The Mitzvah of Shabbat

Q: I am puzzled and troubled by one of the blessings in the Sabbath Amidah. It seems to belittle gentiles while extolling Jews. Why is it there and what does it mean?

A:  The passage referred to reads, “And You, Lord God, did not give it to the nations of the world and did not bestow it, our King, upon those who worship idols but to Israel, Your people.”  The “it,” of course, is Shabbat. The paragraph proclaims our inheritance, the gift of Shabbat.  An interesting variant to that reading, found in Sephardic liturgy, has instead “of those who worship idols,” “those who worship other gods.”

First glance one maybe taken aback by the comparison made between the Jewish people and the nations of the world. After all, our literature and liturgy is usually independent of the actions of the outside world. We have long been taught, and believe, that we follow God’s dicta irrespective of what others may say or do.

EXAMPLE: God demands fidelity in marriage. That others may be adulterous is of no consequence. We must obey the Holy One’s commands to be monogamous.

The passage to which you refer does, therefore, stand out as it compares us with them.

Genesis: When God finished creating on the sixth day, He stopped. The final day was one of rest. Is it odd that the Omnipotent One would require a breather? It stands to reason, agree are sages, that Shabbat was created with humanity in mind, not for God's benefit.

After the deluge in Noah’s time, tradition says that God demanded that the world observe seven eternal and basic concepts. We call this the Noachide covenant.  Not among these laws is to respect the Shabbat.  The only people required to accept the Shabbat were those who accepted the entire corpus of law much later at Mount Sinai, the Jews.

In sum, God granted Shabbat to mankind. Since humanity did not seem capable, as related by the Noah story, to maintain the day of rest, it was reserved for the people who would distinguish themselves by willingly taking on the yoke of God's word. The Shabbat, merely a single featured in the law, was one of the more outstanding events of acceptance that took place at Mount Sinai.  The words of the prayer book indicate joy at God’s willingness to grant His Torah to the people of Israel.