Why is Shabbos so central to the Torah? What is signified by abstaining from work?

This simple practice contains the most profound declaration of faith and, Chazal teach, purifies its observers from all sin. Rooted in the creation story and man's original, root transgression of knowing evil along with good, Shabbos proclaims the pure goodness and faultlessness of God's universe – work is unnecessary in a perfect world; by recognizing this perfection, man repudiates evil and commits himself to the service of the good.

All this and more is alluded to in the psalm that ushers in the holiness of Shabbos, the "song for the Shabbos day."

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