Creative work & angelic labor
The Torah forbids a Jew from performing any melacha on Shabbat (Ex. 20:10; 32:14-15; 35:2; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:14). Similarly, the Torah reports that when G-d finished creating the world after six days, He rested on the seventh day from all forms of melacha (Gen. 2:2-3). The word melacha is typically translated as “work” or “labor,” but in the laws of Shabbat it takes on a more exact meaning that bans 39 specific categories of work, but does not forbid other laborious activities. In this essay we seek to clarify the exact meaning of the word melacha by comparing it to its...
Source: timesofisrael.com