Before New Year’s Day, 2000, the New York Times created a mock front page for New Year’s Day, 2100. They concocted all kinds of news stories for the front page, and since New Year’s will fall on Friday that year, the editors added the time for Shabbat candle-lighting. At that time, the NY Times published the time for candle-lighting on the front page of every Friday edition.
The editor was asked why he included the candle-lighting time. He replied, “I have no idea what will happen on New Year’s Day, 2021, but I am certain of one thing. Before the sun sets that day, Jewish women will be lighting Shabbat candles.”
The tradition of resting one day each week dates back a long time. Our sages taught that Moses pitched the idea to Pharaoh when he was a prince in Egypt. Pharaoh put Moses in charge of the Jewish slaves, and Moses suggested that the slaves be given a weekly day of rest. He argued that they would be more productive if they rested once a week. Pharaoh agreed, and Moses chose Saturday. This is one reason we mention Moses every Shabbat morning in our prayers.
Have you ever wondered why Moses chose Saturday? The easy answer is that his father taught him that G-d rested on Saturday, and, therefore, our patriarchs and Matriarchs rested on Saturday. But that shifts the question to G-d: Why did G-d instruct us to rest on the day He rested?
The answer we all learn in grade school is that this is our way of commemorating G-d as our Creator. As He created the world for six days and rested on the seventh, so do we. But let’s dig deeper: why must we rest on the same day G-d rested? We could still commemorate G-d........