Horav S. R. Hirsch, zl, observes that the above pasuk, Eilah ha’devarim, “These are the objects,” alludes to the various categories of labor required to construct the Mishkan. It represents the concept of meleches Shabbos, that which constitutes labor on Shabbos. In pasuk 4, the orders for building the Mishkan are introduced in a similar vernacular, Zeh hadavar asher tzivah Hashem laasos, “This is what G-d has commanded.” Thus, the (eilah ha)’devarim of the above pasuk refer only to those forms of labor which are vital to the construction of the Mishkan. These are the forms of labor which are specifically prohibited on Shabbos – even for the purpose of the construction of the Mishkan. Chazal posit that, indeed, all of the activities required for the construction of the Mishkan constitute and define that which is considered a melachah, acts of labor prohibited on Shabbos. Each one of the activities which are necessary laasos osam, “that they be made” (which means that they are requisites for the construction of the Mishkan) may only be undertaken during the six work days of the week.
Chazal compute thirty-nine avos melachos, heads of labor categories, which comprise meleches ha’Mishkan, and, thus, comprise the 39 avos melachah of Shabbos, the list of acts of labor prohibited on Shabbos. As Rav Hirsch explains, the building of the Mishkan is a sanctification of human labor for a sublime ideal. When man refrains from executing these forms of labor on Shabbos, he thereby acknowledges his allegiance to Hashem, since he now eschews that labor which has up until now been dedicated to Hashem. Every activity which was critical to the Mishkan is, likewise, represented among the 39 avos melachos of Shabbos. These activities are not merely acts of “doing.” They must be laasos osam – with intention to produce the actual result of the action. Thus, melachah she’einah tzerichah l’gufah, labor that is not needed or performed for its purpose and result, is not prohibited. The same is true for: davar she’ein miskaven, work that is unintended; and mekalkel, destructive, non-productive labor. Creating– production, with intention for the result– defines the thirty-nine forms of restricted Shabbos labor.
Our Sages have divided the thirty-nine avos melachah into those labors critical for making bread, sewing, writing and building. Together, they amount to thirty-eight forms of productive labor. Finally, there is number thirty-nine, hotzaah, the act of transferring an object from one domain to another, such as from a public domain to a private domain, or vice versa, or carrying an object four cubits in a public domain. Hotzaah is called a melachah geruah, small, weak, example of labor. One would be hard-pressed to posit that transferring an object is a productive or constructive activity. Cleary, it is not on the same level of labor as the other thirty-eight. Nonetheless, despite being called a melachah geruah, it has distinction equal to that of the other melachos. Indeed, the Navi Yirmiyahu strongly exhorts the nation concerning the prohibition of carrying on Shabbos. How are we to understand the melachah of hotzaah in the context of the thirty-nine melachos?
Rav Hirsch masterfully explains the underlying motif of meleches Shabbos, thereby giving us an insight into all melachos, including melaches hotzaah. With regard to the melachos, we observe one common thread: they are all productive or constructive activities, by which the object becomes transformed by the intentional work performed. Man’s power and mastery over matter is thus demonstrated. Therefore, when man refrains from exercising his “power” on Shabbos, it becomes his way of indicating his allegiance to the Creator, to Whom man, in his mastery over matter and with his creative powers, is nothing more than a leasee, a servant. It is only the last – the thirty-ninth melachah— the transfer of an object from one domain to another, which does not seem to coincide with the other melachos with regard to our concept of productive or constructive activity. In transferring, nothing changes. The object stays the same. It has simply moved.
We have affirmed that all melachos show that man lords over physical matter. Hotzaah, however, is an activity that finds itself more closely associated with the social world. Social life means not living in an isolated world, devoid of friends and community. Social activity represents the individual’s act of giving to the community and the reciprocity through which the community gives the individual. Likewise, what the individual takes from his private/personal possessions and pays to the community collective, and vice versa, what he receives from the community, and the furthering of one’s public purposes and needs in the public domain – are all represented by meleches hotzaah.
If, accordingly, the prohibition of meleches Shabbos expresses the idea of man’s subordination of the use of his powers over physical matter to the will of Hashem, then, the prohibition of hotzaah may well express the notion of placing man’s social life all under the dictates of Hashem. Thus, Shabbos provides us with the idea that, as the conceptualization of our world is comprised of both nature/physical matter and community, social engagement, so too, does G-d’s mastery over the world include both nature and history. The establishment of Malchus Hashem, G-d’s Kingdom, on earth will be built upon the recognition of the Shabbos: That man makes the rules for his own working life – both with regard to his connection with physical matter, and concerning his social/national life – all dedicated and adhering to Divine dictate. We now have an idea why Shabbos is so significant in the life and religious demeanor of a Jew. Without Shabbos observance one undermines, and, quite possibly, denies Hashem’s sovereignty over the world.
We now better understand the dual motives that the Torah gives us for Shabbos observance: the creation of heaven and earth; the exodus from Egypt. These two motives actually complement one another. The creation of the world is the premise upon which Hashem’s mastery over the world rests. The geulah, liberation from Egypt, represents Hashem’s mastery over state/social life.
In summation: the prohibition of hotzaah places the Jewish community and the activities of the individual Jew vis-à-vis the community, as well as governance of all affairs of the Jewish community, obediently under the rule and law of Hashem. This is why the Navi Yirmiyahu was so adamant in his admonition of Klal Yisrael concerning their desecrating Shabbos by transgressing the prohibition of hotzaah. The prohibition of carrying on Shabbos imprints the seal of Hashem on the community of Klal Yisrael. Carrying on Shabbos wrests Hashem’s banner from the collective community of the Jewish People.
