Q:
If oneg Shabbos is so important, why don’t we find it mentioned in the Torah itself? Why is it only a mitzvah m’drabanan?
A:
Certainly oneg Shabbos is written in the Torah! ויברך אלוקים את יום השביעי – “And Hashem blessed the seventh day” (Bereishis 2:3). And He wants us to bless it too. When we see that Hashem rested on the seventh day we understand the important principle that Hashem is described as doing something for the purpose that we should emulate Him. He said it should be a day of menucha, of rest. He said you should rest. He said that your children should rest and your servants should rest – even your donkey should rest. Everybody has to rest from doing work. Isn’t that an oneg? Resting is oneg Shabbos – certainly it’s oneg Shabbos!
Now, once Hashem said that, so along came Yeshaya Hanavi and he said: וקראת לשבת עונג – “You should proclaim the day of Shabbos for delight” (Yeshaya 58). Those words of Yeshaya are a peirush, an explanation on the words of the Torah. The navi is just saying b’feirush, openly, what Hashem already said in the Torah. And so we understand that it is Hashem who wants us to delight in the day of Shabbos in order to commemorate the creation of a world of kindliness.
TAPE # 774
