Remember the Shabbat anew
ZACHOR - remembering the Shabbat - is more than saying Kiddush on Friday night in davening and with wine at the dinner table, and as it leaves with Havdala in davening and with wine, spices, and candle. Those are the primary way of fulfilling the mitzva of "remembering" Shabbat, but Chazal described many other ways that we remember, honor, and enjoy Shabbat. Some of those ways are considered included in the Torah's mitzva of ZACHOR, and others "belong" to the Rabbinic dimensions of KAVOD and ONEG, honor and enjoyment.

Perhaps there is also another way that we should include in our "Shabbat observance" - appreciating the Shabbat. And this appreciation of Shabbat should not be a one-time thing, nor even an every-week thing that just repeats itself week after week.

Our appreciation should be dynamic, not static. It should grow and vary as we grow and vary. Let's start the process of remembering Shabbat anew, appreciating the wonderful gift and treasure that G-d has given us by pondering the following:
Our first introduction to Shabbat is as the concluding act of the Creation of the World. We recite the passage from the beginning of B'reishit 2 in our silent Amida of Leil Shabbat, we then repeat it as a congregation, and then we introduce Kiddush at the table with that same passage. And we call Shabbat a ZEICHER L'MAASEI V'REISHIT, a reminder of Creation.
Our next encounter with Shabbat is in connection to the MN (mahn, manna) in Parshat B'shalach. Because the people were given some command of Shabbat at this point, and they were taught about the significant difference between Shabbat and the rest of the week, we are able to say/sing in Dayeinu, that had G-d given us the Shabbat and not (yet) brought us near Har Sinai, we would have sufficient cause (one understanding of the term DAYEINU) to acknowledge and thank Him.

Yet it was not only on the way to Sinai that we were taught of Shabbat. Shabbat is one of the "Big Ten". In fact, the Shabbat commandment takes up almost a third of the whole Aseret HaDibrot, with 203 letters of the 620 - the Avoda Zara command has 185.

That's not all! In next week's sedra of Mishpatim, we meet Shabbat again, this time with the positive command to abstain for melacha - this being the definition of resting on Shabbat.

We will further encounter the Shabbat as we journey through the Torah, in connection with the Mikdash, in more than a few contexts.

And a significant body of Shabbat practices (both what we do and what we don't) are derived from the presentation of Shabbat in the Navi (Yeshayahu).

Add to all of the above a rich treatment of Shabbat in Rabbinic literature throughout the generations and it behooves us to do more than "merely" keep the Shabbat. We must savor it and appreciate anew its many facets.

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