(1) GOD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: (2) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of GOD. (3) Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. (4) But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of GOD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (5) You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land.

(6) Now the Sabbath-yield*Sabbath-yield: What the land produces on its own in the sabbatical year. of the land is for you, for eating,

for you, for your servant and for your handmaid,

for your hired-hand and for your resident-settler who sojourn with you;

(7) and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield.

(2) שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה THE שבת OF THE LAND [SHALL BE] FOR FOOD FOR YOU — Since Scripture does not state והיתה תבואת הארץ לכם לאכלה‏ but‎‎ והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה it intimates: Only that which has been treated according to the Sabbatical law (שבות) and been declared free to all may you eat, but not that which has been kept by you (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 5).

(1) AND ‘SHABBATH HA’ARETZ’ (THE SABBATH-PRODUCE OF THE LAND) SHALL BE FOR FOOD FOR YOU. ... Or [it may be that] the year itself is called shabbath ha’aretz, just as the [seventh] day is called “the Sabbath of the Eternal,” or just “Sabbath;” and the reference thereof is to the produce of the Sabbath [year], for the Sabbath [year] itself is not something to be eaten.

(1) והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה, “what the earth produces during that year is for all of you to serve as food.” You are not obligated to tithe any part of it, nor to set it aside for the poor, as it is not yours to distribute. Neither is what it produces to be converted into libations to be offered in the Temple. (Sifra)

‘The Sabbath of the land shall be for you to eat’—you do not eat the ‘Sabbath’ itself. Therefore, the commentators add (implicitly): ‘the produce of the Sabbath of the land.’

The reason for the omission of the letter bet (ב־) is also to hint at an additional meaning, as our Rabbis said: ‘From that which has ceased (min ha-shavut) you may eat’ (see Rashi). That is, from that which has been rendered ownerless. According to them, the word ‘Shabbat’ here carries the sense of ‘you shall cause to cease’ (as in ‘you shall remove leaven’), meaning nullification and making it ownerless.”

And the Sabbath of the land shall be for you to eat’ (Leviticus 25:6). Behold, the Blessed Holy One shows Israel that the life of Israel runs counter to nature. For according to nature, a person must act, and through those actions receives sustenance and influence. This, however, applies only to the nations of the world, whose life does not emerge from contraction (tzimtzum) and cessation.

But the life of Israel is beyond the grasp of this world: their primary influx comes דווקא (precisely) from contraction and from cessation—through their resting in the seventh year from working the land. Likewise, from adding from the חול (the ordinary) onto the קודש (the sacred) on the eve of Shabbat, they receive abundant flow.

And this is the meaning of: ‘the Sabbath of the land shall be for you to eat’—that from the very act of ceasing, they receive good sustenance, for within that cessation is hidden the greater part of goodness.”

The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath,

to make the Sabbath, throughout their generations—an eternal covenant.

Between Me and the children of Israel it is a sign forever:

for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,

and on the seventh day He ceased—and was refreshed.

(16) The Children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath,

to make the Sabbath-observance throughout their generations

as a covenant for the ages.

(2) The meaning of la’asot (to observe) in la’asot et ha-shabbat (to observe the Sabbath) is thus similar to the meaning of la’asot (to dress) in and he hastened to dress (la’asot) it. (Gen. 18:7).

(1) ושמרו במי ישראל את השבת, in this life, לעשות את השבת, on a day that is totally Shabbat. [the afterlife. Ed]

(1) לעשות את השבת, “to observe the Sabbath actively.” The plain meaning of this line is: “to provide himself with the necessities required on the Sabbath.”

(2) A Midrashic approach: anyone observing the Sabbath properly on terrestrial earth is considered as if he had “made” it in the celestial regions. What is meant by this Midrash (Mechilta Ki Tissa) is that keeping the Sabbath is testimony that a person is a true believer in G’d and His Torah. Anyone who ignores the laws of the Sabbath thereby testifies that he is an heretic and does not believe.

(3) This is also why the word לעשות was used here instead of the more common לשמור אותה. The Torah wanted to allude to the fact that Sabbath observance is a concept which also exists in the celestial regions.

‘The Sabbath’—‘to make the Sabbath’—there is here a kind of wordplay: this is how it is kept—not by doing work, but by ‘doing’ the Sabbath. Perhaps the word ‘to make’ also hints at the conclusion of the first section about the Sabbath in Genesis 2:3: ‘which God created to do.’

“‘To make the Sabbath’ (Exodus 31:16). It is taught: Rabbi Elazar ben Parta says—

‘The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath’—this teaches that anyone who keeps the Sabbath is considered as if he has made it.

The reasoning of this interpretation is straightforward: the verse emphasizes ‘to make the Sabbath’—but what ‘making’ applies here? According to the simple sense, it should have said: ‘The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath for their generations,’ and no more. Because of this deviation in language, we derive that whoever keeps the Sabbath is as if he made it.

...

From this shift in language, the Sages derive their teaching.

And the meaning of this general principle—that whoever keeps the Sabbath is as if he has made it—can be explained as follows: the commandment of Sabbath is different from all other commandments. All other commandments have visible, concrete forms—tzitzit, tefillin, shofar, sukkah, lulav. Even when they are not being performed, they still exist as recognizable objects, distinct from those of other nations.

But the commandment of Sabbath is not like this. Without its actual observance, there is no recognizable indication that the day is Sabbath. The nature of the day itself is no different from other days. Therefore, its very existence is only recognizable through its being performed and observed.

And thus, anyone who keeps the Sabbath is considered as if he has made it—because through his actions, he makes it recognizable and defined.”