Mr. Cohen walked peacefully out of the synagogue one spring Shabbat morning. Ben, his older boy, was walking right next to his side, while David, his younger son, was hopping and skipping a few feet ahead.
"Daaaad..." David was calling him in an excited fashion. What did he want?
Mr. Cohen quickly rushed forward only to notice David giving an impish smile and handshake to Mr. McGinn, David's boss.
For the past six weeks, Mr. Cohen had been employed in a new job, which was rather demanding. On several occasions his new boss had telephoned him at home quite late in the evening, asking questions and giving instructions about the work.
Quick to act, Mr. Cohen also offered his hand to his Mr. McGinn and said, "Err...how nice to meet you on the street like this...well...have a nice day, now." Mr. McGinn opened his mouth as if to ask a question, but then quickly closed it as Mr. Cohen continued his purposeful stride, onwards, towards home, his two sons almost running to keep up.
"Dad," Ben asked. He was a serious boy and something had struck him during the brief encounter. "Why did you cut it so short with your boss? Don't you have plenty of things to discuss with him?"
Mr. Cohen looked down fondly at his son and smiled. "What a great opportunity to be asking that question! This week's Torah portion talks about how Moses commanded the Jewish people to keep Shabbat…"
Ben wrinkled his brow. "Yes, but you can still keep Shabbat and talk with people, can't you?"
"That is exactly it. Moses says something like this: "For six days work should be done, and the seventh day should be holy for you, a Shabbat for G‑d, a day of rest." Even though they were working on building the beautiful Sanctuary during the week, when it came to Shabbat they stopped work."
"Yes," said Ben, "I remember hearing in school that we know from building the Sanctuary what kind of work is forbidden on Shabbat. There are 39 categories of work which went into making the Sanctuary, and those are the kinds of work which are forbidden. But Dad, I don't remember that speaking was one of them."
"You are right, Ben" said Mr. Cohen. "But the Sages tell us that on Shabbat we should try to be focused on more spiritual things. I could tell that Mr. McGinn wanted to talk to me about our work in the office. So the best thing was to keep our little meeting short."
"I understand," said Ben. "On Shabbat, it's as if the Sanctuary has been built, and we are just focused on enjoying it."
They had reached home, and Mrs. Cohen was standing in the doorway, with baby Alex on her arm, greeting them with a warm smile. "Shabbat Shalom!"
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