Blue resembles the sea, and the sea resembles heaven, and heaven resembles the Divine throne

  – Talmud, Sotah 17a

You should accustom yourself to being in the olam haba

Why do we nap on the Sabbath?

We nap on the Sabbath because we are participating in the olam haba.

If we are in the olam haba during the Sabbath then why is the nap requisite?

The nap and rest is requisite because in the olam haba we will not live the laborious lives that we live now. We will live stress free lives filled with the joy of the shekinah.

Shabbat and Completion:

The idea of Shabbat is one of completion. Those who enter into the Sabbath are those who have entered into he olam ha ba. Shabbat is typological of the completion (the product).

The philosophical connection is implied by the number 39, particularly as the Mishnah describes it as “40 missing 1″. 40 is associated with creation, as G-d created the world through 10 pronouncements, each of which had 4 aspects. So, there are 40 acts of creation whose absence is commemorated on Shabbat. Of the 40, one is ex nihilo which is prohibited by the conservation laws of physics. So only 39 are prohibited by the laws of Shabbat — “40 missing one”. One of those 39 is kindling.  So, when we rest from kindling fires on Shabbat, we do so in part because it corresponds to some aspect of creation, be it the creation of light on day 1, of the sun and stars on day 4, or some step whose connection is less obvious.

The idea of cessation is one of completion. G-d stopped His act of creation on the Sabbath to indicate that it lacked nothing. Similarly we are to cease creative acts on creation as an indication that the weekly acts of creation have come to an end.

The week is given for spiritual development. We are supposed to take the Sabbath to reflect on the weeks work.  We are to ask ourselves the question; what have we accomplished in the realm of our spiritual development during the week.