על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ב ט״זOn the Special Laws, Book II 16
א׳
1[65] It is forbidden to light any fire on this day, fire being regarded as the source and origin of life, since without it nothing can be executed which serves the requirements necessary for existence. And thus the prohibition of the highest and earliest instrument needed in the arts, and especially those of the mechanical kind, acts as a barrier to those required for the particular forms of service.
ב׳
2[66] But it would seem that his further enactments were given for the sake of the more disobedient who refused to pay attention to his commandments, when he not only requires the free men to abstain from work on the Sabbath, but gives the same permission to men-servants and handmaids, and sends them a message of security and almost of freedom after every six days, to teach both masters and men an admirable lesson.
ג׳
3[67] The masters must be accustomed to work themselves without waiting for the offices and attentions of their menials, and so in the event of times of difficulty such as occur through the vicissitudes of human affairs, they may not through unfamiliarity with personal service lose heart at the outset and despair of accomplishing the tasks set before them, but use the different parts of their body with more nimbleness and shew a robust and easy activity; while on the other hand the servants are not to refuse to entertain still higher hopes, but should find in the relaxation allowed after six days an ember or spark of freedom, and look forward to their complete liberation if they continue to serve well and loyally.
ד׳
4[68] But the result of this occasional submission of the free to do the menial offices of the slave, together with the immunity allowed to the slave, will be a step forward in human conduct towards the perfection of virtue, when both the seemingly distinguished and the meaner sort remember equality and repay to each other the debt incumbent on them.
ה׳
5[69] But the holiday of the Sabbath is given by the law not only to servants but also to the cattle, though there might well be a distinction. For servants are free by nature, no man being naturally a slave, but the unreasoning animals are intended to be ready for the use and service of men and therefore rank as slaves. Yet all the same, though it is their proper business to carry burdens and undergo toils and labour for their owners, they obtain their respite on the seventh days.
ו׳
6[70] There is no need to go through the rest of the list, when even the ox who serves the most useful and indispensable purposes in human life, namely ploughing when the soil is prepared for the sowing, and again thrashing when the sheaves are brought in for the purging of the fruit, is then kept free from the yoke and enjoys the birthday festival of the world. So universally has the sanctity of the day extended its influence.