Vayakhel | The 39 Labors Prohibited on Shabbat: From Where are they Derived?

It is clear from all of the discussions concerning the labors that are prohibited on Shabbat – in the Mishna (Shabbat, chapter Kelal Gadol), in the Midrash Halakha (Mekhilta, Ki-Tisa and Vayakhel), and in the two Talmuds (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 73-75b; Yerushalmi, Shabbat 7:2) – that the number "forty minus one" – 39 prohibited labors – is iron-clad.

 

In many cases, the labors that are known to be prohibited on Shabbat are forced to fit into the frame of 39. To do so, several categories of labor are included under one name. (For example, the melakha of hotza’a includes: hotza'a, taking an object out from a private to a public domain; hakhnasa, bringing an object in from a public to a private domain; hoshata, handing over an object from one domain to another; zerika, throwing an object from one domain to another; see mishna and gemara, Shabbat 96b). Several similar labors are included under one roof. (For example, boneh, building; mesatet, chiseling; kode'ach, drilling.) In contrast, several similar labors are separated into multiple melakhot (e.g., borer, separating; zoreh, winnowing; meraked, sifting).

 

In the end, the number of labors must accord with the all-inclusive, sanctified number of 39.

 

"Forty minus one" was the iron-clad number mainly according to the teachings of R. Akiva and his disciples. According to R. Eliezer, it would appear that no importance was attached to this number, as he would impose liability for a secondary labor (toleda) even when performed together with its principal labor (av). In R. Eliezer’s view, there are only labors that are prohibited on Shabbat (many dozens of them), unconnected to a numerical list of any kind. It is possible that the position of R. Eliezer reflects an earlier stage of the Halakha.[1] In any event, our mishna follows the view of R. Akiva, who in many contexts established measures, definitions, and numbers as foundations of the Halakha.

 

But from where did they derive the number 39 as the iron-clad number of prohibited labors on Shabbat?

 

Many years ago, I counted the items found in the detailed list at the beginning of Parashat Vayakhel (Shemot 35:10-20) and the parallel list at the end of Parashat Pekudei (Shemot 40:33-43), and I found a clear and explicit source for 39 vessels, materials, and garments in the Mishkan,[2] corresponding to which Chazal enumerated the 39 categories of prohibited labor.

 

It seems to me that this is also the meaning of the words of R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi, as they are cited in the Mekhilta (Vayakhel). The 39 vessels, materials, and garments in the Mishkan are spelled out in the Written Law, under the heading: "This is the thing (zeh ha-davar) which the Lord commanded" (Shemot 35:4) … "And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the Lord has commanded" (Shemot 35:10). Commenting on this heading, the Mekhilta states: "'These are the things' – Rabbi [Yehuda Ha-Nasi] says: To include the 39 prohibited labors that were told to Moshe orally." Corresponding to the list of vessels in the Written Law, there is an allusion to another list that was transmitted orally, under the heading: "These are the things (eileh ha-devarim) that the Lord has commanded, that you should do them" (Shemot 35:1), and it relates to the labors that are prohibited on Shabbat, about which it is stated: "Whoever does any work therein shall be put to death" (35:2).

 

Just as Moshe spoke to Israel about the 39 items on the list connected to the Mishkan, and this was written down, so too he transmitted to them orally the 39 categories of labor that are prohibited on Shabbat. This is based on the correspondence between "this is the thing" and "these are the things," as "these are the things" are not followed by any specification, and it is not at all clear to what they refer. Indeed, explicit mention is found there only of the prohibition of lighting a fire on Shabbat (hav'ara): "You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day" (Shemot 35:3). That prohibition should therefore be understood not only as an example, and not just a special case,[3] but rather the opening or closing of the list of "these are the things," which was transmitted orally.

 

This is precisely what is stated in the Mekhilta in the name of R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi: "'These are the words'… To include the 39 prohibited labors that Moshe transmitted to them orally."[4]

 

A careful examination of the passage in the Yerushalmi (Shabbat 7:2) indicates that R. Yose ben Chanina follows in the same path: "R. Yose ben Chanina said: 'This is the word' – is not written here [in the command regarding Shabbat] but rather: 'These are the words' – davar, devarim, ha-devarim – from here [we derive] the principal and secondary labors." This means as follows: Just as there is a correspondence between the 39 vessels, materials and garments in the list of "this is the thing" in the command regarding the Mishkan and the 39 prohibited labors on Shabbat, according to the derivation of R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi, so too it can further be derived from the fact that the Torah distinguishes between "this is the thing" in the singular and "these are the things" in the plural that in the case of Shabbat, there are many additional labors. This is the source for "principal and secondary labors."

 

Below are the two lists of the various items that were made for the Mishkan, as they are counted in the Torah:

 

 

 

Both lists place "the plaited garments (bigdei ha-serad), for ministering in the holy place" in the thirty-ninth place on the list. It is not by chance that it is the only item in the list that branches into two: "the plaited garments, for ministering in the holy place, [which are] the holy garments for Aharon the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office." This seems to be the plain meaning of the verse, for with respect to the coverings of the vessels that are used during the journeys, there is no "ministering in the holy place." This seems also to be the understanding of Onkelos.

 

However, Rashi,[5] Ibn Ezra, and the Rashbam explain that the "bigdei ha-serad" are the coverings of the vessels that were used when the camp was in transit, even though these coverings are nowhere mentioned in the book of Shemot in the parashiyot dealing with the Mishkan, but only in the book of Bamidbar (chap. 4), in the passage dealing with Israel's journeys in the wilderness.

 

It is possible that the disagreement about the meaning of bigdei ha-serad led some of the Amora’im to a different position regarding the Biblical source of the number 39 with respect to the labors that are prohibited on Shabbat.[6]

 

It should be noted that the two lists – Vayakhel/ Pekudei – differ with regard to three items on each side. The summarizing list in Pekudei adds at the beginning "and all its vessels," and at the end "and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting"; the one covering appears as two coverings – "the covering of the rams' skins dyed red" and "the covering of sealskins," apparently because of the tendency in the summarizing list to specify the items according to the material used, just as the incense altar is referred to as "the golden altar" and the burnt-offering altar is referred to as "the bronze altar." On the other hand, the summarizing list omits "the staves" of the table and of the golden altar (as they too are made of acacia wood), and it unites the pins of the tabernacle and the pins of the court (as they are all of brass).

 

Thus, we have proof that the Torah itself preserves the holy iron-clad number – three items are added while three other items are removed. The final number remains precisely the same – 39, or 40 if we count the two branches of the bigdei serad. It is amazing to reveal that in the list of the principal labors that are prohibited on Shabbat, the last one also branches into two – hotza'a and hakhnasa – and both of them are equal in status as a principal labor.

 

At the end of the second list (Pekudei, Shemot 39:42-43), there is a complicated verse, part of which seems to be extraneous:

 

 

This is the way these verses should be understood, in accordance with the original Midrash Halakha, which we reconstructed above:

 

According to all that the Lord commanded Moshe [with regard to Shabbat and the Mishkan], so the children of Israel did [in the Mishkan] all the work. And Moshe saw all the work [which he had been commanded regarding Shabbat and the Mishkan], and, behold, they had done it [in the Mishkan] as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it. And Moshe blessed them.

 

Both Shabbat and the Mishkan are holy – the temporal sanctuary (from the time of creation) and the spatial sanctuary (from the time of Sinai), and it is prohibited to build the spatial sanctuary while desecrating the temporal sanctuary.

 

The expression that runs throughout all of these passages, from the beginning of Vayakhel to the end of Pekudei, is: "which the Lord has commanded." It appears in the command regarding Shabbat, under: "These are the things which the Lord has commanded, that you should do them" (Shemot 35:1).

 

The expression is also found in the command regarding the contributions that were to be made, at the beginning of the commands regarding the Mishkan: "This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying" (Shemot 35:4). And it reappears in the commands in the detailed list: "And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the Lord has commanded" (Shemot 35:10). This is directly followed by the list of 39 items that must be made. In all these places, emphasis is placed on the doing in different ways: With regard to the command of Shabbat, it says: "that you should do them"; in the detailed list of the 39 items it says: "let them come and make"; at the end of the second list we find: "so they did… they had done it… even so had they done it."

 

The concept of "all the work (melakha)" (Shemot 39:43) penetrates the doing, and alludes once again to the commandment regarding Shabbat (in the Ten Commandments): "You shall not do any manner of work (melakha)."

 

The two detailed lists at the beginning and at the end of the work done for the Mishkan create the framework of 40 (minus 1) manners of work as an "iron-clad number," to which all the laws of Shabbat are subject. This is the way we understood the words of R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi cited in the Mekhilta and the words of R. Chanina bar Chama (Shabbat 49b): "That which we have learned: The principal categories of labor are forty minus one, to what do they correspond? R. Chanina bar Pappa said to them: To the labors in the Mishkan." And this is the way we also understood the words of R. Yose bar Chanina in the Yerushalmi (Shabbat 7:2): "'This is the thing' – is not written here [in the command regarding Shabbat] but rather: 'These are the things' – from here [we derive] the principal and secondary labors."

 

This is all one, clear and illuminating tradition of learning.

 

How did this tradition become lost from the majority of commentators on the Talmud, both early and modern?

 

At a later stage, an after-course of gematriya[7] (using the numerical value of the letters of the alphabet) on the words "these are the things" (eileh ha-devarim) was added to the clear derivation, and this after-course remained as the explanation, in place of the original exposition, which is the bread and main course of the meal.

 

Surely this is what Chazal said about R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi, in their explanation of his redaction of the Mishna, in violation of the ancient prohibition to commit the Oral Law to writing, in addition to the Written Law: "R. Yehuda Ha-Nasi saw that the Torah is destined to be forgotten in Israel" (Shabbat 138b).

 

Many midrashim have become lost to us in their original form; they remain mere after-courses of remembrance and sophistication, which have often turned into the main course. People keep souvenirs of their dear ones who have perished, even if during their lives these souvenirs bore no meaning. One should not marvel about the midrashim which have become lost. One should be exceedingly happy about every allusion that has survived and try to reconstruct what has become lost.

 

Indeed, we are amazed by the intense stubbornness to preserve the "forty minus one" labors that are prohibited on Shabbat as an "iron-clad number," even after its clear and simple source disappeared.

 

After having written all of this, and having lectured about it, and having discussed the issue with important Torah scholars and Roshei Yeshiva (who could not recall such a derivation in any midrash or commentator), R. Shaul Baruchi showed me that this idea was already revealed by R. M.M. Kasher[8] in Midrash Ha-Gadol[9] on Parashat Vayakhel.

 

Indeed, Midrash Ha-Gadol brings the list of the 39 vessels, materials, and garments in the Mishkan, precisely as we brought them above (though only the first list in Parashat Vayakhel). At the end, two explanations are brought for bigdei serad: “These are the priestly garments. And some say these are the cloths that are spread… when they are being transported.” The first explanation accords with Onkelos and our interpretation, while the second is like that of Rashi and most commentators.

 

The Midrash Ha-Gadol says:

 

 

 

To all this the Midrash Ha-Gadol adds: "These are the 39 commands, which correspond to the 39 principle labors that are prohibited on Shabbat."

 

The additional novelty in the Midrash Ha-Gadol is the precise correspondence between each item in the list in Parashat Vayakhel and the parallel term of "doing" or "making" in Parashiyot Teruma-Tetzaveh.

 

However, "there is no Beit Midrash without some novelty." Midrash Ha-Gadol does not mention the parallel list in Parashat Pekudei, and it is precisely from that list that we see that that the number of items in lists regarding the Mishkan is in fact fixed and sanctified, as the Torah adds 3 items in Pekudei, and then removes 3 other items.

 

Here arises the great question concerning the list in the mishna, which spells out the forty minus one principal labors (Shabbat 7:2):

 

On the superficial level, it would appear that a list of about 70 labors that are prohibited on Shabbat must be made to fit into the sanctified number of 40 minus 1, and that this forced Chazal to be very brief with regard to labors connected to the house, fire, the manufacture of implements, and business. How is this possible? In the Mishkan, the labors connected to construction and to the manufacture of implements were primary! How is it possible that the Mishna specifies the 11 labors connected to the making of bread – from plowing and sowing to grinding and baking – and it goes into great detail regarding the making of clothing or books, to the point that there is no room for hewing and chiseling, for drilling and sawing, for plastering and whitewashing?

 

However, a deeper examination leads us to a most important moral lesson from the words of the Sages, without their having said an extra word.

 

Every person has too basic needs – food and clothing, and a Jew has one more basic need – a book from which to learn Torah. These three needs are spelled out in detail in the list of prohibited labors!

 

A house, manufacturing, and business – with which the entire world is occupied without a minute of rest – are a "second story," a luxury, and there is no need to deal with them in such detail.

 

This sounds amazing and far-fetched, but let us go back to the vow taken by Yaakov when he set out for Charan (Bereishit 28:20-22):

 

Food and clothing are our two basic needs, when God watches over us on the paths which we take, whereas a house (a permanent home for our families) and all the gifts of wealth are dreams and aspirations, which are referred to in brief with a commitment to set aside a "tenth of all" (Bereishit 14:20). Yaakov did not yet have a written book, but Chazal dealt at length with a book, because it is by way of a book that a Jew maintains a permanent connection with the One who gave the Torah. A Jew has 6 needs – 3 basic ones and 3 additional ones:

 

 

(Translated by David Strauss)