How does never forgetting which day is Shabbos benefit us?
(20,8) “Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it. Six days you shall labour and you shall do all your work. But the seventh day is a Shabbos to Hashem, your G-d; you shall not do any work.”
What does the posuk “six days you shall labour” come to teach us - is it then a mitzvah to work during the six days? It should have simply said “Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it, you shall not do any work”. Also, why does it say “you shall do all your work”, and “you shall not do any work”? We know that whenever the Torah uses the word כל it always comes to include something, so what is being taught here?
It seems that the Torah is alluding to the teaching of R. Huna in the gemora in Shabbos 69b, that if someone is on a journey or in the wilderness and does not know which day is Shabbos, he should count six days and then observe the seventh day as Shabbos. And Rav taught there that every day he should do just enough work to sustain himself for that day, even on the day which he is observing as Shabbos.
This is what the Torah is saying here: “Remember the Shabbos day” - remember always and never forget which day is Shabbos, and then you will profit from this and benefit both the body and the soul. The body, because “six days you shall labour and you shall do all your work” - not just enough work to sustain yourself, but all the work that you wish to do. And you will also have a spiritual benefit, because then “the seventh day is Shabbos…you shall not do any work”, not even enough work to sustain yourself. You will not need to profane the Shabbos in order to stay alive.
As Chazal have taught: There is nothing which is not alluded to in the Torah!
Which two types of 'murderer' are hinted to in the posuk “you shall not murder”?
(20,12) “You shall not murder (לא תרצח).”
Behold, the ten commandments have two sets of cantillation notes, usually referred to as the upper and lower notes, and the two different set of notes cause some differences in the reading of the posukim. In this posuk, using the upper notes the letter צ is read with a Patach (פתח), and with the lower notes it is read with a Kometz (קמץ).
This alludes to the teaching of Chazal in the gemora Avodah Zorah 19b on the posuk in Mishlei 7:26 “For many are the dead that she has felled” - this refers to a Torah sage who has not yet reached the level where he is able to render halachic decisions, and yet he does so; “and numerous are all her slain” - this refers to a Torah sage who has reached such a level, but refrains from doing so. Chazal call both of these murderers, one by opening (פותח) his mouth to teach, and the other by closing (קומץ) his mouth and shutting his eyes from the needs of his generation, and does not bring them merit from his teaching.
This is the allusion of the פתח and the קמץ of our posuk, that this opening and closing of the mouth is included in the command “you shall not murder”.