"You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the Sabbath day." (Ex. 35:3)
"The classic commentators ask why fire is singled out from all the things forbidden on the Sabbath. But, even more essentially, we may ask how Moses comes to be mentioning fire at all. He appears to be giving the people the commandment that God had instructed him to give regarding working six days and ceasing on the seventh (31:15) almost verbatim. But then he adds the part about fire, which was not in God's instruction. Fire has not been associated with the Sabbath until now. Why does Moses add it?
What happened between the instruction and Moses' fulfillment of it? Fire has been mentioned twice since then: Aaron has claimed that the golden calf came out of a fire, and Moses has destroyed the calf with fire (32:20, 24). The prohibition of fire on the Sabbath may thus be understood as a reminder of the golden calf rebellion. (An interesting comparison is the prohibition of playing musical instruments on the Sabbath, which was instituted as a memorial of the destruction of the Temple). Moreover, it is a reminder that the Sabbath is not just about work and rest. There are things that one does not do on the Sabbath even if one can do them without the effort associated with work, such as lighting a fire. And there are things that one does do on the Sabbath, not just because it is permitted but because it is a spiritual joy, such as singing Sabbath songs. The Sabbath is about separation and sanctification of time. It is about peace and respite, about family, and about community."
Richard Elliot Friedman
By bracketing Shabbat with fire (candles Friday night, Havdallah Saturday night), we are reminded of what cannot be done in between these experiences.
But, why would refraining from kindling fire serve as a reminder of the golden calf?
"May God double the reward of Saadia Gaon, who (in a charming book) completely refuted the position of the Karaites, who prohibit having even an existing fire on the Sabbath. 'A Karaite got friendly with me once, and I said to him, "Let's forget about rabbinic tradition, and follow nothing but the written Torah." Naturally, he was happy to hear me say this. So I asked him, "Who prohibited us from lighting the lamp on Sabbath eve after sunset?" He replied, "You shall kindle no fire" (our verse above). I responded, "That verse says only 'on the Sabbath day.' You certainly agree that circumcision 'on the eighth day (Lev. 12:3) means that a child cannot be circumcised during the night!" He replied, "And there was evening and there was morning, one day (Gen. 1:5). Both evening and morning together are called 'day', and the evening that goes with the morning is the one preceding it."
"That cannot be," I said. "For the same verse says, "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night." How can you say that He called the darkness Day?" At this point the Karaite was quite befuddled. He came back to me a few days later, citing "whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel" (12:15).
But I replied to this also. He went off disgusted with himself. A month later he came back in an extremely cheerful mood, having found the verse, "This is a day of good news" (2 Kings 7:9), which continues, "If we wait until the light of morning, we shall incur guilt." I replied, "Is that the only place in the Torah you could find nighttime referred to as 'day'? What about 'on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt' (Num. 3:13)? The smiting of the first-born took place at midnight!" In fact, the Hebrew word yom has two meanings: first, the 24 hour "day," and second, a period of time. Thus "in that day" (Isa. 17:4) means "at that time, on that occasion." I have mentioned all these things because people of understanding can explain biblical verses in many different ways. That is why, when it comes to the commandments, we require tradition and the Oral Law, as I explained at the beginning of my Torah commentary.
~Ibn Ezra
A fascinating lesson for what I call 'scriptural opportunism' - deploying a 'verse of choice' to reinforce a self-made conviction. A frequent phenomenon today. Yet this passage itself does reinforce something as well - the abiding value to Judaism of rabbinic tradition (the oral Torah). May we deploy scripture as reverently and helpfully as did the rabbis.
A final thought about the use of fire. Josh Greenfield with whom I regularly study, pointed out yesterday that fire in daytime is hardly noticeable, while at night it artificially extends (day)light. Perhaps this is the meaning of why it is prohibited on Shabbat. Nature rests, God rests, and so do we. By not lighting fire on Shabbat, we respect the individuality of day and night - refraining from artificially extending or altering their given state. May the fires that bracket Shabbat this week offer you much warmth and light in a natural world at rest.
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