Misva #309: The Prohibition Against Performing Melacha on Shabuot

The Torah introduces the command to desist from Melacha (constructive work) on Shabuot as both an affirmative command and a prohibition. After commanding that this day must be observed as a sacred occasion when Melacha is not done, the Torah then issues a prohibition against performing Melacha (“Kol Melechet Aboda Lo Ta’asu” – Vayikra 23:21).

In discussing this command, the Sefer Ha’hinuch addresses the date of Shabuot. The Torah does not assign a calendar date to this holiday, and instead commands observing a Yom Tob on the 50^th day from the 16^th of Nissan – the second day of Pesach, when the special Omer sacrifice was offered. The Sefer Ha’hinuch explains that Nissan has 30 days, and thus we count 15 days in Nissan (from the 16^th through the 30^th), plus the 29 days of Iyar and the first six days of Sivan, for a total of 50 days.

The Magen Abraham (Rav Abraham Gombiner, Poland, 17^th century) noted that from the Gemara, it actually appears that Matan Torah – the event we celebrate on Shabuot – did not occur on the 6^th of Sivan. It emerges from the Gemara’s discussion that Beneh Yisrael left Egypt on Thursday, such that the 16^th of Nissan was that year on Friday. Matan Torah thus should have occurred on Friday, seven weeks later, but Moshe added a day of preparation beforehand, such that the Torah was given on Shabbat. Accordingly, the Magen Abraham notes, it turns out that the Torah was given on the 7^th of Sivan, and not the 6^th. He thus raises the question of why in our prayers on Shabuot we refer to this holiday as “Zeman Matan Toratenu” – the day when the Torah was given. The Magen Abraham speculates that this formulation might be relevant specifically to the second day of Shabuot observed in the Diaspora, which of course is celebrated on the 7^th of Sivan.

The Sefer Ha’hinuch, however, writes explicitly that the holiday of Shabuot is celebrated on the 6^th of Sivan and celebrates Matan Torah. It is possible that he followed a different view mentioned in the Gemara, claiming that the Exodus actually took place on Friday, not on Thursday, and the Torah was given 50 days after the day following the Exodus, on Shabbat, the 6^th of Sivan.