This self-study course presents the basic principles of the 39 Melachot as listed in the Mishnah Shabbat 7:2, including the Rabbinic prohibitions.

This course is not meant to be a replacement for studying the laws of Shabbat from the original sources. It is, however, designed to be an aid in understanding, remembering, and applying the detailed laws of Shabbat. Questions that arise concerning matters not explicitly dealt with in this booklet should be referred to a competent Torah authority.

INTRODUCTION

God created the world in six days and rested on Shabbat, the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). By stopping work on Shabbat, God showed that the world is complete and lacks nothing. Jews are similarly commanded to cease their acts of creation (Melachot) on Shabbat, just as God stopped His work (Exodus 20:8-11). This ceasing of "work" acknowledges the fact that God's creation is perfect and that the world can exist without active human input.

The Torah does not specify what is classified as "human creation." However, through the juxtaposition of the commandment to build the Mishkan (the portable Tabernacle in the desert) and the commandment to keep Shabbat (Exodus 35:1-5), we learn that Shabbat overrides those acts that were done in the Mishkan. The construction of the Mishkan, itself a microcosm of the world, involved every form of human creation -- Melacha.

The Mishnah (Shabbat 7:2) lists 39 categories of work that were necessary to build the Mishkan. When applied to the laws of Shabbat, these acts form the 39 main categories of Shabbat Melachot as well. It is our task to analyze each of these specific acts, and derive the principle behind it, since all acts that embody the same original principle will be equally prohibited.

Although the laws of Shabbat are complex, they are all derived logically from the original 39 Melachot. Mastery of these laws is essential to a proper and meaningful observance of Shabbat, as is made clear by the Mishna Brura in his introduction to the laws of Shabbat (quoting the Urim v'Tumim): "It is impossible for a person to be saved from transgressing Shabbat if he doesn't learn all the laws clearly and very, very well!"