by Rav Hillel Fendel.
This week's Torah portion of B'reshit, with which the Torah begins, tells the story of the Divine creation of the world. The story is capped by a three-verse passage known by its first word, Vay'khulu, which tells us the origin of the holy Sabbath day: "The heavens and the earth were completed… G-d completed His work on the seventh day, and abstained from all His work, and blessed the seventh day and hallowed it…" (B'reshit 2,1-3).
We recite this short passage three times on Sabbath eve (Friday night): Once in the evening Amidah prayer, once right after it, and again during the Kiddush at home. All three of these are said while standing [including Kiddush, according to most customs], as the 14th-century scholar Avudraham wrote: "[It] is said loudly and while standing, because it is edut, testimony that G-d created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day, and testimony must be said while standing." [See Siftei Cohen to Sh. Ar. Choshen Mishpat 17,3.]
This raises an interesting question: When we recite Kriat Shma morning and evening, this is also considered edut: We are testifying that G-d is One, that He is our G-d, and that we are His nation. A strong allusion to this is found in the fact that in the Torah (Deut. 6,4), where we read Shma Yisrael, "Hear O Israel," the last letter of the word Shma, and the last letter of the word Echad (One), are both larger than all the other letters – and these two letters spell ed, meaning "witness"! Yet still, we know that the law follows Beit Hillel, in that one does not need to stand for Kriat Shma! Why is this different than Vaykhulu?
Let us elaborate on the law regarding Kriat Shma. The scholars of the School of Shammai understood that when the Torah instructs us (in Deut. 6,7) to recite Shma both when we lie down and when we arise, this is meant literally: one must recite the morning Shma while standing and the evening Shma while lying down! However, the School of Hillel ruled – and this is accepted as law – that these words merely allude to "evening and morning," and that one need not physically stand for the morning Shma.
In fact, the Shulchan Arukh rules (O.C. 63,2) that "one who wishes to be stringent on himself and stand up from his sitting position for Kriat Shma, is called a violator of the Law!" The Mishna Brurah goes even further and states: "Even if he stands not because he believes the law is like Beit Shammai, but only because he wishes to arouse his feelings of concentration – he may not do so!" That is, he may stand up before saying Shma and then remain standing, but he may not stand up specifically for Kriat Shma.
Let us return to our originl question: Why must we stand for the Vaykhulu testimony regarding Creation, but not for the Kriat Shma testimony of G-d's existence? The Iyun Tfilah – author of one of the first commentaries on the prayerbook – asked this question, and did not provide an answer.
However, perhaps we can explain as follows: The two "testimonies" are fundamentally different! That of Shma Yisrael is actually a mitzvah, a positive commandment: We are instructed in the first of the Ten Commandments to know and believe that G-d is One. When we fulfill this mitzvah by reciting Shma, we are reminding ourselves to internalize these concepts that are incumbent upon us to know. It is "testimony" to ourselves!
But when we recite Vaykhulu, telling the story of G-d's creation of the world in six days and then His sanctification of the seventh day as the Sabbath, we are not commanded to do so; we are simply magnifying G-d's honor, and that of the Sabbath, before all. We are "testifying" aloud to the story of the Sabbath, and therefore we must stand, as with all testimony.
Similarly, this explains why Vaykhulu should be recited by two people together, as with all testimony, while Kriat Shma may be recited alone.
May
we merit, as this new year begins, to imbue our lives with all of these
fundamental concepts: the Oneness of G-d, His relationship to Israel, and the
holiness of the Sabbath, leading to our personal and national obligations to
participate in G-d's work to bless the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel
in the spirit of the Torah of Israel.
