R. M. Levi
Based on lessons by Rebbetzin M. Levi (daughter of Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus)
Why is the punishment for violating Shabbat so severe?
We will touch on another aspect that will help us see things in the proper light. In the laws of Shabbat, we encounter a remarkable phenomenon that we almost never encounter in other areas of Jewish law. This phenomenon makes us consider what actually happens on Shabbat. Many activities are forbidden on Shabbat. The prohibition against violating Shabbat is so strict that in the days of the Sanhedrin, a Jew who violated Shabbat in the presence of witnesses, despite having been warned, was sentenced to death—and by the most severe method, stoning (sekilah). Yet the act he committed may well have seemed insignificant. For example, he skimmed cream from milk in a forbidden manner, violating the prohibition of separating (borer). He was warned that this was forbidden, and witnesses saw that, having acknowledged the warning, he did it anyway—he is liable to death by stoning.
What did he do that was so terrible? It really is hard to understand.
This first happened as early as the second Shabbat after the giving of the Torah, when a Jew went out on Shabbat to gather sticks and was executed for it. What was so terrible about his offense? The Sages describe the laws of Shabbat in a very interesting way: “mountains hanging by a hair.” Imagine a mountain suspended above our heads by a thin hair that is about to snap. If it snaps, the mountain will simply fall on our heads. The slightest violation can lead to the most terrible punishment. Why? After all, under Jewish law, someone who burns a Torah scroll—which seems to us a terrible crime, and indeed it is terrible—is punished by flogging. Not the death penalty, and certainly not sekilah. A thief is not liable to the death penalty. Many offenses that seem terrible in our eyes do not warrant such a severe punishment. Why? What is going on? What is special about the laws of Shabbat? And what should we learn from this?
Before we try to answer this question, let us note another point. There is another similar situation in Judaism in which the slightest misstep can incur death at the hands of Heaven. Wherever the Temple and the laws relating to the Temple and sacrifices are concerned, observance of these laws is treated with great strictness, and it is so easy to make a mistake and deserve death. Anyone who opens the Rambam's “Beit HaBechirah” will be horrified to see how many such laws there are.
Moreover, on one day of the year, one Jew entered the holiest place in the Temple, and there he did not need to commit a wrong act: a single wrong thought was enough for him not to return alive!
The Sages tell us that on Yom Kippur, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies with a rope tied around him. One wrong thought—and instead of coming back on his own feet, he would be pulled out by that rope. Not an action, just a thought! It is known that members of the tribe of Levi complained to Moshe that the laws relating to service in the Temple were excessively strict. The Ramban says that one reason the tribe of Levi was the smallest was that work in the Temple was simply killing them! Why? Why are the laws of the Temple treated with such strictness?
Let us give an example:
Imagine someone suffering from pain in his arm. He goes to the doctor, who sends him for an X-ray, and the image shows that, may the Almighty have mercy, there is some kind of growth in his arm. The doctor explains to the patient that urgent surgery is necessary. On the appointed day, he arrives in the operating room, and an inexperienced surgeon, who would have been better suited to being a cobbler, slips by a centimeter during the operation, damages a major blood vessel, and… the patient's arm is left paralyzed for life! A paralyzed arm is a terrible thing. May you never experience it!
My sister was seriously injured in the accident that took my parents' lives.
We witnessed many miracles. We were given our sister back as a gift; no one thought she would survive. Her life is full of trials and harsh decrees, one of which is a paralyzed arm. It is impossible to describe how much we owe the Almighty our thanks for everything He gives us, particularly for two arms! Imagine a young woman who has to do everything with one hand. How can she put her hair in a ponytail with one hand? It is impossible! Tie her shoelaces? She cannot! Spread a tablecloth? With difficulty. Wash the dishes? It will take eight times as long. We do not even realize how much we use both hands. Life with a paralyzed arm is a completely different life… And yet, despite all the difficulties, life goes on!
Now imagine someone suffering from pain in his head or chest. A visit to the doctor ends in brain or heart surgery. It does not take a centimeter, or even a millimeter. A slip of a fraction of a millimeter by the doctor is enough to end the patient's life.
In other words, if an external organ no longer functions, that is very, very sad. But when an internal organ on which a person's entire life depends is damaged (today, no doctor performs such an operation without a microscope), a small slip can lead to a great tragedy.
Judaism, too, has external and internal organs. Without going into detail, what we need to understand is that the more strictly the Almighty regards the observance of particular laws, and the more terrible the punishment for violating them, the more vital the organ associated with those laws.