Transcript
Welcome back to Turn Friday into Shabbos. Today is not Friday, today is Erev Shabbos and we're turning our Friday into Erev Shabbos with gratitude to our generous sponsors, our dear friends Mendy and Tzipora Fishman, zechus for חיה רבקה בת ציפורה פרידל and a memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, הרב יעקב צבי בן דוד אריה, also sponsored by P4P Team, Professionals For Positions. For inquiries, email Marc, M-A-R-C at P4P.team. M-A-R-C at P4P.team. And this is our last Friday without music because next week is Lag B'Omer, but we're getting ready for Shabbos, we're turning our Friday into Erev Shabbos. In this parsha, Parshas Emor, talks about Shabbos, Shabbos Shabboson, sheishes yamim, six days we work and the payoff is Shabbos. The six days of work are not a mere concession, but there's value to work, and it's the contrast between the work and rest that gives the rest meaning. If you do no work, if you were to observe Shabbos the whole week long, then Shabbos wouldn't be special or different. It's the commitment to work and to progress and to advance and to contribute and to make a difference. The parsha also includes within it Sefiras HaOmer, וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה, seven complete and whole weeks. The Slonimer Rebbe among others points out that those sheva Shabbosos temimos, Sefiras HaOmer is characterized not by 49 days, but seven Shabbosos. Of course it means seven weeks of seven days, 49 days, but it means the Shabbosos of Sefiras HaOmer in particular are very important. So chevra, today Friday we're getting ready for Shabbos, and it's not an ordinary Shabbos, it's a Shabbos of Sefiras HaOmer. And the Shabbosos of Sefiras HaOmer are special. They're meant to transform us and impact and elevate us. We're meant to listen and laugh and learn. We're meant to be able to be disconnected from technology, to-dos and tasks, and connected to ourselves, our families, and most of all to Hashem. These days are temimos, because what Shabbos and Sefira have in common is shleimus. ובכלל תמימות תהיינה יהיו השבתות שקודם קבלת התורה בשלמות, mechalleliha mos yumos. The meimur in Nesivos Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe, שרגע אחד של שבת קודש חשוב ככמה וכמה שעות בימי החול. One moment on Shabbos Kodesh counts like many hours of weekday. Weekday, it's hard to get focused. Weekday, we're distracted. Weekday is competing for our attention. But Shabbos, we're present. Shabbos, we feel full. Shabbos is like we're done, we've arrived. הקדוש ברוך הוא ברא את הבריאה באופן שאינה שלמה בשום חלק מהבריאה. Hashem created the world where things are missing. We've got to complete it, we've got to work, we've got to repair, we've got to redeem it. What's the only thing that's shaleim, that's whole, that's tamim, that's full? Shabbos. We come to Shabbos and our attitude is Shabbos as if melachtacha is done, it's complete. We lean in, we're fully present, we're fully engaged. We're in the middle of a technology challenge. We're almost halfway through. 2,600 people are part of it. And Shabbos, the technology challenge means you turn your phone off ten minutes before Shabbos, you don't turn it on until ten minutes after Havdalah. And even if you're not doing the technology challenge, take it on these sheva Shabbosos, these seven weeks of Sefira, we're already on our way, we're already halfway through, more than halfway through, but these Shabbosos be fully present, be fully connected, be whole, be there. Have a 25-hour-a-week technology Sabbath. Be disconnected in order to really connect. It's what Shabbos is all about. In fact, our Chazal, our rabbis told us, Gemara in Shabbos daf pei-vav, דכולי עלמא בשבת ניתנה תורה לישראל. On Shabbos, Shabbos is the day that the Torah was given. And what we understand by that is that the power of Shabbos, the energy of Shabbos, the koach of Shabbos is what gave the Torah to the Jewish people. If we want Torah, if we want to download it, we want to be transformed by it, we want to be inspired and enriched with it, we want to be empowered to live a life, Shabbos nitnah haTorah. It's the Shabbos, the energy of Shabbos that the Torah was given. We've got to lean in and tap into the energy of Shabbos. It has to transform us. This week we showed a documentary about the late Senator Joe Lieberman, Alav HaShalom, the great senator. And so many things to learn about him. He was a mensch, and he was a Kiddush Hashem, and he was a shomer Shabbos. His daughter who was here and the film itself talked about how on Shabbos he wouldn't talk politics. On Shabbos it was the day he disconnected no matter the campaign. He was an Orthodox Jew on a national ticket, the potential to be a Vice President of the United States of America. And despite that, he didn't campaign on Shabbos. Shabbos he disconnected, Shabbos he reconnected to what matters. Shabbos was a Shabbos Shabboson, Shabbos was temimos, Shabbos was complete and whole. You get back to the campaign, you get back to work, you get back to politics. His commitment there is so much to learn from and admire about, but also be inspired by for ourselves. So here's your homework to turn Friday into Erev Shabbos, to turn Shabbos into Shabbos, is to not talk politics, to not talk work, there to be topics that are off the table. Shabbos to be tamim, for Shabbos to be pure and holy. It doesn't matter work or the stock market, the things that aren't Shabbosdik, they're not part of Shabbos, the spirit of Shabbos, the theme of Shabbos. For Shabbos to really be Shabbos, be mindful, be conscientious, don't just be disconnected from. technology, but reconnect. And the way to connect is to eliminate the distractions, eliminate the noise. Don't talk about politics, don't talk about work, don't talk about local community politics, not on Shabbos and not ever, but Shabbos is that time that we connect to a higher level, and Im Yirtzeh Hashem with that commitment, these seven weeks and all weeks can be Shabbosos that are temimos, they're complete, they're whole, we feel all our work is done, we're elevated, we're enriched, it's the payday for all the week, those six days of work, and then we're transformed by a happy, holy, and healthy Shabbos.
