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[00:00:01] Speaker A: Okay. Good evening.
I guess post Chodesh tov as we continue to march through Sferas Haomer headed towards Shavuas.
And when I saw the beautiful topic that you have of every single day of the week to focus on a different one, I'm so lucky that I got Shabbos.
So tonight's conversation is going to be about Shabbos, and I'm excited to learn it together with you.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: So.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Here we go.
So Mosh Chodesh IYAR that we all celebrated yesterday and on Arab Shabbos, Shabbos Kodesh.
I do believe that a lot of the ideas that we will talk about about Shabbos really help us as well as we again try to understand this journey that we're taking between Pesach and Shabbos.
So we know that Shabbos is kind of nicknamed Shabbos Hamalkah. The one who really made that famous, I think, was Roshlomo Alkabit in the Chadodi. But the earliest source for that, I actually believe, comes from the Gemara. From the Gemara Shabbos. There's a beautiful gemara about Ravchanina and Rabbi Yanai. And the Gemara Shabbos says that every Friday, Every Friday, Rabhanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbos evening Amar. And he would say, bo u venete la cross Shabbat.
Let us come and we will go out and greet Shabbat. The Queen. Rabbi Yanai lavesh mane malye Shabbos umikasei va' amar Boichalah, Boichala. Rabbiyanai would put on his garment on Shabbos and say, enter, o bride. Enter O bride.
And again made very famous by the beautiful song of the Chadodi. And as we sing the Chadodi, we can almost see these Tanaim walking out on the hills of Eretz Yisrael to watch as Shabbos comes in. And Shabbos is called a Shabbos queen.
Shabbos is called the Shabbos bride. There is this idea of malchus of royalty that is associated with Shabbos.
And the Zohar has a little bit of a different version of this anecdote about Hanid and Ravyana. And he says in the Zohar, it actually says, Bo ihala Bo ihala Boichalah three times Bo ihala. Which reminds us that there actually are three ideas about Shabbos.
It's interesting, but if you've ever had the experience of your Middle of Davening or you need to daven Mincha and you open up your siddr and there's a few pages missing of Mincha, and you're like, oh, no, what should I do? I'm in the middle of shmones. So what did you do? You. You turn back to Chakris or you turn to Marev, because it doesn't matter what day of the year it is. Chakris, Mincha and Marev, Shmona esre. We're in good hands, right? Even on Rosh Hashanah, if it's Mariv or if it's Chakris, it's the same thing. And the one exception to this is Shabbos.
Shabbos, the davening is totally different on Mariv and Chakris and Mincha and the Svarin tell us that that is actually because there are three absolutely unique ideas about Shabbos.
And Rav Shem Shempinkas in his Sefer Shabbos Malchusa talks about how Malchus itself brings three different ideas. There are three dimensions that come down to us.
We're going to see through Shabbos, but really come down. That kingdom actually means three different things.
So as we said, we have Atakit kadashta on the Shemonah Esreh for Marav that we say Friday evening.
And this is symbolic of Shabbos boreshas. This is symbolic of the very first Shabbos that the world experienced, Shabbos bereshas. And we're going to learn a lot about Shabbos Bereshas and the malchus that that brings in.
But then we have Shabbos morning. Shabbos morning. We say a different Shemonah esre, which the paragraph is Yizmach Moshe. Moshe was thrilled. And if you look carefully at that paragraph, it really talks about Moshe coming down with the Luchos giving us the mitzvah of Shabbos. So this is referred to as Shabbos Matan Torah, the revelation Matan Torah, which totally transformed the idea of Shabbos for us.
Then we have Mincha. And Mincha is different Shabbos Mincha, we say.
And again, if we pay attention to those words, the concept is really talking about the Shabbos of the future, the Shabbos of Olam Haba, which is really, like we say in Ben Sheng Harachaman, we anchilenu Yom shekulo Shabboshaye olamim. We're really looking for the day of Ultimate Shabbos. As we know, Shabbos is titled Me Olam Haba, a little taste of olam haba. But it's not the whole thing. So we see, again, three ideas. We have the idea of Shabbos voracious Friday night, the idea of Shabbos Matan Torah, and the idea of Shabbos olam haba. Another way to look at it actually is like we're going through a hasana, a wedding. Every single Shabbos.
Friday night is the kedushin atakidashta.
Shabbos day is the simcha is the actual chuppah. It's the actual marriage, and mincha is the yichad room. We're getting closer and closer and closer and more together with Hashem.
Okay, so what does that mean to us? We have these three ideas of Shabbos, these three ideas of Malchus.
So the truth is, what's the difference between a king and everybody else? What's the difference between me and a king?
So the mushroom that Pinkett gives about this is he says, look, there's a lot of people who really would love to be kind. They would love to do kind things. If I would have a billion dollars, I have so many ideas of the good things I can do with it. What's missing from me is the minakoi chala poel is the actual power to get anything done.
Malchus is this ability, this ability, this practical ability. A king actually has the power to do everything.
That is what we learned about Hashem through Shabbos. What we learn about Hashem through Shabbos is that all power belongs to Hashem. It is actually Hashem who has all the power. And we're going to see tonight, hopefully, how that actually provides me with menucha. That provides me with the ability to rest.
But that's not all that happens on Shabbos, because Shabbos Matan Torah teaches me something else. Because Hashem says, look, it's going to be Shabbos whether you keep it or not. Shabbos comes down to the world. But what Hashem changed about our reality when he gave us the Torah. And again, if you look carefully at the language of the liturgy of Shakwas, on Shabbos, it's all about Hashem says to us, I just want you to know, you are my people.
What a king does for his nation is he also defines it. And what Hashem says to us is, I am defining you by connecting to you and letting you know that it is your ability to make Shabbos happen. And I don't let anybody else do it. Hashem did not give it to the other nations of the world. In fact, uniquely Shabbos, non Jews are not allowed to keep Shabbos. Hashem says, this is something that only you are going to do, and you are actually going to be defined by keeping Shabbos. We talk about Jews as Shomrei Shabbos.
We don't say Shomrei Mezuzah or even Shomrei Pesach. We say Shomrei Shabbos. It defines us. It connects us to Hashem.
And then there's something totally different that happens. And again, we have it a little bit now. We're going to have it completely in the times of Moshiach, in the times of Olam Haba. And that is the transformation.
Because what a nation that has Hashem does is we are just different. We are different through Shabbos. And that's our journey tonight. Our journey tonight is to understand the menucha of Shabbos, the connection of Shabbos and how it defines us and the transformation of Shabbos that happens every single week. That can happen if we tap into it. Okay, we're on.
Okay. Starting with Creation. So we have a really interesting Pasuk.
Pasuk Aleph in Beratius. The heaven and the earth were finished with all of their array.
We know these so well. We say it in kiddush every single Friday night until we stop and wonder. We say, wait a second. There's something very strange here. Didn't Hashem create the world in six days, not seven days? What does it mean when it says that Hashem finished his work on the seventh day? Rashi asks the question. Rashi says, what's going on? And Rashi explains. He first gives an explanation that I didn't post here, and that is that only Hashem can really know the difference in time. You know, we always wait too close to the last minute on Shabbos. But Hashem actually stopped exactly before Shabbos started. To us, it would almost feel like it was already Shabbos. But then Rashi says something else. Did Hashem finish the world on Friday or on Shabbos? There was one idea that Hashem gave to the world on Mahayaha, Olam Kasser. What was the world missing?
The world was missing. Rest Bas Shabbos, Bas Menucha. Shabbos came. Rest came Khalsav, Enigma, Raha, Malacha. And that is how the world was actually finished. The world was not finished until Shabbos came into the world. Why? Because Menucha was finished. Now we all love to rest on Shabbos we love our Menucha Shabbos.
But is that all it means? Hashem couldn't figure out a way to institute like a nap time somewhere in the world without Shabbos. What does it mean that the world wasn't complete because Shabbos wasn't here.
Another pasach in shemos perakhaf the talks that is actually the Saras haze sheshas Yamim tavod va asisa komalaktacha. For six days you shall work and do all of your work. The Shulchan Arach asks a question that I think we all wonder every single week.
Is there any person who ever finished their work in one week? They got all their work done. Have we ever gotten all our work done?
Allah actually says it.
This lets us know there's actually a Halakhic requirement that a person needs to see himself, the whole Shabbosuya, as if all his work is done. You can be rushing and cramming and doing everything you need to do when you light those candles. When Shabbos comes into our homes, Shabbos is supposed to come into our hearts and we're supposed to say, I'm done, I'm done. And we leave it as if it's completely finished. Yes, I still have that project due. And yes, I didn't finish my taxes. And yes and yes and yes, put it away. It's as if it's all done. And then he continues and he says, and you should just know there is no pleasure as great as that, as that ability to say, I am at peace, I am at rest.
It's all done.
The question that there's a beautiful sefer called Shabbos Kodesh Kadashem asks. He says, yeah, but how does one get there? How do we do that? How do we really.
I can stop doing Malacha. I can do that. I can say, I can't do it now. How do I get it out of my head? How do I really relax on Shabbos? How do I put that menucha in?
So one answer, one help actually comes from the Beis Halevi. And the Beis Halevi talks about the verse that we say every morning in Davening in Lakelish Hashabas, Vayom Hashvi, that Hashem who rested on Chavez. Vayom Hashvi yis alavi Hashava kisa Kim ldo that on the seventh day has Hashem ascended and sat down on his throne of glory.
And the Beis Halifi explains it like this. The Beis Halevi says, you know, for six Days. Hashem was creating the world. He was creating the world. And if any of us were there and you would have asked me, is it clear that there is a creator here? I would say, oh, yeah, very clear. Because a minute ago, there were no trees, and now there are trees. And Hashem was right there doing everything.
It's kind of like when you're making a play and there are people involved in creating the props and they're painting and they're doing and they're building, and everybody who's involved sees very clearly who's doing it.
And then the curtains close.
And when the curtains close, all the props girls run away, and they don't want to be seen at all.
And actually, like Hashem, it's possible to see the world like it is today.
Is it possible to see the world and not see the creator?
Is it possible to see everything in the world but not see the one who made it?
That's what Hashem did on Shabbos. The moment Hashem finished creating, Hashem went up. Keila walked away from it enough that people don't have to see Hashem. They could actually see all of his creations and not see Hashem.
And Hashem said, and now it's your job.
Your job, every single Shabbos, is to open up the curtains and say, hashem, we see you, Hashem, it's you. You made our world. The reason it's on Shabbos is because that is the anniversary of this moment in time where Hashem said, I am putting it now in your hands to choose to see me. And the way we see Hashem is we stop acting like we own the world. Hashem gave us this world. And Hashem says, I let you take control. I let you build. I let you sew. I let you cook. I let you take everything in this world and make it yours until Shabbos comes in. When Shabbos comes in, stand back. Stand back and say, I see you, Hashem. You are actually the creator of the world. The power is not in me.
The power is in you.
And then we have a beautiful idea from the Arachaim. The Arachaim talks about a different.
For six days, Hashem made the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day, he rested. Vayin ha fash.
So everyone tries to explain that word, to translate that word. He took a breath, he relaxed, he refreshed, like no fesh. But the Archaim is very troubled by that. Archaim says, Hashem doesn't need to relax and rest. What does that mean? He says, what is the shoresh of the word Vayin Hafash?
The shores of the word Vayin Hafash is actually nefesh.
The Rachaim tells us that everything in this world needs a soul.
Everything in this world needs a spiritual life source.
What is the life source of the entire world?
He said, that's Shabbos. But when Hashem created Shabbos, when Hashem created the world, he gave it a very temporary life source. It's like when you plug in your phone and then you have it charged, and then you're good to go for I don't know how many hours. It depends on your phone and how you've abused it, right?
But at some point, you need to plug it in again.
When does the world need to be plugged in again? Says the Arachaim. Every single Shabbos, what is the world's life source? What is the Nephesh of the world? It is Shabbos. And every single week, when we plug in Shabbos, what are we doing?
Connecting to Hashem. We're saying, hashem, this world is yours. It's not our world, it's your world. And when we do that, we actually keep this world alive. The Rachaim says something amazing. He says, if you look, we know all the generations, right? Between Adam to Noach and Noach to Avraham. He says, count them. I want you to see. And Torah is very careful to give us the years so we know who overlapped who.
He says, there was never a Shabbos unkept. He said, Adam kept Shabbos, Shaykh kept Shabbos.
She saw Noah, Noach. Shame, shame. Averahim, Yitzchak, Yaakov. And then the Shvatim. And then nobody. We never went through a week where Shabbos wasn't captive.
Okay?
What does that do for us?
Once we understand this, once we live this truth that Hashem is really in charge of this world, that it's not our world, that we rest on Shabbos because we are understanding and expressing that it's your world, Hashem.
Something huge happens to us. What happens to us.
It reminds me that I don't have to solve everything.
I don't have to fix the whole world. I don't even have to fix my whole world. You know why? It's not mine. It's Hashem's.
How does Shabbos provide me with Menucha? Because I understand who is really in charge of this world. Whose world is it?
And again, this beautiful sefer in Shabbos, Kodesh Kadashim, he gives this beautiful mashal where he says, you know, when people are traveling, they sleep anywhere, right? Because at some point we get so exhausted, he said, and they sleep just enough to make sure that they don't miss their flight, right?
And they know that they have to get onto the next flight. What kind of a sleep is that?
He said, that is the kind of rest that we have during the week.
Eretz comes from rats. We're always running. We're always running to the next flight and the next job and the next thing to do. He said, what happens on Shabbos? He says Shabbos is coming home. Shabbos is after a long journey, you actually walk into the home and you know that night you're going to sleep well.
He said, that is the menucha that we have on Shabbos that actually lasts the entire week if we can take Shabbos with us. The idea of Shabbos, this first idea of Shabbos, voracious, that Hashem is actually in control. And I saw this beautiful quote from Rabbi Zev Smith. He says he saw it on a fridge and it's his bumper sticker now, relax, it's under control, not yours.
And when we realize that and when we learn that, that it doesn't have to be under my control, it's under Hashem's control.
And we can almost feel ourselves plugged in. We can feel like I have achieved that stability that Shabbos is trying to give me. And all of that is just step one. That is Shabbos.
That is the first idea of Shabbos, that of Malchus, that Shabbos tells us, it's Hashem's world, it's not your world.
And then we have Matan Torah. And we said that what happened at Matan Torah changed everything.
Everything that was true until Matant Torah totally changed after. Why? We have a really interesting chazal that says it's another gemara Shabbos.
Anybody who davens who prays and says the words vayechulu malela bhakasov ki ILU na seshuta flacha bemasa bracious. This is really cool. All you have to do is David and say vayechulu. And then doesn't say, you're going to get a great reward, doesn't say, Hashem is very proud of you. Doesn't nothing less than you become a partner to God. But Master Voracious, you become a partner to Hashem in the creation of the world.
You know what that's like?
So I don't know if this ever happened to you or maybe one of your children, but they have a project that they were told to do, and they're very responsible, and they're very, you know, they thought about it. They're into science, and they work on it. Really, really, you know, creative, hardworking. And they built this beautiful project.
And there's a kid in their class who doesn't get their work done.
And like, two nights before the project is due, they call your daughter up, your child up, or you up, if it was you, and says, can I join you? Can I be in your group?
And what do you want to say? They're like, I'm kind of done. I'm finished.
You didn't do any work.
And they're, like, feeling bad, and they're pressuring, and you feel bad and you decide, fine, come, you can help me finish it up. And they come and they help you finish it up. Are you feeling. Not great, not fair, not honest. Right?
What happens if.
Okay, so that's the question.
Question is actually, why on earth does that make sense?
Hashem creates the entire world.
It's almost 6,000 years old.
Do you like the trees in the spring here in Maryland? Trees are stunning, right? I made them. I made them. Said so, right?
I said, kiddush. I said, vayechu, I'm a partner of God in creation.
What's the question here? I mean, that kid didn't do anything in the science project.
Why did they deserve any credit at all?
So the mushle continues. The morning of the science project, drive your child to school.
She comes out, she's balancing her project in her hand and her backpack and her lunchbox, and all of a sudden, she starts to fall, and the science project starts to fall, and it's going to be gone.
And you're watching the scene, and out of nowhere, that kid, that last minute kid, shoots out from nowhere, puts her arms out, saves the day, saves the project.
Why do we deserve any credit for creating the world?
Because the Orochayim says Shabbos is the life source of the world.
And it makes sense that Shabbos is the life source of the world because Shabbos reminds us week after week, this is Hashem's world. He made this world. He wants a connection with us. This world is not just here. This world is here to connect to Hashem.
Who's making that happen?
I am.
You are. Every time we keep Shabbos, every time we keep Shabbos, we're plugging in the world. Every time we keep Shabbos. We're saving the world.
Not sure she doesn't deserve any credit anymore to have her name on that science project. There would actually be no science project without that girl.
What are we hearing here?
Hashem said, I have something huge, something gigantic that actually is restoring the world, connecting the world to me every single week. I want you to know I'm giving it to you. I want you to know you are my partners.
When Hashem did that, he totally transformed with reality and transformed us. We're not just people here anymore. We're partners. We're partners with Hashem. We're connected.
We're important.
Hashem says, I'm defining you by this connection. When I call you a Shomer Shabbos, I am calling you someone who is literally fixing the world every single week.
And again, of course, that makes sense because Shabbos reminds us Hashem's world. Shabbos reminds us what we're here for. Shabbos is the greatest connector, relationship builder that we have, Okay?
And now we have transformation.
We know something very interesting, something really, I don't know, tragedy.
World altering tragedy that happened to humanity, that happened to the world, and it happened right away.
Adam Harishon messed up. He destroyed himself. He destroyed the world and everything that was true before. That was supposed to be before. He was supposed to live in Kanetan, in a world of perfection, in a. In a world of spirituality. He wouldn't have had to live like we do. Think about all the terrible, awful suffering that's happened in this world in almost 6,000 years. None of that needed to happen had Adam Harishon not said, but when did Adam Harishon do his sin chet? Adam Harishon actually happened on Erev Shabbos.
When was he expelled from Ganeta?
He was expelled from Ganedan after Shabbos.
What happened on Shabbos?
On Shabbos, everything stayed the way it was.
There is something unique about Shabbos.
Shabbos actually lets us into places whether we deserve it or not.
And the first example of this is actually Adam Harisham getting to stay in Ganedan in a world that was no longer his.
But it's Shabbos. And Shabbos is above sin. Shabbos is above Avera.
Shabbos is above punishment.
It's interesting, but the same thing happened almost over 2,000 years later.
Matan Torah. We got the Torah actually on Shabbos.
And when we received the Torah, it says, the Zuhamma of the Nachash went away.
We actually brought ourselves Back to this beautiful space of Adam Harishon. Before the sin, there was something transformational that happened to us at Matan Torah. And we got crowns. Na7 right. The angels gave us these crowns. And these crowns created this huge reality of spirituality that we actually owned.
And then we did Cheta Egal.
And we know that when we did Cheta Egal, Moshe was told, you have to take away their crowns. Take away. Take away the crowns. They don't deserve them anymore.
Where did those crowns go?
So the Tsiv Seichayim says that when Moshe Rabbeinu came down, he had this Karen or he had this tremendous light. What was that light?
It says that was the light of all the crowns of Klah Yisrael that they could no longer have. Moshe Rabbeinu did not participate in Cheta Eikal at all. And it was for him.
Was Moshe happy about those crowns? He was not happy. He was not happy that Klah Yisrael lost those crowns. Yosef Zeichaim says that is the secret behind Yizmach Mosheb and Matanas Chakou. This is why Moshe was so overjoyed with when.
When it became Shabbos again.
When it became Shabbos again, Hashem said to him, jewish nation can have their crowns back on Shabbos, they can have their crowns.
The way Sivzachaim explains it is the gift that became his ability to give that the Jewish nation can have that. And we're thinking to ourselves, I don't know. I don't feel like I have crowns, says the Sevzechaim. That's the neshama ysera. That's the Neshama yseira that comes to us every single Shabbos. There is something different that happens on Shabbos.
It's really interesting that, going back to Kheed, Adam Harishon.
So the Sefaram tell us that one of the reasons why we are careful about the 39 malachos on Shabbos is if you think about what those 39 are, those are the 39 ways that. Sorry. That the world changed after the sin of Adam Harishon. It became a very physical world. A world of building, a world of planting, a world of cooking, a world of physical labor. It wasn't ever supposed to be like that.
Those 39 malachos were actually the 39.
The 39 ways the world became a more physical world after the ched of Adam Harwishon. And that has no place on Shabbos. Shabbos is A place above Avera. Shabbos is a place that takes us back to Olam Haba, to Ganedan, to a world without sin. And the truth is, when we're keyed into Shabbos, when we're connected to Shabbos, we feel it. We feel it sometimes in a moment when we're lighting candles. We feel it sometimes with our family around us at a Shabbos sutta. We feel it sometimes in shul, when they take out the Sefer Torah and we're standing there in Shulem, I feel like we can be more connected than on another day. There's something that is not the whole thing. It's me.
It's a little piece.
It's a little taste of this world that we're really all waiting for.
And that those are our three crowns. Those are our three crowns of Shabbos. We have the Shabbos of Menucha, the Shabbos of recognizing.
This is Hashem's world. And I don't have to worry, because this is Hashem's world.
This is Hashem's world. And I'm keying into that. And it's my job to open the curtain, and it's my job to say, hashem, I see you. You went up on your throne, but we see you. We're bringing you down here. How are we bringing you down here? Because on Shabbos, we're acting like it's not our world. You let us pretend all week like we own the world.
On Shabbos, we remind ourselves, we declare by our actions that this is Hashem's world.
And number two, I recognize unbelievable privilege you have given me.
You let me partner with you. You made this whole world.
And you say to me, I just want you to know your actions matter in my world.
You have the power to keep my world healthy, connected to me. And therefore, you are the life source of the world. Hashem says, it doesn't have to be this way, but I made it this way. You are my partners. OT it is a sign. It is a. It is a partnership.
I set it up that way. No one else is allowed to do it. There is so much love of Shabbos that Hashem expresses to us, allowing us to be those people that keep Shabbos.
And finally, Hashem says, and I just want you to know, when you keep it, you're different.
When you keep it, you walk into a place that you have no business being in. Adam can be in Ganeita, the Jewish people, even after they can have their crowns back. And we have a neshama yaseira. We have something that we hold that is extra. It's a place where we're not able to be. Usually it's a feeling that we can have of being connected to Hashem, much higher than we have worked on. You know, there's a Ravpinchas Ben Ya', ir, as discussed in Misilas Yeshar, there are levels. So onto Zriza Santa Nicias, onto level, level, level, level. The highest level, way higher than almost any of the others, is kedusha.
Shem says, you get there just by keeping Shabbos. You can actually walk into a world of kedusha that you have no business being in.
I want to end with two stories. One is a family story, and one is a beautiful story that I read.
The beautiful story that I read was a story of a man named Rav Yosef Yitzchak Parnas. He lived more than a hundred years ago.
And the story goes like this.
There were some wealthy Jews walking around.
I believe it was the Lower east side.
And they see a very strange sight. They see what looks like African American children speaking Yiddish.
And they're like, wow, that is fascinating. There are African American children here who know Yiddish. And they went over to them. They said, like, how do you speak Yiddish? And the kids were still laughing because they were regular Jewish kids.
They were so poor, they lived in a coal cellar. Their family lived in a coal cellar. And they were always kind of stained black.
And now it wasn't very funny. And this couple was horrified by this. And they said, come, bring us to your home. We want to meet your parents. They went to their parents, and their parents were the Parnassus. And they were very kind people, this couple, and they were very wealthy. And they said to this Rabbi Parnas, they said, you know, you can't live here with your kids. This is really not good for you.
We'd like to sponsor you.
We're going to help you find an apartment, and we're going to pay for it. We're going to help you. You can't live like this.
And he was so grateful, and he was so happy.
And then he said to this kind benefactor, he said, I just have one question. Are you a Sabbath observer?
And he said, I'm ashamed to say, you know, we tried, but we don't. We can't. We don't keep Shabbos anymore. We tried when we moved here.
You can't do it in America. We just can't do it.
I heard a few versions of the story so that Rabbi Parnas went to his wife and he said, I can't take this by myself. The offer is just, you know, such a great offer. I can't just turn it down without. Without you.
But we've never benefited from Hillel Shabbos.
And she said, we can't start now.
And so together they said to this benefactor, we're sorry, but we appreciate the offer, but we're sorry.
This man walked away with his wife.
They couldn't believe what just happened.
And his wife turned to him, this benefactor's wife, and she said to him, remember when we got married, we wanted to keep Shabbos. Our parents kept Shabbos. We were supposed to keep Shabbos, but you lost your job, and it was too difficult. And we said, just till things get better. We're so rich now. How could it be that they're not. They're keeping Chavez and we're not keeping Chavez? They were so inspired by this family that they turned around, they walked back and they said, commit, we're going to start keeping Shabbos now. Will you let us help you?
And they did.
They says it's. They say that the grandchildren that this family became totally from, and that their grandchildren became really important members of our community.
And this really, you know, speaks to this, not just commitment to Shabbos, but understanding of what Shabbos is. The other story is actually about my husband's grandmother, Aleh Shalom. Her name was Sarah Winter, Sarah Marks. At the time, she was single, and she actually very unusual. She was a ballist chuva. Her family was not religious, and she was in. She went to public school, and there. There were actually many from girls in her class, and she gravitated to those girls, and she spent a lot of time in their homes. And as a young teenager, she became frum. And she, you know, was very, very committed to keeping Chavez.
And after she graduated, she looked for a job. And it wasn't so simple in those days to find a job that would allow you to keep Shabbos. And she finally found a very kind man. He wasn't Jewish, but she said to him, please, I need to keep Shabbos. Will you please let me keep Shabbos? And he said.
And he agreed. He said, if you work well, I'll let you keep Shabbos.
So she got the job in the springtime, and in the fall, it was Friday afternoon, and it was getting close to Shabbos. So she, you know, picks up her purse and she starts to walk out, and her boss turns to her. And he says, what are you doing?
And she said, we had an agreement. And he said, yeah, but it's Friday. It's not Sabbath. And she says, no, no, no. Sabbath starts, like, really soon. I have to go home before Sabbath. It's now. He said, and, you know, she explained to him, like, you know, fall, spring. And he said, that was not our agreement. If you leave right now, you are. You. You will not have a job on Monday.
And she was young, and she was all alone. Her family wasn't from.
And she looked at him in the eye, and she said, I understand, but I listened to a higher boss, and I cannot work on my Shabbos. And she picked up her purse, and she walked out of his factory.
And she made it about half a block when she hears footsteps behind her. And it was her boss.
And he said, I have never met someone with so much integrity.
He said, it would be my honor for you to come back and work for me on Monday. Not only that, he said, if you have any religious friends who are similarly committed like you, I will give them a job in my factory. And she was able to repay all those from friends who had inspired her and helped her growth. She got them all jobs in this factory that let them not work on Chavez. And that is our. That's our power. That's what we have. That is what Chavez means to us. It is these three crowns that we hold dear that we hold ours. That is our pride. That is our awe, and our tremendous privilege that we get to call ourselves Shomrei Shabbos.
Thank you.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Thank you so much. That was really. That was really beautiful. And I look forward to applying those ideas this coming Chavez in my. In my life. But thank you. Thank you so much. And just a reminder, ladies, if you missed the announcements at the beginning, Rebbets and Goldberger and Rabbi Goldberger are not starting this week. They are starting next week. And we hope to see everybody tomorrow when our other classes resume. And thank you again, Mrs. Winter. Thank you so, so much.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: Thank you very much.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: Thank you very much. Saramaka, that was beautiful.
[00:42:26] Speaker A: Yes. Very inspiring. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: Have a great night, everybody.
[00:42:34] Speaker A: You, too.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: So clear. Your graphics are amazing. Thank you. Yeah. Amazing. Thank you.
[00:42:46] Speaker B: All right. Have a good night.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: Thank you, everybody.
