 It is well known that on Shabbat we refrain from performing 39 Melachot. But in truth, it ought to surprise us that the number 39 is as well known as it is. Is our Shabbat really characterized by 39 actual activities that we
will be refraining from during the Shabbat hours? For most of us, we were not going to be doing most of those activities anyway. How many of us would be trapping animals if it were not Shabbat? Setting up looms? Tanning hides? Why is it seemingly so important to be aware of the number 39 as it pertains to the actual work cessation that Shabbat means to us?
More likely, we need to be aware of 39 Melachot because of the significance of the number 39 itself.
The number 39 is often presented in Torah literature as “Forty minus one”, suggesting that what is important to be aware of when faced with something that presents itself as 39 is the fact that it is one short of forty – and is thereby specifically NOT forty. We find this idea in connection with the 39 lashes – malkus – that a sinner receives for transgressing a basic Torah violation. There we are told that such a sinner SHOULD receive forty lashes, but does not receive forty lashes, because 40 lashes would kill him, and the Torah does not want him to die over these transgressions. But as he receives them, he needs to be aware that he is receiving “Forty minus one” – the closest the Torah can get to capital punishment without actually killing him.
Applying this notion to the 39 Melachot (which are similarly described in the Mishnah as being “Forty minus one”), we would say that a Sabbath observer must be aware that he is being restricted by a number 39 and not 40, because 39 does not kill him while 40 would. What does this mean? I would argue it means the following: Because we have thirty nine Melachot, a person who violates one is Chayav Mitah – liable for the death penalty – but only if he violates it in front of witnesses, with proper warning, at a time when Jewish courts actively function. If the Torah had instead presented us with forty Melachot, one who violated a Melacha would die instantly. What the Torah is telling us is that we must be aware that on Shabbat we come as close as we can to the instantaneous death penalty without actually having it.
Why is this rather frightening thought an important one for us to have on Shabbat? Isn’t it going to place a damper on our Shabbat spirit?
Actually, it should do just the opposite.
Think, for a moment, about the kinds of activities people seek out when they wish to have a thrill-filled adventure. Bungee jumping, sky-diving, hang gliding, car racing – these are all examples of adrenaline-rush, thrill-seeking kinds of activities. What is common about these and other similar pursuits is that with all of them, one mistake leads to instant death. And yet, that is exactly what makes them so exciting. What people understand instinctively is that in order to feel vitally alive, one must live on the very edge of the possibility of death. It is that death-defying nature of these activities that fills them with the electricity that makes them so exciting.
This is what the Torah wants us to feel about Shabbat. From the moment the holy day arrives, we should feel like we are suddenly enveloped in a reality crackling with an energy so powerful that one mistake will cause an instant blackout, that the transgression of one Melacha will instantly snuff out Shabbat’s vibrant and holy spirit. With that kind of attitude, Shabbat will feel like a super-charged experience, one we will be reluctant to risk by inappropriate behavior.
Indeed, we can appreciate how true this idea is from the other connection to 39 – the 39 acts of labor that went into building the Mishkan. We see there that instant death DID happen to the two brothers who violated its laws, Nadav and Avihu. Anything that can contain God’s Presence deserves to be associated with this kind of feeling. Just as the Mishkan contained God’s Presence in space, Shabbat contains God’s Presence in time. Thus, connecting Shabbat with the number 39, or Forty minus one, connects us with this exciting aspect of the reality of Shabbat.
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