Chulin 101 — “The Sign You Don’t Notice: Shabbos, Tzitzis, and the Mekoshes”

Our Gemara on Amud Beis explains why Shabbos supersedes Yom Kippur in certain halachic situations:

“Shabbos is established and permanent, i.e., it always occurs on the seventh day of the week, whereas in the case of Yom Kippur, it is the court that establishes it, as the Sages determine the New Moon. Consequently, Shabbos is considered to have preceded Yom Kippur, and the prohibition to perform labor on Yom Kippur does not apply, due to the fact that labor is already prohibited because it is Shabbos. Since one brings a sin offering only due to unwitting transgression, he is obligated to bring a sin offering only if he performed labor without realizing it was Shabbos.”

Sefas Emes (Bamidbar, Shlach 3) applies this principle to explain a Midrash about the Mekoshes, the person who defied Shabbos in the Torah by gathering wood (Bamidbar 15:32).

The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 750) notices a juxtaposition between the event of the Mekoshes and the giving of the commandment of Tzitzis. Moshe argues that the Mekoshes succumbed to temptation because on Shabbos there is no Tefilin to remind the person of his obligation to Heaven. In response, God provided the commandment of Tzitzis, which can be worn on Shabbos and will serve the same purpose.

Sefas Emes asks, we know that Shabbos itself is considered a “sign” or “reminder” just as tefilin is, and this actually is the reason why we don’t wear tefilin on Shabbos. Rabbi Akiva says, “I might have thought that a person should don tefilin on Shabasos and Festivals. Therefore, the verse states: ‘And it shall be for a sign for you on your arm, and for a remembrance between your eyes, so that God’s law shall be in your mouth; for with a strong arm God brought you out of Egypt’ (Exodus 13:9). The obligation to don tefilin applies when Jews........

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