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עקידת יצחק — ויכלו השמים / וישבת ביום השביעי

Q (the cluster): Why does the Torah crown creation with Shabbos rather than with man, its apparent purpose? What does "וישבת" add, since God does not tire? Why must the seventh day be sanctified specifically by ceasing, and why is this the foundation of emunah? A (the unifying chiddush): Shabbos is the מופת חותך — the decisive proof — of חידוש העולם מן האפס, that the world was willed into being fr

השביתה ביום השבת היא מופת חותך על אמונת החדוש מהאפס המוחלט ברצון גמור

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עקידת יצחק

Akeidat Yitzchak 4:1

Q — Why does the Torah crown creation with Shabbos rather than with man, its apparent purpose? What does "וישבת" add, since God does not tire? Why must the seventh day be sanctified specifically by ceasing, and why is this the foundation of emunah?

A — Shabbos is the מופת חותך — the decisive proof — of חידוש העולם מן האפס, that the world was willed into being from absolute nothingness by a free Creator, not eternally necessitated. A craftsman who merely shapes pre-existing matter cannot stop and have his work stand complete; only a Creator who made existence itself by ratzon can rest while the creation endures. The ceasing IS the testimony: by resting, God signs creation as a deliberate act of will, and man's weekly cessation re-enacts and affirms that emunah.

השביתה ביום השבת היא מופת חותך על אמונת החדוש מהאפס המוחלט ברצון גמור

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