Mishpatim: Torat Natan: Shabbat Influence: Mitzvah 70 – Concept 87

“Six days shall you accomplish your activities, and on the seventh day you shall desist, so that your ox and donkey may be content and your maidservant’s son and the sojourner may be refreshed.” (Exodus 23:12) We are commanded to rest on the seventh day. (Rambam, Hilchot Shabbat 87)

This is a positive commandment, an action, not only the negative: not working. We are commanded to use this day for spiritual development.

“So that your ox and donkey may be content,” come and see the great power of the holiness of Shabbat, that can even influence the powers of evil in the world, symbolized by the ox and donkey! (Rabbi Nachman of Breslav – Torat Natan)