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Why does Shabbos (שבת) require both zachor and shamor, while Yom Tov observance doesn't mandate the positive commandments? The shiur develops a fundamental yesod: Shabbos has two dimensions—Friday night when we are the chasan making the kallah of Shabbos, and Shabbos day when we become the kallah receiving directly from Hashem (ה׳). This dual relationship explains why shamor creates the obligation of zachor.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a fundamental question: The Gemara (גמרא) derives from "zachor v'shamor b'dibur echad ne'emru" that women, who are obligated in the negative commandment of not doing melacha, are also obligated in the positive commandment of kiddush. This suggests that not doing melacha and being mekadesh the day are two sides of the same coin. Yet on Yom Tov, this principle doesn't apply—women cannot do melacha on Sukkos (סוכות) but aren't obligated to sit in the sukkah, and they cannot do melacha on Rosh Hashanah but aren't obligated to blow shofar. What is the conceptual difference? The Ramban (רמב"ן)'s question on the Aseres HaDibros provides another angle: If zachor and shamor were said together, why was only zachor written on the luchos? Why would Hashem (ה׳) emphasize a mitzvah (מצוה) that takes two seconds to perform (kiddush) over the twenty-four hour obligation of not doing melacha? Additionally, the Rambam (רמב"ם) in Hilchos Shabbos (שבת) describes the mitzvah as "lekadesh es yom haShabbos b'dvarim"—to sanctify the Shabbos day through speech—yet the Gemara in Beitzah establishes that the proper bracha is "mekadesh haShabbos" not "mekadesh Yisroel v'haShabbos," because Shabbos is kavua u'kayim, its kedusha doesn't depend on Klal Yisroel like the yamim tovim do. How can we be mekadesh something that is already inherently kadosh?
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Parshas Yisro - Aseres HaDibros (Zachor es Yom HaShabbos)
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