(PLEASE LEARN FOR A REFUA SHELAMA FOR THE GEDOLIM Rav Elyashiv -Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha, Rav Shteinman - Aaron Yehuda Leib ben Gitel Feiga, Rav Weiss - Yitzchak Tuvia ben Rikal, Rav Belsky - NAME ADDDED Chaim Yisroel ben Chana Tzirtel, Rav Yosef - Yaakov Chai ben Margalit And Telzer Rosh Yeshiva, Yitzchok Izak ben Trina Rivka HaRav Matisyahu Solomon Shlita-for Matisyahu Chaim ben Etel Rav Scheinberg-Chaim Pinchas ben Yuspahfor a refuah shleima b’soch kol cholei am Yisrael.)
Translated and abridged by Rabbi Chanan Morrison
Parshat Vayakhel
Do not ignite fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath(Ex. 35:3).
The Torah forbids 39 different categories of activity on the Sabbath. Yet only one — lighting fire — is explicitly prohibited in the Torah. Why? Why does the Torah qualify the prohibition of lighting fire with the phrase, "in any of your dwellings"? Is it not forbidden to start a fire in any location?
The control and use of fire is unique to humanity. It is the basis for our advances in science and innovations in technology. Even now, fuel sources for burning, coal and oil, are what power modern societies. In short, fire is a metaphor for our power and control over nature, the fruit of our God-given intelligence.
What is the central message of the Sabbath? When we refrain from working on the seventh day, we acknowledge that God is the Creator of the world.
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