melachah will be done through others. But in addition to that, it says in Chassidishe sefarim that there is a possibility for a person to work himself and nevertheless it should be considered תעשה מלאכה, that the melachah is done. And this is what the Torah is trying to tell us here concerning these words, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה. What the Torah is trying to tell us that a person, when he works during the six days of the week, it has to be done in a way as if it's done by itself. If it says תעשה, it means you do it, that means you're completely involved in it, it's בדרך התעסקות, you are completely involved and busy with it. תעשה means it is done, even though you do it yourself, but nevertheless you do it in such a way as if it is done by itself, which means you don't put your whole heart and your whole head in it. You just put your outward, superficial kochot, superficial elements of yourself into the work, and your head and your heart and all the inner kochot of the person are involved only in Torah and mitzvot and avodat Hashem. Similar to the famous peshat on the pasuk where it says in תהלים, קפיטל קכ״ח, פסוק ב׳: ״יגיע כפיך כי תאכל״, the toil of your hands you will eat, ״אשריך וטוב לך״, it'll be good for you. And it says in פרקי אבות, פרק ד׳, משנה א׳, that what does the pasuk mean ״אשריך וטוב לך״? It means ״אשריך״ בעולם הזה, it'll be good for you in this world, ״וטוב לך״, it'll be good for you בעולם הבא, in the world to come. So there's a famous peshat that lichorah, what is the pasuk saying here? What's so special about יגיע כפיך כי תאכל, that if you eat from the toil of your own hands, so then it is so good that אשריך בעולם הזה וטוב לך בעולם הבא, you get all these blessings? What's so special about that? So the sefarim say that the pasuk here is telling us a very, very important thing. That when you work, it has to be יגיע כפיך, it has to be hard work of your hands, but not יגיע ראשך, it shouldn't be hard work of your head. The head of a Yid has to be always involved in Torah and mitzvot and avodat Hashem, in serving Hashem, but not in his business, not in his work. He has to do his work, but it has to be, as the expression usually is, בלא לב ולב, without heart. That means you have to use your sechel and you have to know what you're doing, but as we would say in Yiddish, ליגן אין דעם, to be completely absorbed and involved in it, that should not be. Similar to what it says, that a person has to make תורתך קבע ומלאכתך עראי, you have to make your Torah permanent and your work has to be temporary. But the question is: to whom is this said? How many people are able to say that they learn most of the time and they only work a little bit? That could be for kollel yungelait, for yeshiva bachurim, but most people who work cannot fulfill this tzivui of the Chazal. So did the Chazal mean to say this only to some special people? The pshat is not like that. The Chazal say this to everybody. It's possible for a person to work many hours and learn less, just have a קביעות עתים לתורה, just a set time for learning, but nevertheless, that short time that he learns, that could be his keva, that could be his permanent thing. And the work that he does, even though in hours it is more hours, nevertheless, it could be arai, because er ligt nisht in dem, he's not completely involved, absorbed in it. His involvement is Torah. And that's what the pasuk said, that if a person works in such a יגיע כפיך כי תאכל, then אשריך וטוב לך, then you have אשריך בעולם הזה וטוב לך בעולם הבא. And this is what the pasuk is trying to tell us here: ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה. Six days the work should be as if it's done by itself because you're not involved in it. So then what happens? וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קודש, that on the seventh day which is Shabbos, it'll be a holy day. And which kind of holy day? It'll be שבת שבתון לה׳, it'll be a double Shabbos. Because the truth is, it says that on Shabbos a person is supposed to feel כאילו כל מלאכתך עשויה, as if your work is done. You have no worries, because your work is done. Now, if a person works all week with an involvement and he's completely absorbed in it, then it's very hard on Shabbos to feel as if your work is done and you have no worries. Because after all, certain thoughts go through your mind about your work, etc., etc. But it's very hard for a person to be completely involved in his work during the week, and then all of a sudden on Shabbos he should turn it out as if it doesn't didn't happen, as if it doesn't exist, as if everything is done. So if a person, aber, is ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, during the week he is not completely absorbed in his work, so then on Shabbos he could feel כל מלאכתך עשויה. In essence, it comes out that when a person does his work during the week that way, then really during the week he is like Shabbos. The idea of Shabbos is that you're given over to Hashem, you're higher than עובדין דחול, you're beyond working in secular things. That's really what Shabbos is. A person who all week when he works, he doesn't put his heart in it, etc., etc., is in a bechinah, in a madregah of Shabbos all week. So we could imagine when Shabbos comes and he's supposed to feel כאילו כל מלאכתך עשויה, then he is a Shabbos of the Shabbos. And as much as he was during the week, on Shabbos he is much more than that. And that's what the pasuk says. Hashem told the Yidden, Moshe Rabbeinu gathered them all together and told them, \"I have a very, very important message to tell you. You have to remember that ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה. All six days of the week, even though you have to work, the melachah has to be done as if it's by itself. Then וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קודש שבת שבתון לה׳. Then on the seventh day it'll be a שבת שבתון, it'll be a double Shabbos. It'll be almost like a Shabbos the whole week, and then on Shabbos you will have a Shabbos of the Shabboson.\"

And this is the connection between what Moshe Rabbeinu told them here and מחרת יום הכיפורים, the day after Yom Kippur. Because, as we said before, Yom Kippur was the day Hashem forgave them for the חטא העגל. What is the חטא העגל? Avodah zarah. What is really avodah zarah? So we know what the Rambam says, that the way avodah zarah started, that the people started giving chashivut, giving importance to the כוכבים ומזלות, to the stars, the constellations, the sun, the moon, etc., because they believed that Hashem gave over His power to the sun and the moon, etc., etc. And therefore they felt that if you want to ask for for shine or you want to ask for heat, etc., etc., you have to pray directly to the sun, because the sun has its own power to give it to whom and when it wants. And the same with the כוכבים ומזלות. And from that later was nishtalshel, turned out that people started making images of the sun and bowing down to it, etc., etc. In truth, we know that even though Hashem gives us everything through the sun and through the moon and through the כוכבים ומזלות, etc., etc., but they are only כגרזן ביד החוצב בו, they are only like an axe in the hand of the chopper. They are only kelim, tools with which through which Hashem gives us everything. But who gives it to us? Hashem. Like a person when he chops down a tree uses an axe, but the axe is only a keli, and it makes no sense for somebody to ask the axe to chop down the tree. The axe is only the keli, and the same thing is with all these hashpaot that go through the sun and the stars, etc., etc. Which means that avodah zarah really is giving importance to another koach other than Hashem. If you go a little bit deeper, bedakut, a little bit finer, if a person gives importance to his business, to his work, thinking that his work is the thing that gives him his parnassah, is also a certain form of avodah zarah. We have to remember that הוא הנותן לך כוח לעשות חיל. Hashem gives us the power to make money, to do business. A person should not think that כוחי ועוצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה, his own koach does it. If a person believes that his involvement in the business is going to bring him parnassah, going to bring him money, then that is a certain form of avodah zarah. You're believing in another koach. What is the difference whether you believe in the koach of the sun, which is other than Hashem, or you believe in your own koach, which is other than Hashem? So really this is avodah zarah. Which means, in other words, that if a person would not follow what the Torah says, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, that all week the work should be done, which means he shouldn't really put himself into it and get completely involved. If a person doesn't do that, then it is a certain form of avodah zarah, because by getting involved he feels the more he will get involved, the more he will put his head to it, the more he will put his heart to it, the more money he will make. So he gives chashivut, importance, to his his koach of making money, so this is avodah zarah. And this is the connection between the two: the day that Hashem forgave them for the חטא העגל, which is avodah zarah, right after that, Moshe Rabbeinu gathered all the Yidden and he said to them: Hashem forgave you for your חטא העגל, so therefore you have to remember not to fall into the trap of avodah zarah again, not only making an idol and bowing down to it and giving it chashivut, importance, but you have to remember that we have to get rid of all forms of avodah zarah. And therefore, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, six days melachah should be done. Not that you should do melachah during the six days, בהתעסקות, getting involved, etc. etc., but make sure that the six days of work is as if it's done by itself. Even though a Yid has to work, because Hashem made it so that in order to get the brachah of Hashem, we have to work in דרך הטבע, in natural way, as the pasuk says, וברכך השם אלוקיך בכל אשר תעשה, השם will bless you in everything that you do. And as the Chazal say, that if it would just say וברכך השם אלוקיך, that Hashem will bless you, יכול we would think יושב ובטל, don't do anything if anyway it comes from Hashem. So therefore תלמוד לומר: בכל אשר תעשה, the Torah says, in everything that you do, Hashem wants us to do. So we have to do, but we have to remember that the reason we're working is only because Hashem wants us to work, and he wants us to make a kli in דרך הטבע. It's only a kli, a vessel through which Hashem will give us the brachot. So therefore, we should only work as much as we have to, but not to give it the chashivut of putting ourselves into it completely with our whole heart and the whole mind, and memeila we can't put our heart and our mind etc. etc. into לימוד התורה, learning Torah and doing mitzvot and avodat Hashem. And if we do do that, it's mamash like bowing down to avodah zarah. What is the meaning of bowing down? Bowing down means you bend your head, that you take your head and you show that your head, which is the highest part of you, and also the rest of the body, which includes the heart, is bent under the control of the avodah zarah. And that's what we do if we give chashivut to our own work, because then we bend our head to the כוחות הטבע that we have within ourselves. So that is mamesh avodah zarah. And therefore Moshe Rabbeinu said to the Yidden: ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, it has to be done in a way as if it's done by itself, and then you will be sure that וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קודש שבת שבתון להשם, then the Shabbos is a different Shabbos, the Shabbos is a double Shabbos, because really all week is like Shabbos, so Shabbos is even more than that.