Parshat Pinchas concludes with a detailed list of the holy days and their required animal offerings. For each of the holy days the Torah prescribes an extensive array of bulls, rams, lambs, and goats, but for Shabbat, it stipulates only two additional lambs over and above the daily morning and evening sacrifices.
The rabbis saw fit to remind us, on each of our holy days, of the prescribed Temple offerings for that day by including them in the siddur. Reciting these verses allows us to “say”, and also study, the sacrifices, which is equivalent to offering them, in the rabbinic scheme of things.
Reasons for reciting these verses in the Shabbat Musaf prayer are clearly articulated in the Friday-night kiddush even if we rarely think about what the familiar words mean while we are singing. Kiddush opens by saying that God favored us (ratzah banu) by giving us, in perpetuity, the holy Shabbat and continues with three phrases which articulate the essence of Shabbat. These passages are:
Zikaron l’ma’ah-seh berey-sheet, a reminder of the work of creation
Zekher li’y’tsiat Mitzrayim, a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt
Kee hu yom t’hee-lah l’mikra’ei kodesh, it is the first of the holy convocations
The paragraph concludes with the notion of Shabbat as a gift from God, and ends with the words, “Blessed are you Adonai who sanctifies Shabbat.”
The first expressions derive from Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Utterances, with their deep theological and sociological messages. The last phrase brings us to this week’s Torah reading in which Shabbat appears first on the list of Holy Days. Cha”zal, our ancient, blessed sages who authored the words kee hu yom t’chilah are telling us that while the Holy Days are more colorful, filled with unique rituals, and requiring many more animal offerings, Shabbat is of higher priority.
The rabbis of the Talmud who composed the kiddush made the words kee hu yom t’chilah, it is the first of the holy convocations, its central point because then, like today, many people found it more inviting and engaging to celebrate the annual joyous holidays over the more solemn, more restriction-laden Shabbat. The Torah’s emphasis on Shabbat with its exhortation to desist from work, engage with family and community and pursue social justice for all human beings, is not only the first of the Holy Days but the most important and meaningful of all the holy convocations.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
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