Previously1 we established that Shabbos reconnects the world to its source in Atzilus, to the Ohr HaGanuz, the Infinite Light that preceded existence. However, if Shabbos is what sustains the world, how did the world exist before Shabbos was revealed? What held creation together before anyone lit candles or made kiddush on a Friday night?
My friend Neil Harris compares it to a clockmaker assembling and testing each gear. By the time Shabbos arrived, everything was in place. Hashem wound the clock, so that when He finished, He let go, and the world began to run. That was His rest.
Perhaps the world was still in a state of creation and not yet complete. Meaning that until Avraham acknowledged Hashem, the world’s existence remained in a state of Tohu u’Vohu, unformed and unstable. The Midrash teaches that Hashem warned Bnei Yisrael that if they would not accept the Torah, He would return the world to Tohu u’Vohu. Maybe it was a consequential reminder of what existence feels like without Sha…
