Table of Contents

Defining the Day of Rest

ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון לה’, כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת

Six (6) days [a week] you shall work, and on the seventh day, it will be for you holy; Shabbos the resting day for G-d – anyone who does a Work then shall be killed. [i]

The Origin of the thirty-nine (39) Melaĉos

Abstract

It is a foundational premise of Halaĉa that the prohibition against violating Shabbos is defined by the thirty-nine (39) prohibited categories of Work – אבות מלאכות. The Gemara records a dispute regarding the scriptural source of these categories; either these are derived from the construction and Service of the Mishkan, or [according to Rabbi Shimon bar Yosei ben Lakonya] there is a purely textual derivation based on thirty-nine (39) occurrences of the word מלאכה. This essay explores the implications of the second opinion and provides possible reasonings as to why it was proposed in the first place.

Primarily, this paper argues the point of the second opinion: that the Mishkan cannot serve as the generative source for the Melaĉos, because the command to build the Mishkan was provided well after the Jews had been commanded to and had actively observed Shabbos, either once, or for decades.

Instead, Rabbi Shimon’s thirty-nine (39) verses function as an essential scriptural matrix, providing the requisite legal warnings to anchor a pre-existing Oral Tradition. By systematically analyzing pre-Mishkan texts—spanning the Six Days of Creation, the Egyptian slavery, the Pesaĉ laws, and the giving of the Manna, along with the one recorded violation of Shabbos—this essay reconstructs a scriptural baseline for twenty-four of the thirty-nine Works. Ultimately, the glaring textual omission of the remaining Works (notably the majority of the Order of Garments) definitively proves the necessity of both the Oral Tradition and Rabbi Shimon’s structural derivation and explains why Rabbi Shimon did not explicitly identify each verse in its association with the Work category prohibited.

Furthermore, as an aside, this framework yields Halaĉic corollaries regarding the jurisprudence over the מקשש עצים and provides a novel מליץ יושר defense concerning the status of a modern מחלל שבת בפרהסיה, in addition to establishing a basis in Torah for the concept of a תולדה, and the source for the idea that תחום שבת is a Biblical Mitzva the dimensions of which were left up to the Sages to determine.

The Inquiry

It is a foundational premise of Halaĉa that the Guarding of Shabbos[1] is defined by the prohibition of thirty-nine (39) specific[2] categories of Work – the אבות מלאכות. However, when we search the text of the Torah for an explicit, unified ledger detailing what these thirty-nine Works actually are, we find nothing of the sort. The Torah repeatedly commands the cessation of Work but leaves the actual determination of what constitutes Work seemingly open-ended.

Therefore, we must establish how the Oral Tradition derives or defines and limits the prohibition to exactly these categories.

The Talmudic Dispute

The primary discussion regarding the source of the thirty-nine Melaĉos is found in the Gemara[ii]. The Gemara asks a direct structural question:

הני ארבעים חסר אחת כנגד מי – These forty-minus-one [Works], to what do they correspond?

The Gemara records a dispute between two sages, offering two fundamentally different methodologies for deriving the number:

The Mishkan Derivation: Rabbi Ĉanina bar Ĉama states that they correspond to the physical labors required for the construction of the Mishkan. Because the Torah juxtaposes the command to keep Shabbos immediately prior to the instructions for building the Mishkan[iii], we derive that any creative labor required for the Mishkan is defined as a prohibited Workon Shabbos.
The Textual Derivation: Rabbi Shimon bar Yosei ben Lakonya offers an entirely different, text-based methodology. He states that they correspond to the word מלאכה (and its grammatical variants) appearing thirty-nine times in the Torah.

The Placeholder Thesis

When analyzing the second opinion (the Textual Derivation): while Rabbi Shimon bar Yosei ben Lakonya provides a methodology for the number thirty-nine, his methodology provides absolutely no indication as to what those thirty-nine Works actually are. The word מלאכה is used in varying contexts throughout the Torah, generally without describing a specific physical action.

Furthermore, when the Gemara continues its analysis of Rabbi Shimon’s opinion, it engages in a complex debate over exactly which thirty-nine verses count toward the total (as the word with its grammatical variants appears more than thirty-nine times in the text). Yet, throughout this intense debate over the which verses to use, the Gemara never once debates the actual list of prohibited works. The thirty-nine actions themselves (sowing, plowing, reaping, baking, etc.) are universally accepted as absolute fact by all opinions.

We must therefore conclude that Rabbi Shimon’s thirty-nine verses are not the generative source of which Works are prohibited. Rather, they are placeholder verses. The specific list of thirty-nine prohibited actions was already a known, established tradition, and the textual count of the word מלאכה was simply a mnemonic framework – an אסמכתא – used to anchor the established law into the written text.

The Historical Challenge

If the Gemara does not examine an alternative list of prohibited works, we can operate under the assumption that both Rabbi Ĉanina and Rabbi Shimon are working off of the exact same established list of thirty-nine actions – as defined by the Mishna[iv] upon which no one argues.

If the resulting list is identical, why would Rabbi Shimon initiate a dispute over the source?

The answer lies in a strict chronological accounting of the Torah’s narrative. While the physical actions of the Mishkan serve as a blueprint for defining forbidden Works, there is a fundamental historical impossibility in claiming that the Works performed in building and operating the Mishkan was the original generative source for the laws of Shabbos, namely:

The Jewish people were commanded to, and actively did, observe Shabbos long before the building of the Mishkan was ever commanded.
Historically, the concept of a seventh day of rest predates not only the Mishkan, but it even predates the giving of the Torah.

The Origins in Egypt

The Midrash[v] reveals that the initial, practical observance of Shabbos actually began during the enslavement in Egypt. While growing up in Pharaoh’s palace, Moshe went out to observe the slavery of his brethren. Recognizing their hardships, he sought a way to alleviate their burden. Moshe approached Pharaoh with a logical, administrative argument: a slave who is not given one day of rest a week will inevitably perish. Pharaoh conceded the point and placed Moshe in charge of the initiative. Moshe immediately instituted the seventh day—Shabbos—as their mandated day of rest.

The Command at Marah

Following the Exodus, but before reaching Mount Sinai, the Jewish people arrived at Marah. The verse states[vi] שם שם לו חק ומשפט – There he [G-d] made for them a statute and an ordinance. The Gemara[vii] explicitly identifies Shabbos as one of the specific commandments instituted at Marah.

The Gradual Development of the Law

While the concept of resting on Shabbos was established, the exact legal parameters of what constituted forbidden Work were not immediately known in their entirety. The Torah provides clear evidence that the specific boundaries of the law were developed and clarified over time.

The Manna

The first national test of Shabbos observance occurred with the falling of the Manna. Moshe had to explicitly instruct the people on the practical preparations required for Shabbos[viii]: את אשר תאפו אפו ואת אשר תבשלו בשלו – Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil. The people were learning the practical application of the laws of Shabbos – insofar as relates to food preparation – in real-time.

The Wood Gatherer

Even after the giving of the Torah[3], the precise legal framework was still being mapped out. The Torah recounts the incident of the מקושש עצים – the wood gatherer who violated the Shabbos[ix]. The verse notes that they placed him in custody, כי לא פרש מה יעשה לו – because it had not been clarified what should be done to him. While the people knew gathering wood violated Shabbos, the specific legal parameters and corresponding punishments were still being actively clarified by G-d through Moshe.

The Retroactive Framework

This historical timeline solidifies the analytical challenge. The Jewish people were commanded to observe Shabbos, and were actively determining what Works were forbidden, and how to apply punishment for violations thereof, weeks (Ramban) and months (Rashi) before the command to build the Mishkan was ever issued.

Therefore, even if we follow Rabbi Ĉanina’s opinion that the thirty-nine Works are derived from the activities of the Mishkan, that derivation must be mnemonical or organizational. The physical construction of the Mishkan provided a perfect, retroactive, and divinely ordained blueprint to categorize the laws they were already keeping. Perhaps this is why Rabbi Shimon, recognizing this historical chronological reality, therefore sought a purely textual framework (the thirty-nine verses) to anchor the pre-existing tradition, rather than relying on a project (the Mishkan) that had not yet existed when the laws were first kept.

What are the 39 Works

The Sefer Mitzvos Gadol (SMG)[x] codifies the prohibition of performing Work on Shabbos [presumably] based directly on the Mishna. These are traditionally grouped into four primary orders of human industry:

The Order of Bread (Agricultural & Food Production)

Plowing (החורש) *
Sowing (הזורע) *
Reaping (הקוצר) *
Gathering (המעמר) *
Threshing (הדש)
Winnowing (הזורה)
Sorting (הבורר) *
Sifting (המרקד) *
Grinding (הטוחן) *
Kneading (הלש) *
Baking/Cooking (האופה) *

The Order of Garments (Textile Production)

Shearing (הגוזז)
Bleaching (המלבן)
Carding (המנפץ)
Dyeing (הצובע) *
Spinning (הטווה)
Warping (המיסך)
Making heddles (העושה שני בתי נירין)
Weaving (האורג שני חוטין)
Unraveling (הפוצע שני חוטין)
Knotting (הקושר) *
Untying (המתיר) *
Sewing (התופר שתי תפירות)
Tearing (הקורע על מנת לתפור)

The Order of Hides (Leather Production & Writing)

Trapping (הצד) *
Slaughtering (השוחט) *
Flaying (המפשיט) *
Tanning (המולח) *
Smoothing (המעבד)
Scoring (הממחק)
Cutting (המחתך)
Writing (הכותב שתי אותיות) *
Erasing (המוחק על מנת לכתוב) *

Construction, Fire, and the Final Hammer Blow

Building (הבונה) *
Demolishing (הסותר) *
Extinguishing (המכבה) *
Kindling (המבעיר) *
Striking the final blow (המכה בפטיש) *
Transferring (המוציא מרשות לרשות) *

The Legal Necessity of Rabbi Shimon’s Derivation

The fact that we can only find explicit, pre-Mishkan textual references for a handful of these Works brings us to the ultimate necessity of Rabbi Shimon bar Yosei ben Lakonya’s methodology. His textual derivation is driven by three foundational Halaĉic principles:

The Chronological Rejection

Rabbi Shimon inherently rejects the Mishkan as the generative source due to the Historical Challenge. As demonstrated, the laws of Shabbos were actively kept and legally enforced long before the command to build the Mishkan. Therefore, the Mishkan could not have served as the original source for the laws.

The Limits of the Written Text

Rabbi Shimon does not attempt to derive each specific Work scripturally. This omission allows us to assume that it is not directly possible to do so. The vast majority of the thirty-nine actions were transmitted purely via Oral Tradition הלכה למשה מסיני, and the Written Torah was never intended to serve as an explicit, comprehensive ledger of every prohibited Work.

The Requirement of Scriptural Warning

Despite or perhaps because of the reliance on Oral Tradition for the physical actions, the legal mechanics of Halaĉa dictate a foundational rule: אין עונשין אלא אם כן הזהיר – a court cannot punish a transgressor unless there is a specific scriptural warning (prohibition) in the Torah.[xi] Furthermore, because each of the thirty-nine categories carries its own distinct liability (requiring a separate sin-offering for each inadvertent violation), there must be a scriptural basis to divide them into distinct legal categories, since they are all components of the same negative Mitzva.

By identifying exactly thirty-nine times the Torah uses the word מלאכה in prohibitive contexts, Rabbi Shimon provides the exact scriptural basis required to provide distinct punishments for each Working. The thirty-nine words serve as the specific, text-based warnings for the thirty-nine categories known from the Oral Tradition.

The Corollary of Fire (הבערה)

This structural approach leads to a fascinating Halachic corollary regarding the prohibition of kindling a fire [#37]. The Torah explicitly singles out fire[xii]: לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם ביום השבת – Do not kindle fire in all of your dwellings on the Shabbos.

The Gemara[xiii] presents a dispute regarding why this specific Work was isolated from the others. One opinion states לחלק יצאת – it was singled out to teach that the Works are divided, meaning one incurs separate liability for each Work performed. The other opinion states ללאו יצאת – it was singled out to teach that kindling is an exception; it only carries a standard negative prohibition rather than the severe capital punishments of the other Works.

If Rabbi Shimon utilizes the thirty-nine occurrences of the word מלאכה to serve as the scriptural basis for dividing the categories and establishing separate punishments, he has no need for the verse of fire to serve that dividing purpose. Consequently, his methodology aligns with the opinion that fire was singled out ללאו יצאת.[4] The verse of fire exists to teach a unique exception to the severity of punishment, while the thirty-nine text-based placeholders serve as the overarching legal architecture for the rest of Shabbos.

Since Rabbi Shimon does not go through and expound upon the list of Works, and provide sources for each and every one, we must say that he was unable to determine Halaĉically valid derivation sources for all of them, and therefore had to rely on the Oral Tradition to teach us which Works are prohibited, while the thirty-nine instances of the word מלאכה provide limitations on how many Works there were present.

Going Treasure Hunting in the Torah

While we are not going to be able to come up with a complete list of verses supporting each of the מלאכה categories where Rabbi Shimon could not, it would be a fun exercise to see which of the Works we can indeed source and derive directly from the Torah:

The Manna; the Double Portion and the later description of it which turned into a complaint.

The first time the Torah explicitly tells us about the Jewish people keeping Shabbos is with the coming of the Manna. When the Jewish people received a double portion on the morning before Shabbos, they were confused and went to Moshe to understand why this was happening:

ויאמר אליהם הוא אשר דבר ה’ שבתון שבת קדש לה’ מחר, את אשר תאפו אפו ואת אשר תבשלו בשלו ואת כל העדף הניחו לכם למשמרת עד הבקר. ויניחו אתו עד הבקר כאשר צוה משה, ולא הבאיש ורמה לא היתה בו. ויאמר משה אכלהו היום כי שבת היום לה’, היום לא תמצאהו בשדה. ששת ימים תלקטהו, והיום השביעי שבת לא יהיה בו. ויהי ביום השביעי יצאו מן העם ללקט, ולא מצאו. ויאמר ה’ אל משה, עד אנה מאנתם לשמר מצותי ותורתי. ראו כי ה’ נתן לכם השבת על כן הוא נתן לכם לחם יומים, שבו איש תחתיו אל יצא איש ממקמו ביום השביעי. וישבתו העם ביום השביעי.

And he [Moshe] said to them, ‘this is what G-d said, tomorrow, the holy Shabbos, is a day-of-rest; that which you would bake, bake – and that which you would cook, cook – and all the excess preserve it for yourselves to keep until the morning’. And they left it over until the morning, as Moshe had commanded, and it did not spoil, and worms were not in it. And Moshe said, ‘eat it today, because today is a Shabbos for G-d, today, you will not find it in the field. Six (6) days [a week] you will gather it, and on the seventh day, Shabbos, there will be none’. And it was on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. And G-d said to Moshe, for how long will they refuse to guard my commands and my teachings. See, that G-d has given you the Shabbos – therefore he gives to you on the sixth day sustenance for two days. Everyone remain in your place; do not leave your place on the seventh day. And the people rested on the seventh day.[xiv]

Derived Works: There are several Works, and Shabbos laws which can be derived from these verses.

את אשר תאפו אפו – that which you would bake, bake – the Work of Baking is prohibited. [#11]
הניחו לכם למשמרת עד הבקר – preserve it for yourselves to keep until the morning – the Work of Preservation falls under the category of המולח – tanning. This prohibition is not limited to placing salt on a hide to preserve it as leather but also includes other means of preservation. [#28]
יצאו מן העם ללקט… עד אנה מאנתם לשמר מצותי – some of the people went out to gather… for how long will they refuse to guard my commands – the Gathering is a specific category. [#4]
שבו איש תחתיו – Everyone remain in place. Since the verse was stated to the nomadic camp of the Jewish people, we can infer that the requirement to remain in place on Shabbos [besides for any association with the rules of תחום שבת or the prohibition of המוציא מרשות לרשות] is related to the need of the Jewish people to dismantle their tents and reconstruct them when they would arrive at their destination; the Works of Building and Demolishing. [#34] & [#35]

Additionally, in later descriptions of the Manna, when the Jewish people complained about it, the following verses provide other Works performed in association with collecting the Manna, for which reason it did not descend on the camp on Shabbos:

וברדת הטל על המחנה לילה ירד המן עליו – and when the dew would descend on the camp at night, the Manna would descend on it.[xv] In order to properly gather the Manna, the Jewish people would have to separate it from the dew.[xvi] The Midrash notes that there were also pearls and gemstones embedded there – which if meant literally would mean the Jewish people had to perform the Work of מרקד – sifting the Manna from the stones, and the Work of בורר – separating the Manna from the dew, in order to gather the Manna. [#8] and [#7]
וטחנו ברחיים – and they ground it in a mill[xvii] – the Work of Grinding is prohibited. [#9]

Additional Rules: Additionally, the Torah provides for us the concept of an אב מלאכה with its accompanying תולדה.[xviii] Even though these actions are separate actions, since they are part of the same category, they are treated as one categorical violation. This can be derived from including both baking את אשר תאפו אפו, and cooking ואת אשר תבשלו בשלו within the same command by Moshe.

Also, אל יצא איש ממקמו ביום השביעי – do not leave your place on the seventh day – the SMG takes the position, that this is its own negative Mitzva, namely negative Mitzva 66. He states that this Mitzva is given without measurement, and that the sages assigned the minimum allowed travel distance of two thousand (2,000) Amos before a violation would occur. There are those who disagree, including Rashi, that this is not its own commandment, and at best this was a temporary injunction provided for those who grew up consuming Manna.

The incident of the Wood Gatherer

As Rashi notes on the verses below, the Jewish people had successfully kept a single Shabbos. The very next Shabbos, still before the giving of the Torah at Sinai, a violation of Shabbos occurred.

ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר, וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת. ויקריבו אתו המצאים אתו מקשש עצים, אל משה ואל אהרן ואל כל העדה. ויניחו אתו במשמר, כי לא פרש מה יעשה לו. ויאמר ה’ אל משה מות יומת האיש, רגום אתו באבנים כל העדה מחוץ למחנה. ויציאו אתו כל העדה אל מחוץ למחנה וירגמו אתו באבנים וימת, כאשר צוה ה’ את משה.

And the Jewish people were in the wilderness, and they found a man מקשש [meaning discussed below] wood on Shabbos day. And they, those who found him מקשש wood, brought him to Moshe, and to Aharon, and to the entire congregation. They placed him under guard, because it was not specified what should be done to him. And G-d said to Moshe, this man shall surely[5] die; the entire congregation shall pelt him with stones outside the camp. And the entire congregation brought him outside the camp, and they pelted him with stones and he died; as G-d commanded Moshe.

Derived Works: The Gemara[xix] debates exactly what the term מקשש means. Since the Gemara does not come to a Halaĉic conclusion, that means, for our purposes, we can accept all opinions equally. These are the opinions listed in the Gemara:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel – There is another opinion stating that he was transferring this wood from one domain to another. [#39]
Mishna – the man was breaking branches directly off of the tree, which violates the prohibition of reaping. [#3]
Rav Aĉa bar Yaakov – the man was gathering scattered bits of wood and bundling them. [#4]

Additional Rules: We can also derive several additional rules about Shabbos from this incident: Rashi notes, the reason the verse points out המצאים אתו מקשש is to tell us that he was warned against violating Shabbos and did so anyway – thus teaching us that a violation of Shabbos is only a capital crime if properly[6] warned.

Furthermore, we learn exactly what method is to be used to enact the death sentence. The punishment for a knowing and prewarned violation of Shabbos is to be stoned to death [with the exception of kindling a fire, as noted above].

The Specific Injunction against Kindling a Fire

לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם ביום השבת

Do not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of Shabbos.

Derived Works: As we noted above, the Torah provides a verse[xx] specifically for the purpose of prohibiting the Work of kindling a fire. [#37]

We can perhaps also derive from the unusual term תבערו used in the verse, instead of the more specific לא תדליקו that the Torah is describing control over the burning process. That the root word בער is associated with control of the owner of the fire is known from the verse[xxi] כי יבער איש שדה או כרם ושלח את בעירה ובער בשדה אחר – When a man is [allowing his animals] to graze in fields or vineyards, and he sends [his animals] to graze in another’s field. Therefore, we can ascribe to this verse also the prohibition against the Work of extinguishing a flame. [#36]

Additional Rules: As we explained above, the Gemara accepts that this verse is indeed teaching us about a specific Work – that of kindling a fire. This also provides, according to one opinion, the idea that the Works fall into separate categories, or in the alternative, as we discussed above, that the prohibition related to fire is to be treated with a different punishment and is not included in the violations for which the death sentence is carried out.

The Combined Injunction against Agricultural Work on the Sabbatical

ששת ימים תעבד וביום השביעי תשבת, בחריש ובקציר תשבת

Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest; during the plowing and the harvest you shall rest.

Derived Works: Rashi reviews this verse and concludes with two explanations: either the verse is telling us about the laws of the Sabbatical year, during which agricultural work is prohibited, or it is telling us about the prohibitions of Shabbos, namely plowing [#1] and harvesting [#3].

Additional Rules: Rashi continues by pointing out, the verse is teaching us that these agricultural Works are only forbidden when they are performed for an individual’s use. When required to as part of a public Mitzva obligation, such as that of the Omer offering, then harvesting the grain on Shabbos is permitted. This seems to be derived from the Gemara[xxii].

Furthermore, we can derive from here that the obligation to rest on Shabbos comes with the flipside obligation of working during the week.

The Yom Tov Exception

In relating to the Jewish people the commandments associated with the first holiday of Pesaĉ, celebrated while still in Egypt, the verse provides an exception for the Works prohibited on days of Rest [Shabbos, Yom Tov, and Yom Kippur] namely:

כל מלאכה לא יעשה בהם אך אשר יאכל לכל נפש הוא לבדו יעשה לכם

all Work may not be done on them; except that which shall be eaten for all the living – that alone may be done for yourselves.[xxiii]

From this Yom Tov exception, which allows Work needed to be performed for the sake of eating food on the holiday [but which the sages limited to only that which could not be performed prior to the start of the holiday], we can look back and see what actions were required of the Jewish people associated with preparing for Pesaĉ – the Pesaĉ offering and the Matza and the Seder night, that the Torah deemed forbidden on the holiday as a Work, if not for this specific exemption:

Derived Works: The following Works can be directly derived in addition to the Works of baking [roasting the Pesaĉ offering is a subset of Baking – not to mention the Matza needed to be baked], and the Work of transferring from one domain to another, based on the verse[xxiv] לא תוציא מן הבית מן הבשר חוצה – Do not take from the house from the meat outside. Even though that verse is used to prohibit providing from the Pesaĉ offering to a person who was not a member of the Group, nevertheless the literal meaning includes the prohibition against transference outside the domain.

ושחטו אתו כל קהל עדת ישראל – and the entire congregation of the Jewish people shall slaughter it.[xxv] [#26]
וישא העם את בצקו טרם יחמץ – and the nation carried their dough before it could rise.[xxvi] Obviously, the need to make Matza includes kneading the dough. [#10]
While not explicitly stated, to properly process the Pesaĉ offering, the animal had to be skinned. [#27]

Furthermore, the manner in which the first Seder night was conducted, where the Jewish people were told to eat the Pesaĉ ready to leave at a moment’s notice, could be interpreted as permission to perform various Works which would otherwise be prohibited. Namely:

ולקחו מן הדם ונתנו על שתי המזוזת ועל המשקוף – and you shall take from its blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the lintel.[xxvii] The requirement to paint the doorway on the holiday could be permission to perform Dyeing. [#15]
וככה תאכלו אתו מתניכם חגרים נעליכם ברגליכם – and so shall you eat it; with your loins girded and sandals on your feet.[xxviii] To properly gird one’s loins and wrap sandals on one’s feet involves the use of Knotting and untying as needed. [#21] & [#22] Especially when considering the additional command of ולקחתם אגודת אזוב – and you shall take a bundle of hyssop,[xxix] which required a specific knot to make it into a single bundle.

The Original Shabbos

As we discussed earlier, the Jewish people began resting on Shabbos long before they received the command to do so in Marra. This was the result of Moshe’s advocacy on behalf of his brethren to give them a day of rest. The Mishna notes that Moshe chose the day of Shabbos for this day off for the slaves – presumably because he had studied with his brethren the Levi’im and knew the Order of Creation, which includes resting on the day of Shabbos. In fact, it is because G-d rested from his ‘labors’ on Shabbos that made the day of Shabbos holy. Therefore, we can reasonably look to the first Shabbos and associated acts of creation to find any references to Works being performed which would be forbidden on Shabbos:

Derived Works:

ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם – and Heaven and Earth were completed and everything within them.[xxx] Shabbos is the final action that G-d took to finish off the Work of Creation – the action of מכה בפטיש is a prohibited Work.[xxxi] That everything was finished by Shabbos means that the finishing touch had to be performed before then [#38]
יקוו המים מתחת השמים אל מקום אחד – the waters under the heavens shall be gathered to one place.[xxxii] As we noted elsewhere[xxxiii], the process of creating the oceans included setting boundaries to it, that prevents the oceans from washing over the lands. In effect, G-d trapped the waters into the ocean beds. [#25]
תדשא הארץ דשא עשב מזריע זרע – the earth shall sprout forth fodder, plants which produce seeds.[xxxiv] Sowing seeds is a prohibited Work. [#2]
יהי מארת ברקיע השמים … והיו לאתת ולמועדים ולימים ושנים – there shall be lights in the sky… and they shall be [there] as a sign for set times, and days and years.[xxxv] The prohibition against writing is not limited to phonetically symbolic letters. The prohibition includes any symbol or means of conveying a thought or message. As the verse notes the specific purpose of these lights is for a sign, and it even uses the exact phrase of לאתת comparing these to letters in the sky – this is a reference to the prohibited Work of Writing. And because these signs only appear at night, and every morning they are ‘erased’ so that they may appear again the next night, this is also a reference to the prohibited Work of Erasure. [#32] & [#33]

Summary

In conclusion, we can reasonably ascertain that the majority [24 out of 39] of the categories of מלאכות can be directly derived from the verses of the Torah, especially when taking into account the Midrashic teachings on these verses and the Halaĉic nuances of the individual categories. However, I was not able to find sources for all the categories. Which is not surprising, since, had this been possible, I am sure that Rabbi Shimon bar Yosei ben Lakonya would have done so. Instead, he notes that the categories are defined by a combination of the Oral Tradition, as well as the number of times the term for the prohibition is listed in the Torah. This exercise visually demonstrates exactly why the Mishna[xxxvi] describes the laws of Shabbos as כהררים התלויין בשערה – like mountains hanging by a hair. They possess massive, complex Halaĉic nuances (the mountains) suspended from barely any explicit scriptural text (the hair).

[1] As opposed to the positive Mitzvah of Remembering Shabbos.

[2] This essay will not explore why the Mishna uses the term forty-missing-one (40-1=39).

[3] It should be noted that this opinion follows the Gemara [Gem. Sanhedrin 78b and Bava Basra 119a] in that Moshe knew the violator was liable for the death penalty, as it says in the verse [Shemos 31:14] מחלליה מות יומת – those who profane it shall surely die. The Ramban vigorously defends this chronology because Base Din cannot put someone to death for a sin committed before the giving of the Torah.

The alternative view, espoused by Sifrei [Bamidbar 113] and Rashi ad loc. is that this episode occurred on the Shabbos after the initial command was given in Marah – which was before they arrived in the Sinai wilderness.

Either way, according to both Rashi and the Ramban – the rules for Shabbos were being mapped out even after the initial command to keep Shabbos, and those rules were implemented well before the command to build the Mishkan.

[4] This alignment regarding the prohibition of הבערה provides a fascinating basis for a מליץ יושר – defense argument regarding contemporary secular Shabbos non-observance – in addition to the תינוק שנשבה argument. The severe Halaĉic status of a מחלל שבת בפרהסיה – a public desecrator of Shabbos, whose actions carry severe communal and ritual consequences, such as invalidating their wine or disqualifying them from a Minyan, is strictly predicated on the public violation of a Work that is punishable by כרת or capital punishment [See Gem. Eiruvin 69b and Ĉulin 5a]. If we follow the opinion that fire was singled out solely to teach that it is a standard negative prohibition (הבערה ללאו יצאת), it fundamentally alters the severity of the violation of Shabbos by kindling fires. Consequently, when observing the contemporary non-religious public—whose primary visible violations of Shabbos overwhelmingly revolve around the use of electricity, lights, and combustion engines – activities fundamentally rooted in the Work of Kindling—one could argue that their public actions constitute a ‘mere’ לאו. As such, while these activities of course remain strictly prohibited, the individuals themselves would not trigger the legal status of a מחלל שבת בפרהסיה, as their primary public violation does not carry the requisite capital liability.

[5] I always found this phrasing strange. מות יומת lit. – he shall die death. I think the meaning [here] is [at least] twofold: He shall surely die. When one is killed by the human court, that punishment is certain. They cannot be swayed by Teshuva or have the punishment offset by good deeds – as can be the case when it is up to the heavenly court to punish the violator. Also, the person is only killed with death. Once that punishment is enacted, the soul is free of the burden of the sin.

[6] Interestingly, in order for a warning to be Halaĉically effective, the one violating the Mitzva must be told with precision which punishment he would be susceptible to. Here, not even Moshe knew what the punishment was. How then could the man be sentenced to death – as he had not received a valid warning.

Perhaps this is the double meaning of כי לא פרש מה יעשה לו. Since it was not explicitly stated what would be done to him, they did not feel he deserved the death sentence. But, he had committed a capital crime…

Therefore, it was only by divine decree that he was killed, and not because he deserved the punishment via normal court process. This would provide an additional depth to the Gemara’s question as to why the identity of the individual was revealed by the sages as being צלפחד – since his sin was not a capital crime, it is not as embarrassing. It was only by specific divine decree that he was put to death.

[i] Shemos 35:2

[ii] Gem. Shabbos 49b

[iii] Shemos 35:2-4

[iv] See Mishna Shabbos 7:2

[v] Shemos Rabbah 1:28

[vi] Shemos 15:25

[vii] Gem. Shabbos 87b and Sanhedrin 56b

[viii] Shemos 16:23

[ix] Bamidbar 15:32-34

[x] SMG Negative Mitzvos 65

[xi] See Gem. Yoma 81a and Sanhedrin 56b (לא ענש הכתוב אלא אם כן הזהיר). See also Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvos, Shoresh 8, establishing that the Torah never assigns a punishment without a distinct negative commandment serving as a warning. This rule is frequently referenced by the SMG. For example, see negative Mitzva 195 ad 241.

[xii] Shemos 35:3

[xiii] Gem. Shabbos 70a

[xiv] Shemos 16:23-30

[xv] Bamidbar 11:9

[xvi] See Gem. Yoma 75b

[xvii] Bamidbar 11:8

[xviii] See Gem. Shabbos 73b

[xix] Gem. Shabbos 96b

[xx] Shemos 35:3

[xxi] Shemos 22:4

[xxii] Gem. Rosh Hashana 9a

[xxiii] Shemos 12:16

[xxiv] Shemos 12:46

[xxv] Shemos 12:6

[xxvi] Shemos 12:34

[xxvii] Shemos 12:7

[xxviii] Shemos 12:11

[xxix] Shemos 12:22

[xxx] Beraishis 2:1

[xxxi] See Beraishis Rabba 10:9

[xxxii] Beraishis 1:9

[xxxiii] See also Iyov 38:8-11, and Mishley 8:29

[xxxiv] Beraishis 1:11

[xxxv] Beraishis 1:14

[xxxvi] See Gem. Ĉagiga 10a

וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון להשם