Shhhaaalooommmmm sweeeeetest friends!!!!!
A huuuuuge mazel toooov to R' Yosef Tzvi and Myra Ehrman on the engagement of their daughter Esti to Aharon Gewirtzman!! May they be zocheh to build a beautiful home filled with simcha and ahava. A special mazel to the grandparents R' and Mrs. Yitzchak Yonah Ehrman on this special simcha! May they go from simcha to simcha in good health and prosperity!!
This dvar Torah should be a zchus li-ilui nishmas HaRav Hechossid R' Yisrael Tzvi ben R' Tzadok, the father of Mori Vi-rabi Ha-Admor Shlita who was niftar on the first day of Succos.
Also li-zchus refual my beloved friend and pillar of Torah and chesed R' Yehoshua Meir ben Rochel Soroh, R' Noach ben Chaya Liba and Naomi bas Tova bi-toch shear cholei yisrael!!!!
And also as a zchus for my most beloved friend R' Yosef Ezra ben Esther and his family who have just moved to a new home, new town, new neighbors, new lots of things. May all of this newness bring in its wake limitless simcha, hatzlacha and prosperity. May R' Yosef be rich like Bill Gates, a talmid chochom like Rav Ovadiah Yosef and a tzadik like the Chofetz Chaim!!!
"If there was a reward for laziness I'd probably have someone pick it up for me".
In this weeks parsha we read about Shabbos [or "Shabbat" or "The Sabbath"]. Chazal [based on the pesukim] tell us that we rest just as Hashem rested [הכתיב על עצמו מנוחה]. In our tfilas mincha on Shabbos we say יכירו בניך וידעו כי מאתך היא מנוחתם - We have a special prayer asking that we RECOGNIZE that our rest is from Hashem. We find this NOWHERE else. We don't ask that we should recognize that we are wearing tzitzis or giving tzdaka which are from Hashem. Why specifically here?
They say that hard work never killed anyone but why take the chance? - Ronald Reagan
Here is a CRUCIAL message!
People often mistakenly think that to rest on Shabbos is just Religious-Divine license to be lazy.
Not so!!
The sefarim are FILLED with warnings and exhortations not to be lazy. Shabbos should be the BUSIEST day of the week. "Menucha" doesn't mean "doing nothing". That is the dream of many who have no idea what life is about. A goy will often wait anxiously for retirement so he can finally "chill" and do nothing. He can finally sleep late and have little or no responsibility. Jews retire in order to learn in Kollel FINALLY [I am hoping to start a Kollel for retirees - all I need is the funding and it's DONE!! If anybody wants to stand behind it please tell me].
Shabbos - aahhhhhhhhhh Shabbos - is about resting the BODY in order that the soul should get busy. Just as Hashem doesn't keep Shabbos in the material sense of doing nothing so our Shabbos is not about doing nothing. As the sefer Ksav Vi-kabbalah says, Shabbos is designed in order that one can focus on ענינים אלוהיים - G-dly matters. Shabbos is a time to put away the smartphone [you are blessed if you don't have one to put away...], turn off the computer, forget Facebook and ... FACE THE BOOK!!! Open up holy books and reconnect with their help to you core being - נשמה שנתת בי - that holy eternal soul with which we are all endowed. The Medrash Tanna D'bei Eliyahu says that we should make Shabbos - כולה תורה - completely devoted to learning.
Rest means feeling that we are in our "zone". About Yisachar it says יששכר חמור גרם וכו' וירא מנוחה כי טוב ויט שכמו לסבול - Yisachar is like a donkey. He saw that menucha - rest - was good so he went ot work HARD.
So odd!! Why would one work if he sees that REST is good? Chazal say that the rest the pasuk refers to is Torah study. He saw that he was at peace when he was plumbing the depths of G-dly wisdom so he got to work.
We opened with the tefilla יכירו בניך וידעו כי מאתך היא מנוחתם - We need to know that Shabbos comes from Hashem. It is a time to become more spiritual and less material. It doesn't matter how much money you have or what your social status is. All that matters is that you have a day to get to the essence of who you are and find Hashem in that place.
Beloved friends!!!! We are SOOOOO LUCKY! We have this special GIFT [see Shabbos 10] that has so much potential. If we do it right then our entire week is permeated with the simcha and elevation of Shabbos. Let us take advantage of every second. Take your Shabbos shluf and tell your body "this is to make you happy" but when you awaken it is then time to get to work. Holy G-dly work.
A blissful Shabbos to ALLLLL of my holy friends
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Bi-ahava rabba,
Me
