A salesclerk overheard a man at a phone booth who was obviously seeking a job.  

“Oh,” the man said, “Do you need a new manager? Do you have someone already doing the job? Do you really not have an opening?” he asked again and again.  

As he walked away from the phone booth, the salesclerk sympathetically said, “I couldn’t help overhearing. I’m so sorry you didn’t get the job.”

“Don’t worry”, the young man said, “I already have the job, I just call every now and then to find out how I’m doing.”

Once a week we are given the opportunity to check in and see how we’re doing, this oasis in time we call Shabbat.

In this week’s parshah we are again instructed about Shabbat. There are two main mitzvot regarding the observance of Shabbat. A negative commandment; “do not do any work” and a positive command; “on the Seventh day you shall rest.” A negative requires inaction, whereas a positive commandment requires performing a positive action.

What is the positive action of rest? Rest is seemingly just a pause from work, an inaction. If I’m not doing any work, I’m resting. Why is rest on Shabbat considered a positive commandment?

There can only be one conclusion. The day of Shabbat is not an absence. There is something very substantial about Shabbat rest. Shabbat is an opportunity to open our eyes, recognise and appreciate the significance of the things we ordinarily dismiss as being immaterial.

This paradigm shift is a two stage process. First we need to cease creative activity. We need to unplug from technology and from our focus on externalities. Take a break from work and being perpetually busy. This is the negative commandment of Shabbat, the inaction. Shamor - guarding and protecting Shabbat means to maintain that the experience of Shabbat not be disturbed by routine, mundane activity.

Often we are all so busy that we forget to put aside our work and busy schedules and pause to think about all the things we are lucky to have and all the things we all-too-often take for granted. This appreciation is recognition of G-d’s presence in our lives. This is zachor - recognising and remembering the sanctity of Shabbat. This is the positive commandment of active rest. A rest that opens our eyes to acknowledge the holiness of G-d’s presence as it permeates all things and all places.

The Midrash tells us that when G-d instructed Moses to build the sanctuary, a house for G-d’s presence, Moses was baffled. How could an infinite G-d, whose Glory fills the entire universe, fit into a small finite structure?

G-d reassured Moses, “I only ask of you twenty cubits to the south, twenty to the north, and eight to the west,” all you must do is clear a small space for Me and there I will dwell.

The followers of the Kotzker Rebbe once asked him, “Where is G-d to be found?” To which their leader replied, “G-d is found wherever you let him in.”

G-dliness is everywhere. All we need to do is clear a little space in our lives, open our hearts and minds and recognize G-d’s active presence in our lives.

Shabbat is just that, a sanctuary in time. A gift of a deeper perspective, bringing meaning and purpose into every area of our lives.