Transcript
Neshama Neshama oy oy oy Welcome to Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos today is not Friday today is in fact Erev Shabbos. I want to thank our generous sponsors dear friends Mendy and Sipora Fishman in zechus חיה רבקה בת צפורה פרידל and in memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks רב יעקב צבי בן דב אריה memory of his father רב יהושע חיים בן שמואל. Today's Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos is also sponsored by the P4P team Professionals for Positions email Marc M-A-R-C at P-4-P dot team P-4-P dot team. This is a very special Shabbos every Shabbos is a special Shabbos but this Shabbos in particular is no ordinary Shabbos this Shabbos is what the Tzaddikim call the Shabbos nach Shavuos the Shabbos that follows Shavuos. And why is that special? Sfas Emes Chidushei Harim and other Tzaddikim write because we take the energy and the light of Shavuos. We just stood at the mountain we just experienced the revelation we just were handed and received the Torah anew. And we can't re-enter our life and society and the world the same. The Torah is the blueprint the Torah is the formula the prescription it's the instruction manual for life. How to navigate how to live how to not just be people who learn Torah but be Bnei Torah to be molded and shaped and inspired by Torah. This is the Shabbos nach Shavuos. And the reason it's the Shabbos nach Shavuos is the reason that this is not just Shabbos we don't just move on. Shavuos is not just in the rearview mirror. Shavuos is not just behind us we didn't close the book on Shavuos. But for a week after Shavuos the energy the light the experience what we accomplished how we were transformed by Shavuos continues. Because the Halacha is that there was an obligation of bringing a Korban Chagigah a special sacrifice on each Yom Tov Pesach Sukkos Pesach Shavuos. And if you didn't bring it the first day you had seven days to bring it Tashlumin you made up you compensated for what you missed what you didn't bring to begin with. That's true for Shavuos as well. Pesach and Sukkos which are seven days you have all those days to make up for the Korban of the first day the Chagigah. But Shavuos too even though it's only one day in Israel two days outside of Israel you also have a week after and therefore the fact that you could still make up and bring that Korban shows that these days are pregnant with possibility. These are special days they have opportunity and included in them is not only the weekdays that follow but even though the way it fell out this year Shavuos was over last Motzei Shabbos the two days in Chutz La’aretz were Friday Shabbos last Motzei Shabbos. But still a week later a week long this Shabbos is the Shabbos nach Shavuos. This Shabbos is the Shabbos after Shavuos. And that's why we read Parshas Nasso it's not a coincidence. We read and we learn and we study the longest Parsha in the Torah that has the most Midrash the most Midrash Rabbah and that has the Zohar that's unusually esoteric on this Parsha because both the Torah she-B'ksav the written Torah the Parsha itself as well as the Torah she-B'al Peh the rabbinic tradition on the Parsha it's all unusually lengthy because we are continuing that experience we're still receiving the Torah anew. We're learning it we're diving into it we're being transformed by it and we're being touched with it. This Shabbos Shabbos nach Shavuos. In this Parsha Parshas Nasso we have the Birchas Kohanim we're familiar with it Friday night is the bracha we give our children. And those who are waiting and longing for children should im yirtzeh Hashem know the experience and celebrate many simchas. And we give a bracha on Friday night. A father in some cases a mother put their hand or hands on their children. A halachic question how can we do that if we're not Kohanim? But many answers are given. We put our hands on our children and we pause on a Friday night and we say we're not going to take the blessings in our life for granted. We're blessed to have children to have continuity to have a future. We're not going to just simply take that for granted no matter what happened that week. Homework was done or not done finals were studied for or not studied for the room was cleaned up or a mess whether people listened or didn't listen doesn't matter. Come Friday night what a blessing. And we count our blessings literally and we give the great blessing. We give the Birchas Kohanim that appears in our Parsha. And it makes sense to give a bracha on Shabbos because we say on Friday night L'cha Dodi שבת כי היא מקור ברכה Shabbos is the source of all blessing. So if we want to have blessing in our life then we tap into it most on Shabbos. So today Friday get ready. Count the blessings in your life look around and whether it's your own children or whether it's family friends whether it's a roof over your head a car in your driveway whether it's a table you can set food to eat whether you've been invited to someone else's home even if right now you don't have family to be with but there's blessing in our lives. And the way we get ready for Shabbos which is the mekor bracha is on Friday to already stop and look and see and appreciate and be grateful for the bracha in our life. You have Shabbos clothing to put on you have a shul to daven in Shabbos you've received an invitation you have a table you'll be at then that's a reason to be grateful. That's the bracha. Shabbos is the mekor bracha. The Zohar Hakadosh the Zohar. says that all six days of the week are blessed from the Shabbos before. Shabbos is Mekor Bracha. And that's why we give a Bracha on Friday night. And the greatest Bracha that we have: אין כלי מחזיק ברכה אלא שלום. And that's why Shabbos is consistent with Shalom. We say Shabbat Shalom, Shabbos is Shalom, Shabbos is all about peace and harmony. The rest of the week we conquer, we manipulate, we struggle, we achieve, we aspire. The rest of the week we work. Shabbos, peace and harmony. We're at peace with nature, we're at peace with the world, we're at peace with the people around us, we're at peace with ourselves. And even Hashem, whom we struggle with, so to say, during the week, Shabbos we're at peace. Shabbos is all about Shalom, it's all about peace and harmony. The Shabbos candles we light Friday night, set up those candles, turn Friday into Erev Shabbos by setting up those candles with intention, with mindfulness, with presence, and with a hope that those light of those candles bring Shalom. We Daven for Shalom. We light those candles Shalom Bayis for peace and harmony in our home. All that comes from Shabbos. Shabbos is the Mekor Bracha. That's why we give Brachos on Friday night. There are three Brachos, each one is doubled, Bracha Meshuleshes, Yevarechecha Hashem Veyishmerecha, Yaer Hashem, Yaer Hashem, Vichuneka, Yisa, each Bracha is doubled, so really there are six. And then the Sfas Emes says Va'ani Avarchaim, the closing words Va'ani Avarchaim, God says, \"I will bless\". That's Shabbos. So the six parts of Birkas Kohanim correspond with the six days of the week, says the Sfas Emes, Va'ani Avarchaim is the seventh day. So the first six parts only depend on the seventh. And the same way, the Brachos we want all week: you want a breakthrough and succeed in business, health and wealth, relationships, dating, life, it all comes from Shabbos. The more we lean in, the more we marinate, the more we are transformed, the more we experience, the more we're lifted by Shabbos, the more the Brachos come the next week. Shabbos is Mekor Bracha. We give Bracha, we get Bracha, we tap into the Bracha, we feel the Bracha, we count our Brachos all on Shabbos. That's your homework: turn Friday into Erev Shabbos. This week, turn Friday into Erev Shabbos by on this Friday getting ready in Kedusha Uv'yishuv Hada'as, get ready for Shabbos by counting your Brachos. There's always things: with all that's missing, with all that we need, with all that we want, and I know it's not easy for some, and I don't mean to minimize or diminish or dismiss it, not easy, but no matter what one's going through, they can find the Bracha. Look for the Bracha, count the Bracha, and in that experience the harmony, the beauty of the Shabbos, especially this Shabbos of the Shabbos Nachamu week, continue to be Mekabel the Torah Besimcha B'pnimiyus, continue to see and feel the revelation of Hashem, continue to count our Brachos Im Yirtzeh Hashem, may they only expand and continue and grow.
