Transcript
ויאתיו כל לעבדך ויברכו שם כבודך ויגידו באיים צדקך ויעשו כולם אגודה אחת לעשות רצונך. A good erev Shabbos. Today is not Friday, today may be Friday on your calendar, but today is not Friday. Today is erev Shabbos and we are turning our Friday into erev Shabbos the tremendous thanks to Mendy and Tzipora Fishman zechut refua רבקה בת צפורה פרידל in memory of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, יעקב צבי בן דוד אריה, and in memory of Mendy's father, his neshama should have an aliyah. We are turning our Friday into erev Shabbos and I want to share with you a really, really beautiful idea, a game-changing idea, a Friday-changing idea, an idea we started to learn in the parsha class relevant to our parsha but really relevant to every single erev Shabbos of the year, and it comes from Shiurei Chumash of the holy mashgiach Rav Wolbe zatzal. And he's talking about a pasuk: וילכו ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה ה' את משה ואת אהרן כן עשו. Our parsha has the details of the laws of Korban Pesach, what has to happen for Korban Pesach. And it says that Hashem communicated to Moshe, Moshe and Aaron told the Jewish people, and when the Jewish people heard it: כן עשו. So they did. Asks Rashi: וכי כבר עשו הלא מראש חודש נאמר להם? Did the Jewish people do it? The commandment came early, it came all the way from the beginning of the month Rosh Chodesh. Ella, so how could you say they did it? Only the command came and they sat on the command for a little while until it was meant to be done. So how can after the command you say, so they did, they didn't do it yet? Why are you treating it like it's done? Says Rashi: אלא מכיון שקבלו עליהם מעלה עליהם הכתוב כאילו עשו. Says Rashi, listen to these words: אלא מכיון שקבלו עליהם. Once they accepted it and received it with joy, with enthusiasm, with energy, with courage, with conviction, with clarity, once they were certain to do it, it was as if it was already done. You know, something can come, an opportunity, an invitation, a task, a mitzvah, a date on a calendar, and you can stumble and trip into it. You could delay and procrastinate. You could be low energy and uninterested, or you could be mekabbel with excitement, with vigor, with energy, with enthusiasm. Listen to what Rav Wolbe writes: כל הדברים תמיד מתחילים עם קבלה. Everything begins with first accepting it, accepting the invitation, accepting it. שבת מתחילה עם קבלת שבת. Shabbos begins literally with kabbalat Shabbos. We recite, we sing the psukim of Tehillim, we sing Lecha Dodi because we actually have in our liturgy kabbalat Shabbos. תשובה מתחילה עם קבלה. Tshuva begins with kabbala, a kabbala I take upon myself with regret for the past, I take upon myself a commitment for the future. תענית צריך קבלה בתענית יחיד. If an individual wants to fast, the night before they have to accept it upon themselves, I'm fasting tomorrow. צריך להבין מהו ענין הקבלה תעשו ודאי. Ask Rav Wolbe, why do you have to first accept it? Why do you need a kabbala? Shabbos needs a kabbala, tshuva needs a kabbala, a fast day needs a kabbala. Why do you have to accept it and receive it, just do it? Isn't the main thing, the key thing to do it? למה צריך קבלת שבת? Says Rav Wolbe: משמע שכאשר אדם מקבל על עצמו אז הוא כבר נכנס לענין של שבת. Because once you accept something and receive something, now you're already in it. Now you're anticipating it. Now you're excited about it. Now it's real, now you're making it happen. הוא הבין מה זה שבת והוא מקבל את זה. If you don't know what Shabbos is, then how could you accept it? If you accept it, it's only because you know what it is and it's where you want to be. You know, someone sends you a calendar invite. Often you make up with someone, a meeting, an event, you say send me a calendar invite and you get the calendar invite. You could accept it, you could reject it, you could say tentative. When you press the check in the calendar invite and you accept it, you're in it. It's in your calendar. It's where you want to be, it's what you're anticipating. Shabbos, kabbalat Shabbos is the calendar invite for Shabbos. And when you press check, Shabbos is where I want to be, it's what I want to be doing, it's what I've been waiting all week for. It's the shoresh of beracha, it's the tachlis of everything. אז ממילא נמשכה מזה שבת אחרת. אם נופלים לתוך שבת בלי קבלה זה סתם יום. If Shabbos just happens to you, then it's like every other day, because you're not mekabbel Monday and you're not mekabbel Tuesday, you're not mekabbel Wednesday, you're not mekabbel Thursday. There's no other day that you're mekabbel. The other days just the clock and calendar change and you're in that day. There's only one day that you're mekabbel and that is Shabbos. Shabbos gets a kabbalat Shabbos. You accept, you receive, you're in, it's the calendar invite, the checkmark for Shabbos. Rav Wolbe writes a story: פעם הייתי מוזמן לפגישה בשמונה בערב. I was once invited to a meeting at 8:00 at night. He says when I got there, the housekeeper opened the door for me and told me wait here. He said I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting and now it's 8:15, 15 minutes late. And at 8:15 the ba'al habayis comes in and says Shalom aleichem and invited me to come in. He said Shalom aleichem? You Shalom aleichem. I've been here. You're going to give me a welcome? He says when Shabbos כשמקבלים שבת רבע שעה אחר השקיעה ואומרים לכה דודי השבת כבר נמצאת. You come late to shul on Friday, or your mincha's just before shkia and you're already davening Kabbalas Shabbos and Lecha Dodi after shkia, what are you saying? Lecha Dodi, you're greeting Bo'ee V'shalom? You're not welcoming Shabbos, Shabbos is already here, it's welcoming you. You made her wait. You're not welcoming her, she's welcoming you. השבת כבר נמצאת. צריך להקפיד על זה שקבלת שבת תהיה לפני השקיעה, רק שבקושי גומרים מנחה לפני השקיעה, זה נקרא קבלה? What kind of schedule is that? So we know we have an idea of Tosefes Shabbos. There's a concept of adding on, dragging out, growing, broadening, lengthening Shabbos. It's something more. Let's start the vacation early, let's hold on to the vacation a little bit later, let's start the simcha a little bit early, let's keep the simcha going a little bit later. Shabbos, let's bring it in early, let's keep it going late. When you start Shabbos not only on time, but you come late, that your first saying Lecha Dodi and it's already after shkia, you're not saying Bo'ee V'shalom, you're not giving a Shalom Aleichem to Shabbos, Shabbos gave a Shalom Aleichem to you. The only way to really be out front is to truly have Kabbalas Shabbos and Kabbalas Shabbos is to be mekabel, to be mekabel. So it all goes back to this Rashi on Parshas Bo. מכיוון שקיבלו עליהם מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו עשו. If there's a proper kabbala, it's like you already did it. When you press check, calendar invite, Friday's Erev Shabbos. So that's our task this week, here's your homework: turn Friday into Erev Shabbos with a real kabbala. We don't have Kabbalas Tuesday and Kabbalas Thursday and Kabbalas Sunday. We only have Kabbalas Shabbos. How about turning Friday into Erev Shabbos? Set that table, shower and shave, be ready and learn שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום, prepare a vort, a story, an insight, a provocative question. Be ready. Let Shabbos find you waiting. Never come late and make her wait for you. We should all be zocha to a real Kabbalas Shabbos this week and every week.
