39 Melachos: Says Who?

Q. Is there any scripture to support the specific type of work that is prohibited on Shabbat?

A. Thanks for your question. As the saying goes, “Short answer, yes with an if. Long answer, no with a but.”

There are a few verses that discuss the Sabbath prohibitions, but none of them provide the full scope. For example, Exodus 35:3 tells us, “You shall not light a fire in any of your habitations on the Sabbath day.” That’s pretty clear.

Similarly, Exodus 34:12 tells us, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; from plowing and from harvesting you shall rest.” That’s also fairly direct.

Less straightforward is Exodus 16:29: “[L]et no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” This issue is that one’s “place” isn’t defined. So, what does the verse mean? Not to leave town? Not to go outside? Not to get out of bed?

Now consider the case of “the gatherer” in Numbers 15. There, a man was executed for gathering firewood on Shabbos, so it’s clearly a Sabbath violation. And yet, you’ll find no verse that says, “You shall not gather firewood on the Sabbath!”

In truth, the proscribed activities are derived from Exodus 35:2: “Six days you shall perform work, but the seventh day shall be holy to you, a complete sabbath to Hashem.” It’s not so much what the verse says as where it appears; this verse is written in the context of building the Mishkan (Tabernacle). As important as the Mishkan was, its construction had to be halted for Shabbos, on pain of death.

From this, our Sages derive that the activities prohibited on Shabbos are those that were necessary for the construction of the Mishkan. There are 39 such labors, and they are enumerated in the Mishna (Shabbos 7:2).

Lest this strike you as strange, it’s actually the norm. For example, we’re told not to murder, but murder isn’t defined for us. Is killing an attacker in self-defense murder? Is euthanasia murder? We’re told not to steal, but is keeping too much change that one was given accidentally stealing? Is taking money from the wallet of someone who hasn’t repaid a loan stealing?

In all areas, including the Sabbath labors, the Torah just gives us the “bullet points.” The details are found in the Oral Law, which is an integral part of the Torah.

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Rabbi Jack's book Ask Rabbi Jack is available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.