#8 When we Honor Shabbos

I thank the person who emailed this in. It should be a big zechus for him and his mishpacha.

It is written that in the years that Rosh HaShanah falls out on Shabbos, it will be a year of great Hatzlacha for Klal Yisrael. It was in this type of year that the Mishkan was built. It is also written that in the years that Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos, it will be a year of great sorrow for Klal Yisrael. It was in this type of year that we had the Gezeiros of Tach V'Tat.

How is it that when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos we have years of such extremes?

The answer can be found in a Mashal. There was once a king with many attendants. One day one of the attendants committed a crime, and the king sentenced him to death. All of his friends came to plead for him before the king, but he refused to show mercy.

On the day of the execution, his wife said that she would go and plead for him. So, she came to the king and said, "Please your majesty, spare my husband's life, for if he dies, I die as well." And the king accepted her words and allowed her husband to live.

Some months later, another attendant committed the same crime and was also sentenced to death.. Again, the many friends came before the king and pleaded for him, but to no avail.

As a last resort he went to his wife and asked her to try pleading. And she did. However, in this case the king refused to accept her words, and the death sentence was carried out.

The many people in the court turned to the king with confusion. Why is it, they asked, was one life spared and the other taken?

The king answered as follows: when the first wife came, the love between husband and wife was obvious. It was clear to see that this man truly cared for his spouse and took very good care of her. The king realized that he would truly be killing her as well if he executed him.

However, when the second wife came it was clear she was abused and battered, and that by sparing him he would in essence be killing her. So, he carried out the sentence.

What is the Nimshal? We blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah as a reminder of our merits - the sounds of the Shofar testify for us. However, when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos, we don't blow the Shofar - so Shabbos herself becomes our defense lawyer.

So, when we have honored Shabbos in both the letter and the spirit of the law, and Shabbos comes before the court glorious - dressed with our mitzvot - then we will be blessed with a year of great things. However, when Shabbos comes battered and abused, then our year will not be blessed.

In September of 2000 - when the intifada began - Rosh Hashana came out on Shabbos. And we all can bear witness to what life has been like since.

This year, we have the opportunity to change everything - for once again Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos. Let us take the opportunity over the next few weeks to make an extra effort. And then we will be zocheh to a year of greatness - a year of Geulah and celebration.

Dear all,

Wishing you a year filled with good health brocha hatzlocha & much simcha.

Kesivo V'chasimo Tova h!

GOOD SHABBOS,

#7. No Worries on Shabbos as seen from Nefesh Shimshon

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It is important to know that Shabbos is not just anothr day of the week. On the contrary-all our success in this world on any day of the week depends on our closeness to Hashem. And this depends on Shabbos, as we shall explain. The Rambam write, ''The power of thought that Hashem granted us is what connects us to Him(Moreh Nevuchim 3:56).'' When we think about Hashem, we are actually with Him. And when we think about something else, we simply disconnect from Hashem. In other words, if a person has bitachon in Hashem, he's connected to Him and lacks nothing. As it says,''Even a wicked person who repents and trusts in Hashem will be surrounded by chsed.'' (Vayikrah Rabah 15:3) Shabbos is a flowing fountain of bitachon. If we utilize this fountain and draw from it a generous supply of bitachon for the coming week, then the whole week will be like Shabbos, and we'll lack nothing. To illustrate this point, let us imagine a very poor man. He has only a few dollars to his name, prehaps enough to buy bread and milk for his children. What does he do? He goes out and buys a lottery ticket. To his great surprise, he wins first prize: ten million dollars. He doesn't even have money for bus fare to get to the city where his prize is waiting. So he borrows ten dollars from a friend. Now he is sitting hunched in a corner on the bus, in his tattered clothing, tired and hungry, arousing the pity of all who see him. But is he truly patiable? Not at all. He's a very wealthy man! In his pocket he's still poor, but in his mind he's rich. Nearly everyone worries about financial problems of some sort. But imagine someone whose father comes to him with a bank statement from his account that shows an enormous credit, with seven zeros. His father saya to him, '' whenever you need, you should know there is plenty here. Just take!'' This person now feels quite different. If his father placed ten million dollars at his disposal, he no longer has financial problems. This is what Shabbos Kodesh is. It's a day when the phone is disconnected, the banks are closed, and it's forbidden to think about problems. ''All your work is done.'' Hashem tells us, so to speak, ''You should know the whole world belongs to Me.'' Suddenly the truth is revealed before our eyes, and we realize that our Heavenly Father has a tremendous fortune- the world and all it contains-and it's all designated for us!

6. NO WEEKDAY TALK ON SHABBOS

There was once a very righteous Jew who owned a vineyard. His vineyard was protected on all sides by a fence. One Shabbos afternoon, when the man was taking a little walk, he noticed that the fence was broken in one spot. He became very worried. “If wild animals would get into the vineyard and eat up my grapes,” he thought, “I will no longer earn money from selling grapes. I will have to fix the fence immediately after Shabbos.” But in order to save time, he decided, “I will go on Shabbos to someone who knows about fence building to find out exactly how to fix the fence. The sooner my fence will be repaired, the safer my grapes will be. If I know exactly how to do it, I will be able to start as soon as Shabbos is over.”

When he came home after talking to the fence expert, he was calm at first, but soon he began feeling sorry for his actions.

“What have I done,” he exclaimed excitedly. “I made a terrible mistake. I’m afraid I was mechallel Shabbos. During Shabbos, we are not allowed to even talk about forbidden work that we plan to do after Shabbos. Hashem wants us to imagine that all work is done. We should not worry about future work at all.” He was so sorry that he had discussed the fence repair on Shabbos, that he decided “I must do teshuvah.” But how?

The righteous man thought “I want to show Hashem I am really sorry that I talked about the repair on Shabbos. Therefore, I won’t fix my fence even after Shabbos is over. I will always leave it broken just as it is now.”

He was, in fact, allowed to repair the fence after Shabbos, but since he was such a tzaddik, he didn’t want to benefit from words that were forbidden on Shabbos.

Hashem rewarded the man by perfoming a miracle for him. A huge tree began to grow on the exact spot where the fence was broken and it completely blocked the hole in the fence. This tree was a special kind called a Tzlaf Tree. It grows a delicious kind of fruit with a thick peel that is edible and on the leaves which can also be eaten grows little fruits similar to dates. There was always plenty of fruit on the tree because the fruit of the Tzlaf Tree grow and regrow very quickly.

This amazing tree also provided the righteous man with a good income. He was able to sell its fruits which kept growing all the time. From then on, he could learn Torah without worrying about money. This was his reward for treating Shabbos with holiness and doing sincere teshuvah.

5.SHARING SHABBAT

Once there was a brother and a sister named Yossi & Lea, they lived in a quiet neighborhood in Brooklyn, Every day they would set off to school and wonder about the old man that lived two houses down. One Friday morning they decided to have enough nerve to go ring his bell.

Ding Dong, Ding Dong, no one came to the door they were almost about to leave when they heard the shrieking sound of the door opening. What do you want said the old man, We are here to see how you are doing are yoou feeling well. Go away no one asked you to come, I want to be by myself. The two children ran home to tell their mother what happened. Mother we went to visit the old man down the road and he wouldn't even speak to us. Do not worry children, Mr Finkel is a nice person but he went through some hard time in his life, he lost all of his family in the holocaust, I guess it hurts him too much to be with other people. But mom that means that he always spends the shabbath by himself, we must convince him to come over tonight for the shabbat.

The children went back to Mr. Finkel's house and when he opened the door they didn't give him the chance to talk they just walked into the house and told him. Mr. Finkel we know that you went through a tough time but all your loved ones would not be happy to see you here all by yourself, please come and spent the shabbath with us, we would love to have you. Mr. Finkel had tears in his eyes without a word he took their hands and walked back home with them, when mom opened the door she could not beleive her eyes she welcomed Mr. Finkel and gave a big hug to Yossi & Lea. You have done a great Mitzva she told them, the mitzva of welcoming guests. They all had a wonderful shabbat together and since then Mr. Finkel comes to their home every shabbath and guess what he is not angry anymore he always has a smile on his face.

Written by David, Hannah, Sarah, Naomie, Brandon, Romy, Rachel& Jenna (Ganenu school)

4. A Tzaddik's Tear

Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1838-1933), the "Chafetz Chaim"

About 30 years ago, an American rabbi visiting Miami, Florida gave a lecture on the life and accomplishments of the famed "Chafetz Chaim" (Rabbi Israel Meir HaCohen Kagan, 1838-1933). He described the life of the great sage who lived a humble life as a shopkeeper in in the village of Radin, in Poland, yet was recognized throughout the Jewish world as a great scholar, tzaddik (righteous person) and leader.

There was another story the rabbi wanted to tell, but he hesitated, for he only knew part of it. As he stood at the lectern, he thought for a moment and then decided that he would tell it anyway. He rationalized that even an unfinished story about the Chafetz Chaim would have a meaningful message.

He began to relate an incident about a teenage boy in the Chafetz Chaim's yeshiva who was found smoking a cigarette on Shabbat -- the sacred day of rest. The faculty and student body were shocked, and some of the faculty felt that the boy should be expelled. However, when the Chafetz Chaim heard the story, he asked that the boy be brought to his home.

At this point, the rabbi interrupted the narrative and said, "I don't know what the Chafetz Chaim said to the boy. I only know that they were together for a few minutes. I would give anything to know what he said to this student, for I am told that the boy never desecrated the Shabbat again. How wonderful it would be if we could relay that message -- whatever it was -- to others, in order to encourage them in their observance of Shabbat." The rabbi then continued with his lecture.

After his talk, the hall emptied of everyone except for one elderly man, who remained in his seat, alone with his thoughts. From the distance, it seemed he was trembling, as if he was either crying or suffering from chills. The rabbi walked over to the elderly man and asked him, "Is anything wrong?"

The man responded, "Where did you hear that story of the cigarette on Shabbat?" He did not look up and was still shaken. "I really don't know," answered the rabbi. "I heard it a while ago and I don't even remember who told it to me." The man looked up at the rabbi and said softly, "I was that boy." He then asked the rabbi to go outside, and as the two walked together, he told the rabbi the following story:

"This incident occurred in the 1920's when the Chafetz Chaim was in his eighties. I was terrified to have to go into his house and face him. But when I did go into his home, I looked around with disbelief at the poverty in which he lived. It was unimaginable to me that a man of his stature would be satisfied to live in such surroundings.

"Suddenly he was in the room where I was waiting. He was remarkably short. At that time I was a teenager and he only came up to my shoulders. He took my hand and clasped it tenderly in both of his. He brought my hand in his own clasped hands up to his face, and when I looked into his soft face, his eyes were closed for a moment.

"When he opened them, they were filled with tears. He then said to me in a hushed voice full of pain and astonishment, 'Shabbat!' And he started to cry. He was still holding both my hands in his, and while he was crying he repeated with astonishment, 'Shabbat, the holy Shabbat!'

"My heart started pounding and I became more frightened than I had been before. Tears streamed down his face and one of them rolled onto my hand. I thought it would bore a hole right through my skin. When I think of that tear today, I can still feel its heat. I can't describe how awful it felt to know that I had made the great tzaddik weep. But in his rebuke -- which consisted only of those few words -- I felt that he was not angry, but rather sad and fearful. He seemed frightened at the consequences of my actions."

The elderly man then caressed the hand that bore the invisible scar of a precious tear. It had become his permanent reminder to observe the "holy Shabbat" for the rest of his life.

The Machlis Family:

3. Ki Eshmerah Shabbat-If I safeguard Shabbos, Hashem will safeguard me

Rabbi Mordechai and Henny Machlis' house in Israel.

Hidden within Jerusalem's Maalot Dafna neighborhood, Building 137/26, there is a family who has made it their mission to truly care for their brethren. This is the Machlis family. It doesn't matter whether you are a homeless person dressed in tattered rags or a yeshiva student who needs a place to stay; no matter who you are, you are more than welcome.

You enter their home to see bookcases lining the room from floor to ceiling. They are utterly filled with sefarim; in Reuven's words, perhaps more sefarim than the YU Gottesman Library. There are about five tables set up in the living room, and people pour into the house. There are Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Christians and those of other faiths, people of all skin colors and types of dress. Rabbi Machlis is a very trusting person who likes to believe the best of everyone. In one instance, he mentioned that he and his wife used to have these very elaborate silver candelabras. "Someone borrowed them," he said simply, "and never returned them." He did not wish to believe that anyone would have stolen them.

There are two rules for Shabbat participance at the Machlis house. Anyone is allowed to speak about any topic with the exception of:

1) Denigrating any religion or faith
2) Politics

The way that it works is that you stand up, speak your piece, and then sit down again.

Now, it once happened that a group of Teimanim (Yemenite Jews) came to R' Machlis' house for Shabbat. They all sat together; they did not speak a word of English, nor did they understand the language, and all they wanted to do was sing. At every single lull, pause, and whenever any individual stopped speaking, they broke out in song, slamming their hands against the table emphatically, closing their eyes and swaying at times.

A different man, one who clearly had something on his mind, arose and began to speak. In the course of his speech, he made the statement, "And Rabbis are low, like prostitutes!"

Pause.

The entire room was silent, in utter shock. The speaker sat down, emphatically declaring that he had made his point.

"Ki eshmerah Shabbat el yishmereini," boomed the Teimanim, completely oblivious to the insult and the distinctly frosty reception of the speaker's remarks. The chill that spread throughout the room failed to affect them.

Men were getting up, overturning their chairs, angrily threatening the man who had dared to insult the rabbis, but the Teimanim sang on, blissfully oblivious.

R' Machlis kept his cool. "Perhaps," he suggested, "you understand prostitutes differently than I do? The way I understand prostitutes, and I could be wrong, is as something negative."

The speaker rose up once more. "Of course I mean that it's a bad thing!" he reiterated. "R' Moshe Feinstein was worse than Hitler!"

Again, a shocked silence filled the room. The Teimanim took this opportunity to continue the zemer.

"Bo emtzah tamid nofesh l'nafshi," they happily sang, their voices mingling to create a beautiful melody honoring the Shabbat.

People were shouting, antagonized by the speaker's remarks. A mixture of affronted remarks filled the air, made both in English and Hebrew. Reuven was laughing so hard (due to the response of the Teimanim) that he fell out his chair. Meanwhile, a different man took his chair and held it over his head, ready to throw it at the speaker who had made the offensive remarks about R' Feinstein. Reuven thought that there was no way the speaker could get out of there without being punched in the face.

But R' Machlis interrupted.

"You are upsetting my guests," he gently remarked to the speaker. "Perhaps after the meal you can stay and you and I can discuss your points?"

The speaker sat down, his dignity intact, and the guests begrudgingly decided not to punch him out. After the meal, R' Machlis sat with the man, listened to his grievances and answered his questions. At the conclusion of their conversation, a smile playing on his face, he began to sing "Ki eshmerah Shabbat" and the Teimanim, dazzling smiles lighting their faces, gladly joined in.

Only in Israel.

#2. The Cow That Kept Shabbat

1-There was once a Jew who owned a cow with which he plowed his field. Then it came to pass that this Jew became impoverished and was forced to sell his cow to a non-Jew.

The new owner plowed with the cow throughout the week, but when her took her out to the field on Shabbat, she kneeled under the yoke and refused to do any work. He hit her with his whip, but she would not budge from her place.

So he came back to the Jew and said to him, "Take back your cow! All week I worked with her, but today I took her out to the field and she refuses to do anything... "

The Jew said to the cow's purchaser: "Come with me, and I will get her to plow." When they arrived to the field the cow lay, the Jew spoke into her ear. "Oh Cow, Cow! When you were in my domain, you rested on Shabbat. But now that my sins have caused me to sell you to this gentile, please, stand up and do the will of your master!"

Immediately the cow stood, prepared to work. Said the gentile to the Jew: "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what you did and what you said to her. Have you bewitched her?" The Jew told him what he said to the cow.

When this man heard this, he was shaken and amazed. He said to himself: "If this creature, which has neither language or intelligence, recognizes her Creator, should not I, whom G‑d created in His image and likeness and imbued me with intelligence and understanding?"

So he went and converted to Judaism and merited to study Torah. He became known as Yochanan ben Torta ("Yochanan son of the Cow")