The Sabbath: Kiss Your Sins Goodbye

The following question was submitted by a reader:

"Someone (Jewish faith) told the following to a friend of mine.... 'the person who observes the Sabbath each week will have all his or her sins forgiven', according to Jewish tradition. I never heard this. Have you?"

Our answer:

The Talmud in Shabath (118B) states:

אמר ר' חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן כל המשמר שבת כהלכתו אפי' עובד ע"ז [כדור] אנוש מוחלין לו שנאמר (ישעיהו נו) אשרי אנוש יעשה זאת וגו' מחללו אל תקרי מחללו אלא מחול לו

"R' Chiyah bar Aba said: R' Yochanan said: Anyone who observes the Sabbath according to its laws, even if he worships idols as did the generation of Enosh, he is absolved, as it states (Isaiah 56:2): 'Fortunate is the person ('enosh') who does this, and the man ('ben adam') who holds onto it, guarding the Sabbath from desecrating it ( מֵחַלְּלוֹ - 'mechalelo'), and guarding his hand from doing any evil.' Read not 'from desecrating it' (מֵחַלְּלוֹ - 'mechalelo'), rather [read] 'it is forgiven him' (מָחוּל לוֹ - 'machul lo')."

The verse in Isaiah is here interpreted using a method known as 'derush,' revealing a layer of meaning concealed beneath the literal translation of the words that is also considered a valid reading of the verse. The exact methodology of deriving meaning in this way has not come down to us through the generations, and therefore we generally have difficulty understanding quite how this meaning is extracted from the verse, although many continue to try to work backwards to explain these types of expositions. For example, it appears that the Sages focused on two details of this verse. Firstly, there are two terms used to refer to a man: 'enosh' and 'ben adam.' 'Ben adam' would seem the more common term, and the superfluous 'enosh' is taken then as a reference to the personage Enosh who lived between the time of Adam and Noach and in whose time idol worship began (see Genesis 4:26 and Rashi ad loc). Additionally, the word 'mechalelo' meaning 'from desecrating it' shares the same letters (sans vowelization) with the words 'machul lo' meaning 'it is forgiven him.' Words of similar spellings are also considered related in Lashon haKodesh and therefore this meaning is considered here. Therefore the verse can be interpreted as saying that even 'Enosh,' i.e. one guilty of the sin associated with Enosh, can rejoice if he 'does this,' if he observes the Sabbath properly, for then his sin 'is forgiven him.'

However, after all is said and done, doesn't such an idea run counter to simple intuition? How can one guilty of what seems the greatest defection from G-d be forgiven by virtue of his observance of another precept? What does one have to do with the other? Does this mean one can abrogate whatever laws one pleases and then simply observe the Sabbath and be absolved of sin? What about teshuvah (repentance)? This is a very difficult concept to accept.

At this time I do not have an answer to these powerful objections, although I plan to look into it, so stay tuned.

PART II