Six days they will gather (the manna) and on the seventh day, Shabbos, there will not be on it. [1] Why mention the ‘seventh day’ and also ‘Shabbos’?
Yudka, Esther Weintraub’s youngest 6 year old sister, went into hiding during the Sperre (major ‘aktion’) in the Lodz ghetto.
Subsequently she had to pose as a ten year old in order to become a part of the now completely workers camp. Although Yudka worked on Shabbos, she did so because she had no choice. But when she had to sign her name on Shabbos she refused. When the instructor presented her with her first pay cheque it was Shabbos. He complimented her hard work and then requested that she sign in order to receive her cheque. “I cannot sign,” she said, “today is Shabbos”.
She did not receive the cheque… she received a whole lot more: the gift of Shabbos.
Whilst the simple understanding is that there will be no manna on Shabbos, perhaps we can read the verse that if after six days of “gathering” i.e. working, a person treats the next day like any other, i.e. a “seventh day” – then there will not be Shabbos on that day, i.e. he will not benefit from the sanctity of Shabbos.
Only if a person recognises that after a six day week, there is not merely another day, a “seventh day”, another work day; not merely a ‘Saturday’ – but rather a Shabbos – then he will also receive the blessing of Shabbos [2].
Have a blessed Shabbos,
Dan.
Additional sources:
Story: My Son… My Son… a Chronicle, Anna Eilenberg-Eibeshitz, p. 120-122
[1] Shemos 16:26
[2] See Shemos 16:27, 29
