EXOD400 See [[EXOD886]] Exodus 23:12 rest OXFORD 428-9

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EXOD401 See [[EXOD1030]] Exodus 34:6 compassion BLOCH 57-8

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EXOD403 See [[EXOD394]] Exodus 20:9 work AMJV 109

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EXOD402 Desist from all types of melachah (prohibited work) on the Sabbath. Neither may we let our children, servants or animals do melachah on the Sabbath. Key concepts: To set aside our weekday labors in honor of the Sabbath. Thereby, we instill within ourselves that Hashem created the world in six days and “rested” on the seventh. This point is a fundamental principle underlying all of the Torah. When someone asks, “Why does everyone desist from their labors one day of the week,” one must answer, “Because God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh day He desisted from creating and ‘rested.’” By desisting from our labors on the Sabbath, we strengthen ourselves in the true faith. The Sabbath also reminds us of the miraculous Exodus from Egypt, for while the Egyptians enslaved us, they forced us to work even when we were exhausted and craved rest. Hashem saved us from their hands and commanded us to rest on the Sabbath.

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EXOD404 See [[LEV795]] Leviticus 19:34 love OXFORD 46-7

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EXOD405 See [[EXOD127]] Exodus 10:5 Mine DORFLOV 81

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EXOD406 The Torah sets forth a time-tempered rhythmic process of economic, ecological, and political action that is intended to preserve abundance and that warns of utter disaster if the balance is undone. When we look for what we might call the "eco-Judaism" of biblical Israel, one of the most notable teachings about the relationship between the human community and the earth is the teaching of Shabbat (the Sabbath), the shmitah or Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year. Every seventh day, every seventh year, and the year after every seventh cycle of seven years (the fiftieth year), the human community is to pause from work, not merely to rest from physical labor, but also to renew itself, to achieve "release" for "self-reflection" or "detachment" or "holiness."– And as the community rests, so does the earth--animals and vegetation are also released. Indeed, it is almost impossible to disentangle the implications of this whirling spiral of Shabbats for adamah, the earth, from its implications for adam, the human community. The Bible connects this rhythm both to revitalization of the earth and to human freedom and equality. As we have already seen, the Shabbat of the seventh day comes first into human ken, along with manna, just at the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. When the Torah describes the second revelation of Shabbat--the one at Sinai--it gives two different ways of understanding. One (Exod. 20:8-11) focuses on Shabbat as a reminder of God's Creation of the entire "natural" world, in which the cosmos itself needs and celebrates rest and renewal as an organic reality. In the second version (Deut 5:12-15), the main reason for the existence of Shabbat is said to be as a reminder of liberation from slavery in the Narrow Place, Mitzrayyim, Egypt. It is a way of making sure that even in a society where some become indentured servants, "Your male and female servants may rest as one-like-yourself." (By Arthur Waskow, "Jewish Environmental Ethics: Intertwining Adam with Adamah")

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EXOD407 Many traditions articulate their fundamental assertions about the nature of life in their central stories, the tales describing their founding and many of their basic convictions. Judaism's central story, for example, is Exodus- Sinai; Christianity's is the Passion-Resurrection of Jesus; and the central story of the United States is the American Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. When core commitments are described in story form, it is easy for adherents to understand the affirmations, to remember them, and to apply them to daily life. ... In the beginning of the Bible, there is Genesis, in which we hear about Creation and meet the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The central Jewish story, though, comes later: It is the Exodus from Egypt to meet God at Sinai and to continue to the Promised Land. The last four of the five books of the Torah all revolve around the Exodus from Egypt, the trek to Sinai, the Revelation the forty years in the wilderness, and the anticipated end of reaching the Promised Land, together with the laws and theological concepts that are announced along the way. Like the Torah, much of the later Jewish tradition also concentrates on these events. Thus the Exodus from Egypt is the paradigm that is repeatedly invoked when the authors of traditional Jewish prayers wanted to demonstrate that God acts in history and that God has been, and will be, our Redeemer. Passover, of course, focuses on the Exodus story, and, at least in rabbinic tradition, Shavuot does as well, marking the time when the revelation at Sinai occurred. The Torah also connects Sukkot, the harvest festival, to this story, asserting that the festival should remind us of the huts in which the Israelites lived as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to Israel. (Leviticus 23:42-43). Even the Sabbath, first announced in the Torah as a reminder of Creation, shifts in focus in the book of Deuteronomy from slavery in Egypt. (Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20:11 tie to Sabbath to Creation, whereas Deuteronomy 5:15 ties it to the Exodus). Thus the story is not only a prime feature of Jewish sacred scripture but also permeates Jewish liturgy and holidays.

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EXOD408 The most difficult of all the commandments of the Torah to fulfill completely, according to the second-century sage Simeon bar Yohai, is the obligation of a child to honor and to revere his or her mother and father. Midrash Tanhuma, Solomon Buber, ed. (Vilna, 1885), "Ekev," no. 3.p. 9a. In this regard, the following story is told of Rabbi Tarfon: "Rabbi Tarfon had a mother. When she wished to mount into bed, he would bend down to let her ascend [by stepping on him, and when she wished to descend, she would do so by stepping on him]. He went to the Academy and boasted of his observance of filial piety. [Whereupon] his colleague said to him: You have not even reached half the honor [due her]. Kiddushin 31b. See also P. Peah 1:1. As it is stated in the Ten Commandments, the obligation of a child toward his or her parents seems clear enough [this verse, Deuteronomy 5:16]. This commandment differs from the other nine, because only in the case of this commandment is a reason given, i.e., "That you may long endure...." In other words, the reason for observance is the promise of longevity and the threat of a curtailed life for nonobservance.

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EXOD409 It was taught: "Honor your father and your mother": "eth avicha" [lit. with your father"] -- to include your father's wife [i.e., your stepmother]; "ve'eth imecha" [lit., "and with your mother"] -- to include your mother's husband [i.e., your stepfather]; the extra vav ["ve'eth"] - to include your older brother (Kethuvoth 103a)

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