6. A Gentile Who Observes the Sabbath Must Die
“A gentile who observes Shabbat [Sabbath] must die.” “Make your Shabbat a weekday and do not be needy of people.” “Welcoming the Shabbat should be while it is still day.” The curse of the serpent is that dust will be his food. “A wise disciple is as the Shabbat.” “An uneducated person has the fear of Shabbat over him.”
There is “weekday” and there is “Shabbat.” A weekday is the six workdays, which is the time of work, when we must sort and separate holy from worldly, meaning which is Kedusha [holiness], and which is the opposite.
During the acceptance of the burden of the kingdom of heaven permanently, when he should no longer think and contemplate, this is called “welcoming the Shabbat.” The holy Shechina [Divinity] is called Queen Shabbat, meaning that during the work, she is called “Shechina in the dust,” but after the scrutiny she is called “a queen.”
This is the meaning of “Go my beloved, toward the bride,” which is the unification of the Creator with the Shechina. But when she is in the dust, it is impossible to say, “Go my beloved,” for the person himself makes the separation, as he himself says that it is unbecoming of the Creator to unite with such work, whose entire foundation hangs on nothing, as in, “She has nothing of her own,” but rather everything is above reason.
For this reason, when a person comes to welcome the Shabbat, it is certainly still a weekday for him. But after he welcomes the Shabbat, it is called “Shabbat.” That is, now it is forbidden to make any scrutinies, which is the time of rest, for with respect to the sanctity of the day itself, it is forbidden to do any work of scrutinies.
If, by chance, a person sees that he has no fear of heaven, and thinks that it is forbidden to make scrutinies on Shabbat, since it is forbidden to work on Shabbat, it was said about this, “A gentile who observes Shabbat must die,” meaning he puts himself to death by not engaging in the work of accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven, since it is written that “he lives in them” and not that he dies.
That is, saving a life takes precedence over Shabbat. If a person sees that he has no fear, then he has no life, for only acceptance of the burden of the kingdom of heaven attaches him to the Life of Lives. Hence, if he feels that he is still a gentile and wants to rest, he must die.
Although he has the option to accept faith from the environment, for he can say, “I see that all the townspeople engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], so why should I engage in scrutinies?” They said about this, “Make your Shabbat a weekday and do not need people” (Shabbat 118a). This means that it is forbidden to receive the foundation of faith from people, but he must rather sort out the foundation of faith so it comes only from the heaven, as in “that his nourishments will come by heaven.”
Then he is called “a wise disciple.” “Wise” means the Creator, meaning he receives the construction from the Creator. He should not be a disciple of people, learning the “one letter,” called “faith,” from people.
This is the meaning of a wise disciple being Shabbat. One who is rewarded with permanent faith, rests from his work. At that time, the uneducated one, meaning his body, the fear of Shabbat is upon him. That is, “An evil angel will answer ‘Amen’ against his will.”
But as for the serpent, dust will be his food. Therefore, he always has nourishments and never needs the Creator, meaning with his work that is Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], when the whole foundation is built on people, which is dust from the earth. At that time, he only needs people, and this he can always receive and will always stay in the quality of “still.”
But if a person does not agree to remain in the state of a serpent, which is the will to receive, when he wants to engage in bestowal, then he needs the Creator.
Conversely, the serpent, who was cursed that he would not need the Creator’s help, will naturally always remain in his lowliness and the words, “If the Creator did not help him, he would not overcome it,” will not come true in him, as in “The Lord will finish for me,” will not come true in him. Rather, the whole world will provide for him and he will always be needy of people.
But one who walks in the path of the Creator and not in the path of the world, is rewarded with being favored by the Creator.
This is specifically one who needs the help of the Creator, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided” (Shabbat 104a). It was interpreted in The Zohar, “With what? With a holy soul.” The Creator gives him a soul of Kedusha, and with this force he can purify himself.
This is the meaning of “Rewarded more? He is given Ruach…” meaning that if he wants to be cleansed each time, meaning to be purer, and the assisting power of the soul is not enough for him for the purity that he thinks he needs before he received the soul of Kedusha.
But after he receives the soul of Kedusha, he feels that there is more room to work on purity, and the assisting power he received is not enough to determine to the side of purity. Hence, he prays and asks once more for help from above. At that time, he must be given greater force than he was given before. Therefore, now he is given Ruach, etc., until he is given all the NRNHY in his soul.