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Torah Attitude: Parashas Beha'aloscha: Shabbos preparations

Summary

If we prepare ourselves appropriately before Shabbos, then the additional soul we receive for Shabbos will stay throughout the week. In order to understand what is expected of us in preparation of Shabbos we must first analyze what Shabbos is all about. If we would make a survey and ask around, chances are that people would describe Shabbos in many different ways. The Prophet Isaiah describes Shabbos as a day of enjoyment, and a day that we honour by refraining from doing and talking about our weekday occupation and activities. "Remember the day of Shabbos to sanctify it." Shabbos is the focal day of the week. On the day of Shabbos we fulfill the obligation to remember Shabbos when we make Kiddush, and we fulfill the obligation to observe Shabbos by refraining from the 39 creative activities that are prohibited on Shabbos. It is only possible to fulfill these two obligations of Zachor and Shamor, if we acquaint ourselves with the laws of making Kiddush and the 39 activities, and study them in great detail.

Extra Shabbos soul

A few weeks ago we quoted from the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, that if we prepare ourselves appropriately before Shabbos, then the additional soul we receive for Shabbos will stay throughout the week. The following Shabbos we will then be able to receive a new extra soul.

Analyze Shabbos

In this way we can constantly grow week after week. But how do we prepare ourselves to merit such growth every Shabbos? In order to understand what is expected of us in preparation of Shabbos we must first analyze what Shabbos is all about.

Different descriptions of Shabbos

If we would make a survey and ask around, chances are that people would describe Shabbos in many different ways. To one, Shabbos means Friday night dinners with gefilte fish and other Shabbos' delicacies. To another, Shabbos is a day that one is restricted from many activities that are enjoyed during the week. To a third person, Shabbos is a day of sleep and physical rest, and to another it is a day of elevated spiritual enjoyment.

What is Shabbos?

So what is Shabbos? The Prophet Isaiah (58:13) describes Shabbos as a day of enjoyment, and a day that we honour by refraining from doing and talking about our weekday occupation and activities.

Sanctify Shabbos

These aspects of Shabbos are in addition to what is mentioned in the fourth of the Ten Commandments. In Parashas Yisro (Shemos 20:8) it says: "Remember the day of Shabbos to sanctify it." Rashi quotes the Talmud (Beitzah 16b) that relates how Shammai would think about the coming Shabbos all week. Whenever he saw a nice dish or food that would not perish he would purchase it in honour of Shabbos. The Chofetz Chaim writes (Mishnah Berurah Orach Chaim 250:2) that this is the preferred way for us to conduct ourselves. In this way we prepare ourselves all week for Shabbos and we constantly have in mind that we want to honour Shabbos with special dishes and delicacies. This helps us to look forward to Shabbos and make it a special day in a physical way. For Shabbos is not supposed to be a day of only spiritual elevation. Our bodies should enjoy and appreciate Shabbos as well (see Rashi's explanation of the extra soul of Shabbos in his commentary on the Talmud Beitzah 16a). The halachic authorities explain that we must prepare ourselves and our house in honour of Shabbos just as we would do for an important visitor. This is what the prophet means when he tells us to make Shabbos a day of enjoyment. Everyone enjoys a lavish meal set with fine dishes and live candles.

Focal day

The Ramban (Shemos 20:8) explains in the name of the Mechilta that every day of the week we remember Shabbos, when we refer to the day as a day towards Shabbos, Sunday the first day towards Shabbos, Monday the second day, and so on. In this way we acknowledge that Shabbos is the focal day of the week. The day of Shabbos itself we dedicate totally to the service and honour of G'd, as it says (ibid 10): "And the seventh day is Shabbos to HASHEM your G'd." Throughout the six days of work we are not in a position to do so as we are involved in our mundane tasks and obligations. But when we mention Shabbos every day, we connect that day with Shabbos and turn it into a day of preparation and anticipation for the coming Shabbos.

Observe and remember

In Parashas Va'Eschanan, where the Ten Commandments are repeated, we find a significant change in the wording of the commandment of Shabbos. There it says (Devarim 5:12): "Observe the day of Shabbos." The Talmud (Shavuous 20b) teaches that both the commandment of remembering Shabbos and the commandment of observing Shabbos were instructed by G'd simultaneously. Every Friday night we refer to this in the first stanza of "Lecha Dodi" as we sing "Shamor (observe) and Zachor (remember) the One and Only G'd let us hear in one utterance." The Talmud (Berachos 20b) explains that on the day of Shabbos we fulfill the obligation to remember Shabbos when we make Kiddush, and we fulfill the obligation to observe Shabbos by refraining from the 39 creative activities that are prohibited on Shabbos.

Study detail

It is only possible to fulfill these two obligations of Zachor and Shamor, if we acquaint ourselves with the laws of making Kiddush and the 39 activities, and study them in great detail. This is the most basic preparation for Shabbos. As the Chofetz Chaim writes in his introduction to the third volume of Mishnah Berurah, "A person may learn a lot about the holiness and honour of Shabbos. But if he does not study and review the actual laws of Shabbos, it is impossible for him to observe Shabbos, as he is missing the basics."

Next week we shall, G'd willing, discuss other aspects of the preparations we need to make in order to be able to observe and sanctify Shabbos in the proper way.

These words were based on a talk given by Rabbi Avraham Kahn, the Rosh Yeshiva and Founder of Yeshivas Keser Torah in Toronto.

These words were based on a talk given by Rabbi Avraham Kahn, the Rosh Yeshiva and Founder of Yeshivas Keser Torah in Toronto.

Shalom. Michael Deverett

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