Menuchas Hanefesh vs. Menuchas Shabbos

Introduction

In order to begin addressing the avoda of menuchas Shabbos we have to first define what menuchas Shabbos actually is. This presents a difficulty – which is not found when working on other mitzvos. With other mitzvos the action is clearly defined – so you really can begin to work immediately. But when it comes to menuchas Shabbos the goal is at first unclear – so a proper definition is required before we can begin. 

Defining menuchas hanefesh

In order to understand properly what menuchas Shabbos is, we must first explore another type of menucha – menuchas hanefesh. The problem is that many people wrongly assume that menuchas Shabbos is merely an exaggerated form of menuchas hanefesh. They think that in Kelm they worked a lot on menuchas hanefesh – so Shabbos must simply be a “Kelmer day”, which is simply not the case.  So firstly we must define menuchas hanefesh before we can understand how it differs from menuchas Shabbos.

Usually people define menuchas Hanefesh as being calm – that feeling one has sitting and simply doing nothing at all. However, that simply cannot be true, for the Torah never looks at sitting and doing nothing as something positive. We are always obligated to do something. We are metzuve veose, that is to say – we have obligations. Western culture (and we have been influenced by that outlook) looks at the word ‘obligation’ as another way of saying stress or pressure, which is the opposite of menuchas Hanefesh. 

In yeshivos today, we often find bochrim who are under enormous stress because they feel they have to learn or they have to daven etc. It sometimes seems that the more sincere you are in your avodas Hashem – the more stressed you are. 

A more accurate definition of menuchas Hanefesh is being fully aware, that where I am and what I am doing at the moment is meaningful and has important implications – because I am now a part of the “business” of the Borei Olam. Furthermore, it is the awareness that this is exactly what I am meant to be doing right now. The result is that we come to realize that Torah and mitzvos are not something to be finished (because we will never finish) rather that we must always be involved in what it is that the Borei Olam wants from us. 

For example, I have just finished Chumash Rashi with my chavrusa after five years of learning together – and I now want to learn Chumash Rashi with him again. Not because of an obsession of going over what we have learned again. But because when it comes to Torah you have never finished learning. From a classic western point of view, you have a syllabus to finish and a clear goal to be achieved, but when we look at the world of learning Torah, and the world of avoda there is no end goal. We just have to be actively involved in what it is that the Borei Olam wants from us, completely aware of how important what we are doing really is. 

Developing menuchas Hanefesh 

One method of developing menuchas Hanefesh might be sitting with a sefer and thinking to yourself that you have time now, and the best thing to do right now is to learn. Not to finish the perek, not even to finish the page, just to learn, because that is exactly what you are meant to be doing right now. Speaking from experience, the feeling of menuchas Hanefesh during those moments of learning is quite incredible. 

If we don’t understand what menuchas Hanefesh really is, we will not be able to see what is unique about menuchas Shabbos. Our menuchas Shabbos will merely be an extension of our menuchas Hanefesh, and it really is something else entirely. 

Defining menuchas Shabbos

As we have said, menuchas hanefesh is being fully aware that where I am and what I am doing at the moment is meaningful and has important implications in the world of the Borei Olam. However, we do not know what those ramifications are. That will become clear in Olam Habo. Menuchas Shabbos is different, because all our experiences on Shabbos are meant to be in some way comparable to Olam Habo. Olam Habo is the world where we reap the rewards of avoda in Olam Haze, and that is actually the definition of experiencing menuchas Shabbos. It is the feeling that all that we do on Shabbos is an end in itself. The rest of the week we work towards a goal, on Shabbos we experience the goal itself – we experience Olam Habo, we experience the reward.

For example, during the rest of the week, when we sit down to eat we are meant to think to ourselves that we are eating in order to have strength to be Ovdei Hashem [1]. On Shabbos we do not eat in order that we should be able to do something else – eating food on Shabbos is an end in itself! That is part of the avoda of Shabbos! When we go to sleep during the rest of the week we are meant to think to ourselves that we are sleeping in order that we should have strength to be Ovdei Hashem. On Shabbos sleeping is not a means to an end – it is the goal because שינה בשבת תענוג.  

So we can sum up by saying, that the rest of the week can be defined as היום לעשותם,

whereas Shabbos can be defined as ולמחר לקבל שכרם. Shabbos is a different world – Shabbos is the world of schar.

Menuchas Hanefesh and Bitochon

Having defined these concepts, and understood the difference between menuchas hanefesh and menuchas Shabbos, a connection between menuchas hanefesh and bitochon becomes clear.  

Many people are of the opinion that bitochon means being certain that you will have what it is you think you need. But that is simply not the case. Who is to say what you really need? The fact that you think you need something does not mean that the Borei Olam is of the same opinion. Rather bitochon is being absolutely certain that whatever situation you are in, the Borei Olam has put you there to do something which is meaningful. And that is why bitochon is really so similar to menuchas Hanefesh.  Because once you are certain that all your actions can be meaningful – what we just defined as bitochon, you can now be fully aware that where I am and what I am doing at the moment is meaningful and has important implications – the definition of menuchas hanefesh.

The way the אבודרהם speaks of Shabbos

What we have been discussing is actually the way the אבודרהם looked at Shabbos. He comes to explain what we say in mincha on Shabbos: 

“מנוחה שלימה שאתה רוצה בה – יכירו בניך וידעו כי מאתך היא מנוחתם”

He explains that it means that Shabbos is completely different from all the other mitzvos. With mitzvos such as “don’t murder” or “don’t steal” – we simply have to not do a particular action, but it is not because the Borei Olam does not steal that we do not steal. Rather it is simply because not stealing is one of the many restrictions that the Borei Olam demands of us. But when we rest on Shabbos – we rest because the Borei Olam rests. We are with Him, and we are doing as He does. 

Menuchas Hanefesh gives us the opportunity to think what is it that Hashem wants from us at this moment – and to understand the incredible implications of doing a mitzvah. The mitzvos create a world where menuchas Hanefesh is necessary to really do what is expected of us. But menuchas Shabbos is there, because the Borei Olam is bemenucha. Menuchas Shabbos is an end in itself.   

We could perhaps add that to some degree throughout the year no matter which mitzvah we do, the Borei Olam has put us as the focal point. But on Shabbos all that matters is the Borei Olam. We rest, because the Borei Olam rests. And that truly is very different from the way we usually perceive the world of Torah and mitzvos. When we do mitzvos we think what is it that Hashem wants from us? But on Shabbos we think to ourselves that Shabbos is there simply to be with the Borei Olam. 

So throughout the week we must start working to some degree on menuchas hanefesh – where we see our actions as being truly important, with real implications. But this should prepare us for Shabbos, a world which comes after our labors. A world where we can start to experience something of the world of schar. Where we begin to see Shabbos as the result of our labors – Olam Habo, and not the means to an end.      

[1] ע’ רמב”ם הלכות דעות פ”ה הלכה א “אבל החכם אינו אוכל אלא תבשיל אחד או שנים ואוכל ממנו כדי חייו ודיו. הוא שאמר שלמה צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו”.  

וע’ שו”ע או”ח סימן רל”א “…וכן בכל מה שיהנה בעולם הזה לא יכון להנאתו אלא לעבודת הבורא יתברך, כדכתיב בכל דרכך דעהו ואמרו חכמים כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים שאפילו דברים של רשות כגון האכילה והשתיה וההליכה והישיבה והקימה והתשמיש והשיחה וכל צרכי גופך יהיו כלם לעבודת בוראך או לדבר הגודם עבודתו”. ע’ שם עוד. 

[2]  לשונו של האבודרהם: “מנוחה שלימה שאתה רוצה בה – וזו היא מנוחת שבת שהוא רוצה לנוח בו יכירו בניך וידעו כי מאתך היא מנוחתם, ר”ל גם אתה רוצה שיכירו וידעו בניך שמצוה זו של שבת אינה כשאר מצות שהרי כשאמרת לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים, לא תשא, לא תרצח, לא תנאף, לא תגנוב. לא צויתה למען יעשו כמוך אבל מנוחת שבת היא למען יעשו כמוך, שנאמר (שמות לא יז) ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת וגו’ ביני ובין בני ישראל וביום השביעי שבת וינפש. נמצא שעל כן צונו מצות מנוחה להודיע כי מנוחתו היא מנוחתנו”.