As Heard From Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L
“Six days you may do work, and on the Seventh Day shall be for you a holiness of Shabbat of Shabbathon to Hashem; any one that does work on it shall be put to death.” (35:2)
We celebrate this most Holy Day of the year every week. Fifty-two weeks a year & Fifty-two hundred times over one hundred years. The more that the Torah instructs us to do certain Mitzvot often, the more incumbent it is for us to gain clarity through the repetion of their performance.
Shabbat is the grand opportunity to acquire Awareness through three fundamental Principles:
- Hashem created the universe into existence, from nothing-ex nihilo, now also He continues to will everything into continued existence. Nothing functions of itself.
- Hashem created the world for Kindliness. “Olam chesed yibane.”
- Shabbat is a sign between Hashem and Israel ‘to know’ (Ladaat). Shabbat is for us to gain knowledge.
“Shabbat is similar to the World to Come.” (Berachot 57B) “He who toils before Shabbat, shall eat on the Shabbat.” (Avodah Zarah 3A) In the Afterlife there is no longer any opportunity for Free-Will achievement. Therefore, every week the Jew enjoys at his Shabbat table the delicacies which had been prepared beforehand and he reflects on the the lesson that this life is the time for preparation.
Another similarity is the freedom from material entanglement. The most serious obstacle to the Awareness of the true issues of life is the preoccupation with worldly matters. Shabbat is a time to consider our debt of gratitude to the Creator and urge ourselves toward more accomplishment in His service.
An older Jew will have gained more Kedusha that a younger Jew if only because he passed through more Shabbatot which bathed him in its glory even unknowingly. We can now experience the splendor and Menucha/peace of mind of Shabbat along with this additional understanding of the intense Kedusha of the Day itself.
Shabbat Shalom
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