Moshe called the whole community of the Children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: “These are the things that HASHEM commanded to do (to make) them. Six days work should be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to HASHEM; whoever performs work in it shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Shemos 35:1-3)

This sounds strange at first. Moshe calls everyone together and his task is to tell the Children of Israel what HASHEM wants them to do or to make. Right there at the top of the list, it would seem, is something to do. That’s fine! The very next part is a strong caution of what not to do. Do not do Malacha – work on Shabbos and in specific, as an example, do not to light a fire on Shabbos! As a “professional communicator”, I would not be so quick to title this as “these are the things to be done”. Two out of the first three are things that are emphatically “not to be done”! I understand that after this flows a giant laundry list of all the various vessels and building instructions of the Holy Mishkan. I get it! There is a lot that has to be done. I am only left with a raised eyebrow over the topic heading. “These are things to be done and not done” might be a more fitting description.

Here is an approach I believe that may melt away the question I have presented here. Rabbeinu Yona writes in the 3rd Gate of Shaarei Teshuvah: …Nevertheless, there is a manner of reward for the one who is careful not to transgress a negative commandment that reaches [that] of one who does a commandment – such as if the opportunity for a sin comes to a man and he had a desire for an immoral prohibition, but he overcame his impulse – for this is from the essence of the fear of G-d, may He be blessed. And likewise, someone who had the opportunity to get rich by cheating and [charging] interest and there is no one to see and to know; yet he went with innocence and clean hands – his reward for this will be like one who plants righteousness and toils [to do a positive] commandment.

And so, it is written (Tehillim 119:3) “They have done no wrong, but have followed His ways.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Kiddushin 1:9), “Since they did not do wickedness, they have ‘followed His ways.’” And we have already discussed the explanation of this verse for you. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, likewise said (Kiddushin 39b), “[If] one sits and does not transgress, he receives a reward as one who performs a commandment.

It’s not always easy to do nothing! We all know this panicky call to action, “Don’t just sit there, do something!” Very often that is the order of the moment when there’s something to be accomplished in a timely fashion. Yet here’s an inverse version of the same phrase that also has frequent application in life, “Don’t just do something, sit there!” When Shabbos, for example, arrives and one is driven even for Heaven-sake to build items for HASHEM’s dwelling place in this world, the script is flipped and the mandate is no longer, “do something” but rather “sit there”. Sitting there” when the heart clammers to do, according to Rabbeinu Yona’s explanation is actually considered like one did something.

One who closes his mouth and refrains from speaking Loshon Hora is considered like he did something gigantic even though not one limb moved, and he stood silently like a chess piece. About this the Vilna Gaon writes, “Until the day of his death, a man must torment himself, not by fasting and mortifications. And every moment man restrains himself from speaking, he is entitled to the secret light that no angel or other creature can imagine.” Not looking at what one should not look at, is also a stupendous act of doing, without the head or eyes turning even the slightest. Refraining from answering an insult is another enormous deed, a great doing that our Sages tell us, erases all of one’s sins, even though the action was undetectable to the human eye and it only made the sound of a snowflake melting. These are ways of doing, that are really not doing at all and now we can perhaps understand the application of the words, “these are things that HASHEM commanded to do!”