Transcript
We continue in ספר שם on פרשת ויקהל Sefer Shem on Parshas Vayakhel, the great סלונים רבי Slanimer Rebbe. As we continue ויקהל Vayakhel, ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei obviously are really a repeat of תרומה תצוה Trumah Tetzaveh, which begs the question, you cannot engage פרשת ויקהל Parshas Vayakhel without being bothered by why are we reading this again? All the details, all the dimensions, all the engineering and architecture of the משכן Mishkan and its כלים keilim and of the כהנים kohanim and the בגדי כהונה bigdei kehuna, their their clothing. Why are we repeating all of this if we just did it in תרומה תצוה Trumah Tetzaveh? And the answer obviously is כי תשא Ki Sisa is in between. So they're bookends before and after the חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel. God sent us the רפואה refuah before the מכה makkah, the antidote before we encounter the incident, and afterwards. There's one fundamental difference the בית הלוי Beis HaLevi points out that ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei have the words כאשר צוה ka'asher tziva, as God commanded over and over and over again in ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei. That in תרומה תצוה Trumah Tetzaveh, it's the general instruction. But כי תשא Ki Sisa was we built something without God's consent, without God's support. Jewish people needed a physical means or a tangible means to connect to השם Hashem. משה Moshe, they panicked when they thought, based on miscalculations, wasn't coming back, he wouldn't represent their physical means to connect to him. So they built an עגל eigel as an alternative. And God says I can identify with your need for a physical means, but you can't do it your way, you got to do it my way. Religious creativity doesn't mean you get to make up what spirituality looks like. You could have the most noble intent in the world, but you can't make it up. You got to follow God's desire. It's like your spouse says to you, could you please do X? And you say, no, no, no, I got a better idea than X. I'm going to do Y, and it's going to be amazing and it's that. And she says, that's nice. Thank you. I appreciate that you wanted to do that for me, but I asked you to do X. I needed you to do X. My need, my desire, my want was X. So, כאשר צוה ka'asher tziva. ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei is repeated because it includes now the משכן Mishkan. God says, עגל eigel, I understand where it came from, but it was wrong. Instead, I'll give you a משכן Mishkan. You want something physical, tangible to connect with me? It's a משכן Mishkan, but כאשר צוה ka'asher tziva, you've got to follow exactly the way I command. Anyway, included again in ויקהל Vayakhel is שבת Shabbos, and that's the piece we're going to learn in the סלונים רבי Slanimer Rebbe.Page רע\"א Reish Ayin Aleph.ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל ויאמר אליהם אלה הדברים אשר צוה השם לעשות אתם Vayakhel Moshe es kol adas Bnei Yisrael vayomer aleihem, eilu hadevarim asher tziva Hashem la'asos osam. Moshe gathered all of the Jewish people and he said to them, these are the things that God commanded to do. ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון להשם Sheishes yamim tei'aseh melacha, u'vayom ha'shevi'i yihiyeh lachem kodesh, Shabbos Shabbason la'Hashem. Six days, you'll do work, and on the seventh will be a holy day, a שבת שבתון Shabbos Shabbason, a great שבת Shabbos for השם Hashem. It's very interesting, it says six days you do work. Why does it have to say six days do work? Does the תורה Torah care if we do work? What if I want to rest all seven days? Yeah, work part-time. I'll work all I'll rest all seven days. If rest one day is good, so rest seven days is even better, isn't it? Why not rest all seven days? The answer is the תורה Torah doesn't see work as a concession. The תורה Torah doesn't see work as a necessary evil. Well, if I don't work, I don't have anything to eat, I can't pay my mortgage so I have to work, but if I won the lottery, then אין הכי נמי eina ch'nami I could keep שבת Shabbos seven days a week. No. The תורה Torah says work is a value. Work is an ideal. Why? Because it's exactly what השם Hashem did, and we are imitating him. God worked six days, he created, used his creative capacity, creative ability, innovation, and he built the world in six days and he only rested, he earned resting on the seventh. So we too, six days we work, not as a concession, but as an ideal. Because we're meant to conquer the world. We're meant to contribute, to repair, to mold, to shape the world, not just to sit back. I like to think that if I won the lottery, I would continue doing what I'm doing. And if you wouldn't, then what you're doing is a job, not a calling, not a passion. And maybe think about finding something else to do. Or if you would find something else to do if you won the lottery, but it wouldn't be necessarily, not that there's anything wrong with a little golf and a little tennis and a little mahjong, but your life wouldn't be filled with that, you would find some calling that you'd want to, you'd want to change the world. For us, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה sheishes yamim ta'aseh melacha is not a concession. Six days you do work, but it's a command. Six days do work, mold, shape, conquer, manipulate the world. That's the wrong job for you. If you're part-time, maybe, well it depends what age you are and whether you've earned it. But means that our mission is to is to make a difference, is to make a difference in the world. We say in our דאווענען davening, שבת Shabbos is תכלית למעשה בראשית tachtlis l'maaseh bereishis. תכלית Tachlis. תכלית Tachlis means it's the goal, it's the essence. תכלית Tachlit. It's תכלית tachlis. It's why we're doing what we're doing, meaning, what gives meaning? What why do we rest on the seventh day? So the easy understanding is we rest on the seventh day because it'll rejuvenate, re-energize us. I'm exhausted from the last six days of controlling, manipulating, conquering, discovering the world. I got to rest a little bit. And now I've re-energized, boom, I'm ready to go. But that's not what it means. What it means תכלית tachlis, we say in our דאווענען davening, what's תכלית למעשה בראשית tachlis l'maaseh bereishis? The תכלית tachlis is, why am I working six days? To get to that seventh day. Why do I work? Because I want a שבת Shabbos table with delicacies and food and surrounded by people and the ability to have conversation. The תכלית tachlis of all of my molding, shaping, conquering, innovating, creating in the world, the goal, the essence, the purpose of it, the culmination of it, the payday of it is שבת Shabbos. So it's not that שבת Shabbos is, let me sleep and have nothing to do with anyone and just pass out so I can get back to working, then you've missed the whole point. The whole point of working is to get to the point of enjoying שבת Shabbos. And then you go back to working so that you can enjoy the next שבת Shabbos. So we sometimes have it backwards. The מפרשים mefarshim ask, what is the unique quality of the mitzvah of שבת Shabbos that is mentioned in ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל ויאמר אליהם Vayakhel Moshe es kol adas Bnei Yisrael vayomer aleihem. What is so significant about שבת Shabbos that Moshe had to gather all the Jewish people, ויקהל Vayakhel, he gathered עדת adas, everyone. שלא מצינו כן בעניני מצוות אחרים שבתורה Shelo matzinu kein b'inyanei mitzvos acherim she'baTorah. Moshe doesn't gather everyone to teach them about יום כיפור Yom Kippur, about עריות arayos, about כשרות kashrus. What is so significant about שבת Shabbos that that's what Moshe gathers everyone? Also, what's repeated here in the topic of שבת Shabbos, we've heard about שבת Shabbos a few times in the תורה Torah. We've heard about שבת Shabbos before. We got it. Keep שבת Shabbos. Why do we keep repeating it over and over again? It says אלה הדברים אשר צוה השם לעשות אתם eilu hadevarim asher tziva Hashem la'asos osam. These are the things that God commanded to do them. על איזה עשיה נצטוו כאן Al eizeh assiya nisstavu kan? What's the עשיה assiya? What's the do? What's the action? What's the call? הלא נצטוו על הימנעות מעשיה Hello nisstavu al himanus m'aseha. In fact, it's the opposite. Observing שבת Shabbos is not a call to action. Observing שבת Shabbos is a call to inaction. It's a call to rest. Stop acting. Six days you act, put down all the things you act with, all the tools and instruments you act with, and relax. Be at peace with nature. Be at one with nature. Stop manipulating and controlling. So what do you mean לעשות אתם la'asos osam? Moshe gathers everyone to teach them שבת Shabbos to do them. What do you mean to do? There's no action. It's inaction. וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון להשם כל העושה בו מלאכה יומת U'vayom ha'shvi'i yihiyeh lachem kodesh Shabbos Shabbason la'Hashem, kol ha'oseh bo melacha yumas. The seventh day is holy for God. Whoever does מלאכה melacha dies. Says the Slanimer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham, as brought from רש\"י Rashi, ויקהל משה שזה היה למחרת יום הכפורים Vayakhel Moshe she'zeh hayah l'macharas Yom HaKippurim. When was this ויקהל Vayakhel? When was this day? Historically, when did Moshe gather everyone to teach them, to instruct them about שבת Shabbos? This was the day after יום כיפור Yom Kippur. The morning after יום כיפור Yom Kippur, כשירד מן ההר ke'she'yarad min ha'har, when he came down from the mountain. והיינו לאחר שנתפייס הקדוש ברוך הוא עם ישראל ביום הכיפורים אחרי חטא העגל V'hainu l'achar she'nispais HaKadosh Baruch Hu im Yisrael b'Yom HaKippurim acharei Cheit Ha'eigel. So historically, what is the context? It's right after Moshe earns forgiveness, God is appeased after his anger, his wrath over the the חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel, the miscalculation, when they built an עגל eigel as a means, maybe a noble means to connect to God, but a miscalculation. They had no right, they were not entitled to experiment, to do that on their own. At that time, it was told to them this פרשה parshah which is a פרשה של תשובה parshah shel teshuva. So this פרשה parshah was given now, which is the פרשה parshah of תשובה teshuva. We said in last week's פרשה parshah, if you remember, we said in last week's Slanimer learning, that they quoted the גמרא Gemara which says that this whole episode of the עגל eigel was a precedent for how when you mess up, you can come back. That's not to let the Jewish people off the hook for what they did, or to look back with gratitude for what they did, but it means that what they did set the tone for us and was a precedent for us that you can make a mistake, you can miscalculate, you could have poor judgment, you could come back. Last week we talked about what's necessary in order to come back. Shame, guilt. When you celebrate, when you're proud of what you did that wrong, when you, Moshe doesn't break the לוחות luchos when he hears they built an עגל eigel. He breaks the לוחות luchos when he comes down and he sees them singing and dancing and having a טיש tish and a פארברענגען fabrengen. When you're joy and celebrating and and toasting what you did wrong, you're hopeless. Says ויתאבלו vayis'ablu, they mourned. Only when they realized with guilt, with shame, אוי Oi, what are they mourning? The lost opportunity, the lost time, we'll never get it back. It's gone. The lost potential in them, that lost moment. That's when there's hope. So this whole story is how do you come back from such a terrible mistake? How do you come back? Last week we talked about Esther Perel. I don't know if anyone watched it. But that TED talk that she gave about how do you have infidelity in marriage and come back? How do you make a mistake, a miscalculation with children, with friends, at work? How do you make a terrible mistake and come back? This is the great mistake towards the Almighty himself, an act of infidelity to השם Hashem. So this is the פרשה parshah of תשובה teshuva. As our Sages say, here it is again, that גמרא בעבודה זרה Gemara b'Avodah Zarah, לחטאי ישראל אלו הראו תשובה לרבים L'chotei Yisrael eilu heru teshuva la'rabim. Jewish people's mistake taught us תשובה teshuva. ובשר להם משה בשורה טובה שיש דרך של תשובה בכח השבת U'bisar lahem Moshe b'sora tova she'yesh derech shel teshuva b'koach ha'Shabbos. So now why is Moshe gathering all of them? And why specifically does this come here? Because what he's telling them is, do you know that part of the means of coming back, one of the springboards through which we can launch and propel ourselves forward in our comeback story is שבת Shabbos. אף על פי שאחר חטא העגל שנאמר עליו חטאה זו חטאה גדולה עדיין יש עצה בכח מצות שבת af al pi she'achar Cheit Ha'eigel she'ne'emar alav chata'ah zu chata'ah gedolah, adayin yesh eitzah b'koach mitzvas Shabbos. Even after the terrible mistake of of of חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel, it's a חטאה גדולה chata'ah gedolah, it's a terrible miscalculation. It was an egregious error, but there is advice, יש עצה yesh eitzah בכח b'koach, in the power of שבת Shabbos. As חז\"ל Chazal say, כל השומר שבת כהלכתו אפילו עובד עבודה זרה כדור אנוש מוחלין לו Kol ha'shomer Shabbos k'hilchaso afilu oved avodah zarah k'dor Enosh mochlin lo. The גמרא Gemara says in שבת Shabbos that anyone who observes שבת Shabbos properly, even if he worshiped an idol like the generation of אנוש Enosh, you can achieve forgiveness. That doesn't mean six days a week you can worship idols and the seventh day you rest and you're forgiven, then six days a week you worship idols and the seventh day you rest and you're forgiven. שבת Shabbos is not just, you know, it's not like the formula, say two of these and three of those and you'll be forgiven. But what it means is שבת Shabbos has within it the power to reinvent ourselves, to reimagine ourselves, to recover and reinstate our old selves, to do a reset on ourselves. My father was telling me recently, this is always the case. He was having a problem, you know, he uses the same phone when he goes to Israel and when he's here and just has the SIM card. He has he uses the SIM card or has it forwarded to his Israeli number. And the most recent trip back now he couldn't get it off the Israeli. I kept calling him and saying, Dad, it goes right to your Israeli voicemail. I can't get through to you. So he tried like a million things and he went to the Apple store and they tried a million or AT&T and they tried a million things. And the guy goes, try turning your phone off and back on. He turned it off and back on. The problem was solved. 90% of problems with your computer and your phone, turn it off and back on and it works. It's reset. שבת Shabbos is turn it off and back on. Turn it off for 24 hours. Turn it back on when you make הבדלה Havdalah. It's reset, מוחלין לו mochlin lo. Whatever the virus that was in the phone, the glitch that was in your computer because it's overworked, overstimulated. There's too many apps that are open at once, so therefore it crashes. So what do you do? Shut it down. Sometimes you need to shut down when there's overwork, overstimulation, over apps trying to integrate, too much noise, and then when you reset, when you start it again, ah, lo and behold, look at that. Everything's working. So it's not only shutting down, but it's also erasing, because when you come back on Shabbos. Yeah, right. Exactly. Exactly. So shut it down and and and all those apps, all that noise. The כח koach of שבת Shabbos is a תיקון tikun even for עבודת זרה avodah zarah like the generation of אנוש Enosh. The power of שבת Shabbos purifies a Jew in every situation. Now, this עצה eitzah, this advice is for someone who's fallen, is somebody who's saturated, who's immersed, who's marinating in sin. The מצוה mitzvah of שבת Shabbos is the source of love and clinging to God. As it's written in the זמר zemer, we sing in the beautiful זמר zemer, ah, I love this זמר zemer. קה אכסוף Kah echsof. שבת נועם הנשמות Shabbos noam ha'neshamos. We sing there's a magnificent זמר zemer, קה אכסוף Kah echsof. I'll send you the link to a great ניגון niggun for קה אכסוף Kah echsof. You haven't heard קה אכסוף Kah echsof till you've sat in the dark at a שלוש סעודות Shalosh sheudos of חסידים chasidim packed in bleachers, pitch black singing קה אכסוף Kah echsof at the top of their lungs. השבת היא נועם הנשמות Ha'Shabbos hi noam ha'neshamos. שבת Shabbos is the נועם noam, it's the pleasantness of souls. השביעי עונג הרוחות Ha'shvi'i oneg ha'ruchos, and the seventh day is the ultimate pleasure of the soul, of the spirit. עדן הנפשות להתעדן באהבתך וביראתך Eden hanefashos l'hit'adein b'ahavascha v'yirascha. It is the the pleasure point. Whatever you picture paradise looking like, whatever you long for, you're having a tough day at work, you want to be sipping a piña colada under a palm tree lying by a magnificent beach overlooking the ocean. Whatever your dream of what paradise looks for, the soul's paradise is שבת Shabbos. The soul all week long is looking forward to, anticipating, dreaming, its paradise is שבת Shabbos. The בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar brings, the הייליגע בני יששכר heilige Bnei Yissaschar says that שבת Shabbos has the גמטריא gematria of love with all your heart, love with all your soul, love to the greatest extent. So this is the topic of שבת Shabbos. If so, how is it possible that a Jew after worshipping idols like the generation of אנוש Enosh, after the חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel, can return and be connected to the level of שבת Shabbos, to the love and clinging that is fitting? So if שבת Shabbos is the opportunity when you get rid of the background noise, and get rid of the distractions and temptations, and you've quieted the יצר הרע yetzer hara, and now you're דאווענען davening, you're learning, you're singing, you're spending time with family, you're you're nourishing your soul. Your soul has been dehydrated and deprived all week long while you've been indulging in the pursuits of the body. And שבת Shabbos you're nourishing your soul, your soul comes alive again. So, if שבת Shabbos is אהבה ahava and דביקות dveikus, it's love and clinging to השם Hashem, how does that work for the person who during the week made the horrible mistake? So during the week you you damaged your soul and now שבת Shabbos somehow, as the רמב\"ם Rambam writes, the fitting love is that you are חולה אהבה choleh ahava. What's love of השם Hashem says the רמב\"ם Rambam, that you're you're love-sick. You're sick from your love of השם Hashem. How can a person who fell in sin reach the elevated level of שבת כהלכתו Shabbos k'hilchaso? So, that's a very high level. For שבת Shabbos to come and to get to the level where you're love sick, you love השם Hashem so much you're sick over the desire to come close to him. How does that work for the person who during the week distanced themselves from השם Hashem, violated השם Hashem? The answer to this is, what's the answer? ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל Vayakhel Moshe es kol adas Bnei Yisrael. In truth, an individual is not capable of reaching such a level. אך הרבים המאוחדים בלב אחד כאיש אחד בכחם להגיע לזה ach harabim ham'uchadim b'lev echad k'ish echad b'kocham l'hagiah l'zeh. The answer is what we spoke about yesterday in שול shul. You're right. As a lone individual, as an isolated person, if you violated השם Hashem during the week, you're not going to be able to feel intimacy, affection, connection, love with him on שבת Shabbos. But when you attach yourself to the רבים rabim, like we spoke about yesterday, ועמך כולם צדיקים v'ameich kulam tzaddikim, that when you see yourself as ועמך v'ameich, when you're part of עם im, when you're with the rest of the Jewish people, then כולם צדיקים kulam tzaddikim. You might be the smelly חלבנה chelbonah on your own. You're the horrific, malodorous, repugnant, smelly חלבנה chelbonah on your own. But when you join the other ten ingredients of the קטורת ketores, now you smell delicious. Now you have a pleasant aroma and fragrance. So so too with שבת Shabbos. If you experience שבת Shabbos in isolation on your own, you're right. Then how can you connect to השם Hashem, the same השם Hashem you violated during the week? But when you're part of the people, and כמרגלא בפומיה דאדמו\"ר מבית אברהם זכותו יגן עלינו k'margila b'fumei d'Admor m'Beis Avraham, zechus yagen aleinu, as the סלונים Slanimer the בית אברהם Beis Avraham used to say, he was מרגלא בפומיה margila b'fumei, was a pearl in his mouth, מאמר רבינו הקדוש אמר במאמר חז\"ל כנסת ישראל היא בן זוגך ma'amar Rabbeinu HaKadosh omar b'ma'amar Chazal, Knesses Yisrael hi ben zugcha. משמע שהיהודים מתכנסים ויושבים בשבת אחים גם יחד באחדות הלבבות זהו הבן זוג של שבת mashma she'Yehudim miskansim v'yoshvim b'Shabbos achim gam yachad b'achdas hal'vavos, zehu ha'ben zug shel Shabbos. The power of שבת Shabbos with the power of the community can elevate a Jew from any situation, even if he worships idols like the generation of אנוש Enosh, he is forgiven. The גמרא Gemara, חז\"ל Chazal say that שבת Shabbos complained. שבת Shabbos said, Sunday has Monday, Tuesday has Wednesday, Thursday has Friday, what about me, שבת Shabbos? I'm all alone. I'm alone. I crave companionship and camaraderie, I'm all alone. So what did השם Hashem say? You're not all alone. You have the Jewish people. So the בית אברהם Beis Avraham, the old סלונים רבי Slanimer Rebbe said, how is it that שבת Shabbos has the Jewish people? Where is their camaraderie? It means that when the Jewish people act together, when they come together, שבת אחים גם יחד sheves achim gam yachad, when they דאווענען daven and they eat שלוש סעודות Shalosh sheudos together and when they sing and when they wish one another a good שבת Shabbos in the street, when they feel connected and as one, and the things that divide them all week long, who did you vote for, which sports team do you root for, who, which מנין minyan do you דאווענען daven at, where do your kids go to school, what kind of ירמולקא yarmulke do you wear on your head, but שבת Shabbos comes and you say good שבת Shabbos to anybody and you connect with everybody. So when שבת Shabbos comes and it is the great uniter, unifier, so that is the בן זוג ben zug, that is the companion to שבת Shabbos. The holy Noam Elimelech, z'chus yagen aleinu, said: תחילה למקראי קדש Techila l'mikraei kodesh. We say in קידוש Kiddush, שבת Shabbos is תחילה techila, it is the beginning of the mikraei kodesh. A Jew who wants to be called to holiness, means that a Jew who aspires, wants to live a holy life. How do you begin to become holy? You should engage in שבת Shabbos. So where do we begin? When you want to live a holy life. What do you start? What do you begin when you long for holiness? What you got to wear a בורקה burqa? You put on blinders? You take a vow of absence, vow of fasting, vow of celibacy? Where do you long for holiness? It's the exact opposite for the Jew. יעסוק משבת ya'asok mi'Shabbos. The power of שבת Shabbos helps a Jew to be able to be aroused to become holy in all situations. You don't start by abstaining, you start by digging in. Delicious meals and wonderful משקה mashkeh and beautiful friends and uplifting זמירות zmiros and experience the joy of שבת Shabbos, the גישמאק gishmak. Also the words of מרן אדמו\"ר מוהר\"ד Mar'an Admor Mohashdi, I don't know who that is, על הפסוק וחגור נתנה לכנעני במזמור אשת חיל שאומרים בליל שבת al ha'pasuk b'Chagar nasnah l'kna'ani b'mizmor Eshes Chayil she'omrim b'leil Shabbos. In the last פרק perek of משלי Mishlei, when we sing אשת חיל Eishes Chayil Friday night, we say וחגור נתנה לכנעני v'chagor nasnah l'kna'ani. שכולו רומז לשבת, שהשבת מושיטה חגור או צל ליהודי, שהוא בבחינת כנעני she'kulo romez l'Shabbos, she'Shabbos moshita chagor o tzel l'Yehudi, she'hu b'vchinas k'na'ani. שעשה מעשה ארץ כנען she'asah ma'aseh Eretz K'naan. All week long we act like a כנעני k'na'ani. All week long, the Judaism in us is suppressed, it's suffocated, it's longing to come out. Yeah, we go to shul in the morning. Yeah, maybe we fit in a little דף יומי daf yomi. Yeah, we זאג zog a few תהלים tehillim. Yeah, we try to keep kosher, we do our mitzvos, we do our best. But we're so immersed in the world, we're trying to binge-watch Netflix series and we're ruthlessly trying to kill it in business and we're so pursuing the physical world that we become like a כנעני k'na'ani. We forget who our נשמה neshama is. So וחגור נתנה v'chagor nasna, like a belt, but like a rope, we throw that rope to the כנעני k'na'ani in us. We throw the rope to the Jew in us that's that's inside the כנעני k'na'ani. For the rope for the Jew to be pulled, to be lifted out, to be saved. He says to a person who's drowning in the sea, grab this rope. As long as you hold onto the rope, you're alive, you have a future. Let go of the rope, you're done. סגולת השבת להושיע ליהודי מכל מצב ואפילו כשהוא משוקע במעשה ארץ כנען ועובד עבודה זרה כדור אנוש s'gulas ha'Shabbos l'hoshi'a l'Yehudi mi'kol matzav v'afilu k'she'hu mishuka b'ma'aseh Eretz K'naan v'oved avodah zarah k'dor Enosh. אך כמר ותנאי לזה בהצטרפות כח הרבים ach k'mar u't'nai l'zeh b'hitzarfus koach ha'rabim. שלאחר החטא אין יהודי יכול להגיע בכחו עצמו למדרגת שבת כהלכתה כי אם בצירוף כח הרבים she'l'achar ha'cheit ein Yehudi yachol l'hagiah b'kocho atzmo l'madregas Shabbos k'hilchasa, ki im b'tziruf koach ha'rabim. So all week long we're drowning in the sea. We're drowning. There's so much to do and so many bills to pay and so much money just to keep your kids in Jewish school and you're dealing with miserable clients and patients and all week long you're drowning. שבת Shabbos is the rope. Hold on to that rope and you'll be saved. Hold on to that rope. And what's the rope? כח הרבים Koach ha'rabim. It means that you don't spend שבת Shabbos by finding some hotel room in some isolated place where you don't have to see one other person. Some people that's their fantasy שבת Shabbos. But that's not what שבת Shabbos is. Maybe once in a blue moon you need that. But that's not what שבת Shabbos is. שבת Shabbos is כח הרבים koach ha'rabim. You come to shul, you're connected with people. The power, the energy that's created by being with people, the unity. A unified heart. So when we are united, when we are connected, when we are a community, when we're a family, when we're a people, it lifts all of us and we are the companion to שבת Shabbos. As we find with the Jewish people in Egypt, they were sunken in the 49th gate of impurity, but then in the desert by Har Sinai, they stood there, the nation of Israel, with one heart as one person, and they were able to receive the Torah. We came out of Egypt, we were in the 49th level, the lowest level of טומאה tumah. But what saved us? That we stood at the base, at the, of the base of the mountain, we stood there כאיש אחד בלב אחד k'ish echad b'lev echad, we were one people, we were united. Why does that work, by the way? Why does that work? Why does it work that I attach myself to the רבים rabim and somehow that saves me? I'm still a יחיד yachid with my own shortcomings and failures and misgivings and indiscretions. So why does it help me? So I always give the example, it's like the stock market. You could have a stock that belongs to a certain sector and the sector is on its way up, and even though that stock didn't do anything in particular, so you have a real estate stock, you have a REIT, or you have a banking stock, or you have a biotech stock, or you have a tech stock, and that stock, maybe it even has a shtickel bad news. It's gonna come in under its expectation of profit of reports. But it's part of a sector that's that's moving up. So it will be lifted with the sector. The sector it identifies with, and the opposite can be true. A company could have a shtickel good news and really you'd expect the stock to go up, but that day the whole stock sector moved down and the company lost billions of dollars of its market value. Nothing about that company. They could have good news and it goes down, they could have bad news and it goes up. Why? Because when you belong to a sector, you move, your value moves with the sector. So when you connect, attach yourself to the רבים rabim, so even though if הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu were to look at my file, if he pulled out the videotape of my life, there'd be a lot of mistakes, a lot of things that he'd hold me accountable for. But when my record blends in with the people around me and we compliment and supplement, when I'm part of a sector that's moving up, so then I'm part of the sector that's moving up, my value goes up with it. He says, it is the beginning of the mikraei kodesh, in the zemer Kah Echsof, Shabbos Kodesh, nafshe cholas ahavasecha. Shabbos kodesh nafshos Yisrael b'tzel knafecha yechsayun. We have here two levels. Shabbos Kodesh, nafshe cholas ahavasecha. My soul longs, is sick from its love for you. This corresponds to the high level before sin, that my soul longs for your love. Therefore this is said in the singular. So as an individual, before the mistake, before the sin of the Cheit Ha'eigel, I can reach that high level of my soul is sick and longing for you. Shabbos kodesh, nafshos Yisrael b'tzel knafecha yechsayun. This refers to the Shabbos after sin, that even then, God in the shade of your wing I find refuge. But this is said in the plural. After the sin, an individual cannot reach Shabbos. After we've made the mistake of the Cheit Ha'eigel, the individual can't reach this madrega, only when we link, when we lump ourselves in with the souls of Israel, when we are collectively together. With the power of the community where Jews are united together, under your wings they find refuge. And this is the interpretation of ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל Vayakhel Moshe es kol adas Bnei Yisrael. That's why Moshe is gathering. Now we understand why this instruction, this pathway towards teshuva, towards comeback, had to be given to the whole Jewish people, the community. And it is something you do as action, not inaction. It's also why he told them it's something that you do as action, not inaction. These are the words of what Moshe gathered from all of Israel. This is the thing God commanded to do together on Shabbos. This is a command of action. The advice that God gave to the Jewish people to do after the sin of the Eigel, he gathered Moshe all of the Jewish people, that they should unite on Shabbos with one heart as one person. This is a comfort to a Jew in all situations. What's the action? There is an action of Shabbos. You're right. There's lamed tet melachos, there's 39 categories of inaction. You can't violate melacha on Shabbos. You got to be passive and inactive, but there's one big action to do on Shabbos. You know what that is? Find people and connect with them. Koach ha'rabim. Have Shabbos meals, invite people who otherwise would be all alone. Think about singles, think about divorcees, widows, think about people who need a meal. Because that's not Shabbos to eat alone. That's not Shabbos. Surround your table with people, with zmiros, with positive conversation, with laughter, with fun, with divrei Torah, connect to shiurim, Shabbos, Shalosh Sheudos, be part of people. Yis'achtu. That's a call for action, la'asos osam. So Vayakhel, he gathers everyone together and he says, last, I have something for you to do. And you know what that is? The answer to coming back from a cheit, ha'eigel, is to take action. And the action is to be united, to be one. And the Pesach is eaten together. That even though in the other korbanos we don't find this need to eat it in a group, but the korban Pesach... the only korban that we see that has to be eaten as a group, you can't eat it alone, is the korban Pesach. Because the idea of Pesach is to leap, to leap over the situation after sin, that a Jew is immersed in the 49 gates of impurity, and his advice then, Pesach is eaten in a group. Not just an external group, but an internal group of Jews who are connected together, that the essence of their time on them is to nullify themselves in the aspect of \"And Israel encamped there with one heart as one person.\" And with this power, he can leap over all the gates of impurity to the end and its conclusion. Why does the korban Pesach have to be eaten b'chaburah? Because the people coming out of Mitzrayim, having their first korban Pesach, were on the lowest level of tumah. So what is the fastest way to accelerate our coming back from mistakes that we make? By uniting with others, b'chaburah, to be together, to be a people. And for this reason, our holy rabbis elaborated on the great matter of Shabbos, sheves achim gam yachad b'Shabbos. So the notion of being together is on Shabbos. I I have this. All week long, who has time for friends? Who has time for for a coffee conversation? All week long you're running, you're busy, you can't. You never have time. Shabbos comes, there is nothing else. There's no work to do. There's no phone calls, no emails, no texts to respond to. So the Beis Avraham says, it takes mesiras nefesh. You know, sometimes we have a lot of chaburas on a Friday night. This past week with Rabbi Sobolofsky was here, we have a visiting Rosh Yeshiva every month. We have a chaburah. We have an Oneg, we have a tish, we have a Shalom Zachar. Sometimes people complain, you know, you belong home Friday night with your family. And there's truth to that. I'm not suggesting that every Friday night you have to go out. You've got to spend time with your family. Maybe after the kids go to sleep, you can go out to the chaburah, go out to the tish, still make time before and after to be with family. It's it's not a simple thing. But the Slanimer was saying, it takes mesiras nefesh. Friday night, you're exhausted, you want to collapse. Go out to the chaburah is the last thing you want to do. But sheves achim gam yachad. Shabbos is a time that you sit together davka to learn, to sing. The Noam Elimelech says that Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, that to sit together for Shalosh Sheudos, it's a great thing. Don't go home for Shalosh Sheudos and eat by yourself. Shalosh Sheudos is a time that you sit together, gam yachad, to be together. Shalosh Sheudos coming this week we have one of our Shalosh Sheudos for the soul. Simcha Leiner will be here, so he's gonna lead us in Shalosh Sheudos and our singing. Also, if we are not explicit in the words of Chazal, these are the matters that are intended greatly. As it is brought, that this is the chiddush that Moshe Rabbeinu brought when he descended from the mountain, Vayakhel Moshe, that he announced to them that the Holy One, Blessed be He, was appeased with Israel as a united group. For then the souls of Israel find refuge in the shadow of Your wings. When is Hashem willing to forgive us? You know, you can have a child who disappoints you, you can have a child who violates something you asked of them, you can have a child who really, really upsets you and frustrates you. But then you discover that that child is getting along with her siblings and has united with them to do something really special. Getting along, united with them, did something for their siblings, and you say, you know what? Forget that. Because for a parent, we said this yesterday also, for a parent, there's nothing more gishmak, there's nothing that gives more nachas than when a parent sees their children getting along. You know, last week, WhatsApp and FaceTime now both have the feature that you can do multiple video calls at once. I don't know if you've used it. But we use it all the time. You could like a conference call, but you conference video call. So my kids sent me and Yocheved a screenshot of, I don't know how many it was of them, four or five of them, all video chatting at once. So it looked like the Brady Bunch, you know, like the pictures in each, in each square. And getting that picture, you know, sometimes you force your kids to talk. Did you speak to your sibling? Did, I have a kid in Israel, I have a kid in New York, and my kids down here and, you know, do they ever talk together? When on their own they talk together and they're all laughing and smiling in this screenshot, is there anything that gives you more nachas than your children on their own coordinating to spend time, to get along, to be together? So the same is true with the Ribono Shel Olam. The Almighty gets incredible nachas when he looks down on Shabbos and there's a screenshot of our Shabbos table, of our Shalosh Sheudos, of our davening, of our walking to shul and saying good Shabbos. When he sees those screenshots of our getting along, that's the antidote to the Cheit Ha'eigel. It's tapping into the koach of Shabbos, the koach of Shabbos, the energy la'asos osam. There's one activity, inactive when it comes to melacha, creative labor, but super active when it comes to connecting and uniting with people.
