Parshas Vayakhel-Pikudei
By: Rabbi Price
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this Shiur Parshas Vayakhel-Pikudei
This week on Thursday 25 Adar is my Mother-in-Law’s yahrzeit-Tzivia bas Moishe and yibodel lchaim tovim my wife’s birthday. This is in their honor
“Six days you shall work and the seventh day shall be sacred for you. It is a complete rest for the Almighty.” [Shemos 35:2].I’m going to say over a few things from my sicha on Shabbos. It is called,
“SHABBOS KODESH AND THE RABBI
AND WUNG FUNG TU” [To seethe whole thing click on link] http://www.neveh.org/price/price10.html
The wonderful sefer "Love Your Neighbor" (Parshas Noach), by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, brings a story about a certain Rabbi who would use the following procedure when having to confront a young man who G-D FORBID planned to marry out of the faith. He would take the fellow late at night to the holy ark, tell him to take out the Torah, throw it on the floor and spit on it. The shocked fellow would invariably say, "You must be kidding"! The Rabbi would then explain that marrying out of faith, is equal to spitting on the Torah. This approach would often have a profound effect. We see that sometimes, until it is explained, a person doesn't realize the consequences of his acts. Shabbos is in the same category. Many people think that it is just a "day of rest". To them if they are not tired they find no need to rest. To others, their "rest" is going for a nice ride in the car. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan Zal, in his book "Shabbos, the Day of Eternity", proves that this is incorrect, by raising the following points. If it is just a day of rest, then why is one who desecrates it punished with the most severe death penalty of stoning? Why does is it belong in the Ten Commandments right next to the prohibition of idolatry?
This reminds me of a story told to me by a very respected Rabbi. He once met a certain Rebbe whose disciples were known for responding very radically when seeing someone desecrating the Shabbos. They would pelt those desecrating the Shabbos with stones and yell SHABBOS! He asked the Rebbe how would he react if someone threw stones at him and would yell, "WUNG FUNG TU"? The Rebbe explained that he wasn't exactly sure what it meant, whereupon the Rabbi said, that is exactly what SHABBOS means to these people. They don't know what it means, so screaming at them has no effect. What you have to do is to invite them into your home and show them what SHABBOS really means.
One aspect of SHABBOS can be understood in light of how Rav Yechezkiel Levenstein Zal (Sichot of Elul about Hashgocho Protis (Divine Supervision)) explains the purpose of davening. He explains that we live in a society that preaches kochi v'otzem yadi - (It is my great power that has brought me this success). (In fact I saw an article in the Reader's Digest about the great ship the Titanic, that one of the crewmen commented about the invincibility of the ship that, "...not even G-D could sink this ship.") We therefore need many reminders and recharges to strengthen our belief that Hashem runs everything. This is accomplished by saying brachos and by praying.
Shabbos serves a similar purpose. One day a week is designated for us take out time from our physical needs and recharge our spiritual resources. On this day we strengthen our belief that G-D created and runs the world.
The Sefer Hachinuch writes in the root of Shabbos; (Mitzvah 32) "SHABBOS reminds us.…that Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. …It also alludes to the exodus from Egypt (which teaches Divine Supervision), because in Egypt we couldn't rest when we wanted. Hashem therefore took us out and commanded us to rest on the seventh day. If this is the purpose of Shabbos, we must make sure to accomplish these goals, and not waste this precious time.
The Yerushalami (quoted by the Mishnah Brurah 280:7) says: "The sole purpose B'nei Yisroel got the mitzvos of Shabbos and Yom Tov, is to enable them to have time to study Torah".
So in essence SHABBOS is a TESTIMONY that we are declaring that Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. For this very reason the Shulchan Oruch (OC, 268:7) says that we should say Vayechulu (B'reishis 2:1-3) while standing, because reciting Vayechulu is a testimony that Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. A testimony must be said while standing. The Mishna Brurah adds that it is preferable to have two people saying it just like testimony.
Conversely one who chas v'shalom desecrates the Shabbos is declaring that he does not believe that Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The Mishna Brurah in his introduction to vol. 3 writes that Chazal equate desecrating the Shabbos to idolatry.
He also points out that the 248 Positive Commandments correspond to the 248 organs in the body, and they will give these organs the power to merit resurrection. If someone is lax in a certain mitzvah then the person will be resurrected without the corresponding organ. For example, if a person was lax with the mitzvah of Teffilin, he will come back without an arm. This would be very embarrassing, as all would realize, that this person was lax in the mitzvah of Teffilin. But in this case at least the person came back to life, because one can live without an arm. Mitzvos such as Shabbos and Emunas Hashem and His Torah on the other hand, correspond to the vital organs of the body, the head and heart. If one violated these mitzvos, he will be resurrected with no head or heart, and consequently will not be able to come back to life. This explains why one deserves stoning, for desecrating the Shabbos, chas v'shalom. It is therefore also very befitting that Shabbos is an integral part of the Ten Commandments, because keeping the Shabbos is proclaiming your belief in Hashem. Desecrating the Shabbos chas v'shalom is denying Hashem similar to idolatry.
The Chofetz Chaim (Parables of the Chofetz Chaim p.102) explains the special significance of Shabbos observance with a beautiful parable. When a person opens a business he usually places a sign overhead notifying everyone what he does and to show that he is open for business. Even when he is on vacation and the store is closed, the fact that the sign is still there shows us that he will be back. However, once he removes the sign we know that he is out of business and is not coming back. Shabbos is called an "os" - a sign. As long as a Jew keeps Shabbos, even if he may be on vacation on some Mitzvos, it is a sign that he is still a Jew and eventually he will return. If chas v'shalom a Jew removes that sign of shabbos, then he is out of business.
The excuse some people have for not keeping Shabbos is that they have to 'make a living'. If they will not work on Shabbos, they will not earn enough money to support their family. This is also a terrible mistake. Does it make sense to go into a church and bow down to idols because we have to 'make a living'? Well, that is what we are doing if we work on Shabbos, as we said before, desecrating the Shabbos is equated to idolatry. Besides, our grandfathers were moser nefesh not to work on Shabbos, and were very often fired from their jobs because of it, so how can we nowadays, when it is not hard at all to find a shomer Shabbos job, work on Shabbos? Furthermore the Gemoro Beitza 16a says, that Hashem, at the beginning of the year, has already preordained how much money we are supposed to make that year. It will therefore not make a difference if we work one day less. (Even if it looks like you made more, Hashem will find many ways to make you lose what you were not supposed to get.) The Chofetz Chaim (Parables p.101) compares one who thinks that by working on Shabbos he can make more money, to a fool who had a barrel of wine with six faucets, and he figured if he would add another one he would get more wine. Not only won't he get more wine, but what he has will just come out quicker.
There is a beautiful story in "The Maggid Speaks" (by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, p.171) about Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, the Chofetz Chaim, and Shabbos.
A sick fellow, Rav Asher, was about to come to the Chofetz Chaim to get a 'Brocho' for a speedy recovery. Rabbi Sorotzkin made an effort to reach the Chofetz Chayim before Rav Asher arrived, and warn him that Rav Asher's son did not observe the Shabbos. Perhaps at this opportune time Rav Asher will be more willing to accept rebuke from the Chofetz Chayim on the subject. Rav Asher however came to the Chofetz Chaim before Rabbi Sorotzkin could get to him. Nevertheless, the Chofetz Chaim told him that we say every Friday Night in the L'cho Dodi that "Shabbos is the source of blessing". If Shabbos, which is the source of blessing, is happy with you, then I can be happy too. If your family keeps Shabbos then Shabbos will bless you. If on the other hand, your children desecrate Shabbos then Shabbos is not happy with you, what kind of brocho giver am I? Rav Asher accepted upon himself to make sure that his children will observe Shabbos properly, and eventually he had a total recovery.
We all know how people run to all kinds of great Rabbis just to get a blessing. As the Chofetz Chayim pointed out Shabbos is truly the source of Blessing. We must observe Shabbos properly so that it will give us its blessing. Even Esav Horosho understood what the blessing of a Tzaddik was. When he heard that Yaacov stole his Brochos he let out a terrible scream...", (The Lev Eliyahu explains that Esav was not the typical atheist that we think, or else he wouldn't care less about the Brochos. Obviously he had tremendous Emunah in Hashem and knew that a Tzaddik's blessing will be heard by Hashem)…………………..
I’m going to end with a story straight out of a 1995 Readers' Digest article.
"Thirty years ago Sandy Koufax- a Jewish pitcher with a sling like David's for a left arm- announced that he wouldn't play on the holiest day of his year, Yom Kippur. Koufax's employer, the Los Angeles Dodgers, respectfully pointed out that this was the first game of the 1965 World Series. Couldn't he pitch just a little?
"No," Koufax said. But later he pitched a shutout in games five and seven, and the Dodgers won the series, 4-3.
Well, Sandy would love a kid named Eli Herring, a 340-pound offensive tackle for Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. In his senior year Herring sported a 3.5 grade-point average and was judged a top senior offensive tackle in the pro draft. But Herring, a devout Mormon, turned down a possible multimillion -dollar deal with the Oakland Raiders because he, too, won't play on a holy day. Unfortunately, his holy day, Sunday, comes up once a week, just when the Raiders buckle on their equipment and go to work.
Herring meditated intensely over his dilemma. He could sign up with the NFL, play ball on Sundays and fill his life with fancy cars and houses, or he could teach math for $20,000 a year and honor the Sabbath. Herring's answer was to honor the Sabbath. He announced to the NFL that if he were drafted, he wouldn't serve.
Wow! Talk about a role model for kids adrift in a cultural sea of avarice, especially in sports. But what about his financial future? Well, to people like Herring, a blessing from above is better than a bank account."
This article speaks for itself. On one hand, it is a tremendous lesson for us to keep our Shabbos- Sabbath no matter what's at stake. I doubt we are being asked to give up a "multi-million dollar deal" not to desecrate the Shabbos. And we also realize that even if we had such a deal, we wouldn't lose anything. Hashem gives us our allotted sustenance. If we are supposed to get it, we certainly wouldn't forfeit it by keeping his Shabbos. On the other hand, it is a chilul Hashem that the goyim (and lehavdil some Jews) think that the Mormon's "Holy Day" is once a week. And lehavdil, the Jew's Holy Day is only Yom Kippur.
Let us learn these lessons about Shabbos and keep it properly.
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