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A Shabbat of Beresheet and of the Six Thousand Years
124. A Shabbat of Beresheet and of the Six Thousand Years
I heard
There are two discernments of Shabbat [Sabbath]: 1) of Beresheet [Genesis/beginning], 2) of the six thousand years. The difference between them is this: It is known that there is a stop, and there is rest. A stop is where there is nothing more to add. A rest, however, stems from the words “He stood and rested,” meaning that one is in the middle of his work, and since he has no strength to continue his work, he stands and rests to revive himself, and afterwards continues with his work.
A Shabbat of Beresheet is a state of having nothing more to add. This is called “a stop.” A Shabbat of the six thousand years is considered rest, by which one receives strength to continue one’s work on the weekdays.
Now we can understand the words of our sages: “Shabbat said, ‘You have given everyone a mate, but to me You did not.’” And the Creator replied, “Israel will be your partner.” A partner means ZA. If there is a Nukva, there can be a Zivug [coupling], and from the Zivug come the offspring, meaning renewal and additions.
Nukva is a deficiency. If there is a deficiency in some place, there is room to correct the deficiency, and all the corrections are considered having been fulfilled by extending the upper light in the place of the lack. It follows that there was no deficiency here to begin with, but all the lack that they previously considered to be a deficiency came in the form of correction to begin with, meaning that thus the upper abundance would flow from above.
This is similar to one who delves in some matter and exerts to understand it. When he attains the meaning, it is to the contrary: He does not feel that he was previously suffering when he did not understand the matter. Rather, he is glad because now he has joy. The joy is measured by the extent of the effort that he made prior to understanding the matter.
Thus, the time of delving is called Nukva, a deficiency. And when one unites with the deficiency, he produces the offspring, the renewal. This is what the Shabbat argued, “Since there is no work on Shabbat, there will be no offspring and renewals.”