The Way of Emunah
Asking for the Geulah to be With Rachamim:
Sefer Ohr L’Shomayim explains this pasuk by quoting the explanation of the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a on the verse (Bamidbor 10:7): “And when you gather the nation, they should blow a tekiah and not a teruah.” The Chozeh explains that “tekiah” symbolizes Avrohom Avinu, who is the root of chesed (Zohar Hakadosh, Chelek 3, 256B). Thus “blowing a tekiah” refers to davening for middas hachesed. “Teruah”, on the other hand, symbolizes Yaakov Avinu, who is the root of middas hadin.
Accordingly, he explains the pasuk to mean that when the nation gathers to daven for the geulah, they should pray for it to be with the middas hachesed. The Ohr L’Shomayim thus explains the pasuk in this week’s Parshah to mean that “Moshe” – a euphemism for a leader of Klal Yisroel – should gather the nation and “say to them”, meaning that he should treat them in a manner that is replete with chesed and rachamim.
וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶ ׁה אֶת כָּל עֲדַת בְ ּנֵי יִשְ ׂרָ אֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם וגו' (לה, א)
And Moshe gathered the entire assemblage of the children of Yisroel and he said to them.” (35:1)
Even Weekday Actions Should be Kadosh La’Hashem:
The Mei Hashiloach writes that the pasuk compares the work done during the weekdays to the rest on Shabbos to teach us that Shabbos is not the only day that is Kadosh LaHashem. Just like one must be careful with every action he does on Shabbos to make sure it is permitted, one must do the same during the week.
The Kol Torah and Kol Tefillah:
Sefer Imrei Noam explains this pasuk by quoting the Alshich Hakadosh (Eicha 1:7), who relates a parable of a man who committed several crimes against the king. However, the king did not want to punish him because this individual was a talented musician who knew how to play beautiful music. Since the king enjoyed his music very much, he didn’t want to have him put to death, even though he was liable to receive the death penalty according to the letter of the law. One of this man’s enemies had an idea. He decided to cut off the man’s right hand so that he would no longer be able to play any musical instrument, knowing that the king would now have no reason to keep him alive.
The nimshol is that if a person uses his voice to sing the sweet song of Torah and tefillah, Hashem will forgive his sins because He wants to continue hearing this song. The yeitzer hara, however, tries to do what it can to stop the person from learning Torah and davening so that Hashem would no longer derive this pleasure and the person would then be punished.
The Imrei Noam writes that the words “kol adas bnei Yisroel” have the same gematriah as the words “Torah tefillah”. It says that Hashem commanded us to do these “devarim.“ The word “devarim” can mean “words”, which indicates that the main thing we are commanded to do is to say words of Torah and tefillah.
The pasuk goes on to say that we should “do work for six days”. Chazal say (Brachos 30B) that the early chasidim would wait an hour before davening and an hour after davening. The Gemara asks when they had time to do their work, and answers that their work was done by others in the merit of their tefillos.
Accordingly, after Hashem spoke about the power of Torah and tefillah, He says that even during the six days of the week, when we are commanded to work, we should make sure to engage in Torah and tefillah and, if we do this, our work will be done by others.
Gashmius is Also L’Kavod Shabbos:
The Chida zt”l (Sefer Nachal Kedumim) notes that the pasuk says that the seventh day shall be holy “lachem”, for you. He writes that the pasuk is saying that the “lachem”, the part of the day that is for your enjoyment, such as eating and dressing nicely on Shabbos, must be “l’kavod Shabbos”, for the honor of Shabbos.
Parnassah in the Merit of Shabbos:
A Polish Jew once came to the Yismach Yisroel of Alexander zy”a and related that although he owned a store, he had very few customers and he was unable to make a sufficient livelihood. From the course of the conversation, the Rebbe was able to discern that the man’s store was open on Shabbos.
The Yismach Moshe told him, “I can guarantee you success in your business on one condition. You must take me as a 15% partner without me having to invest one dollar into the business. If you accept these terms, I promise you success.”
Of course, the man agreed to the deal, and a contract was written up.
The Yismach Moshe then told him, “Since I now own one-seventh of your store and I am entitled to one-seventh of the profits, I choose to take Shabbos as my day. All the profits you earn on Shabbos will be mine, while the profits from the other six days will be yours Therefore, I ask you to close the store on Shabbos.”
The man understood what the Rebbe was saying. From then on, he closed his store on Shabbos and he saw much financial success.
Kabbalas Shabbos:
The Chidushei Harim zy”a had a custom to light his pipe every erev Shabbos a few minutes before the time of hadlakas neiros. He would then smoke until it was time to light the candles, when he would extinguish his pipe.
He once explained why he does this by saying, “Every Jew is mekabel Shabbos on erev Shabbos. A worker puts down his tools and a storeowner closes his shop. But what do I do? I don’t have a store or work with tools, so how do I show that I am being mekabel Shabbos? Therefore, I start to smoke and I put out my pipe as a sign that I recognize that Shabbos is starting and I am accepting the sanctity of Shabbos.”
Keeping Shabbos all Year Long:
A simple villager once came to the Sar Shalom of Belz zy”a and asked for a bracha. The Rebbe asked him, “Do you daven every day? Are you careful with kashrus and shemiras Shabbos?”
The villager replied, “I try very hard to do my best. However, I am forced to admit that I cannot keep Shabbos. I have to work in the fields every day and I cannot take a day off.”
The Rebbe chastised him and explained the importance of maintaining the sanctity of Shabbos. The villager thought for a minute and then said, “Rebbi, I am ready to accept to keep every Shabbos of the year except for during the harvesting season. During that season, it is too hard for me to take time off from my work.”
In response, the Rebbe told him a story:
There once was Poritz who made a party for all of the other landowners in the area. Once they were all drunk, they began to talk about the Jews. Each Poritz praised their ”Moishke” – which is what they called the Jewish manager they appointed to oversee their lands – and claimed that theirs was the smartest and most reliable. Finally, the host of the party declared, “My Jew is the most loyal of all! He would do anything I ask of him without complaint!”
One of the guests asked, “Would he even agree to become a Christian if you asked him to do so?“
The Poritz answered, “Definitely!” He immediately called for his land manager and said, “Moishke, are you loyal to me?” ”Of course,” the Jew answered. “I would readily obey any request you make of me.” ”If so,” the Poritz said, “I order you to renounce Judaism and to accept our faith!”
The Jew began to frantically think of a reply, but he couldn’t come up with anything to get himself out of this mess. In his panic, he blurted out, “Okay”, and he accepted to become a Christian.
A few days later, the Poritz called for him and said, “Moishke, I know that you really don’t want to give up your Judaism. Therefore, I have good news for you. I give you permission to go back to being a Jew again.“
The Jew ran home and joyfully told his wife that he had been granted permission to convert back to Judaism. However, his wife was not as happy as him. She asked, “Did you fall on your head? Pesach is around the corner. I have no strength for all of the cooking and cleaning and we don’t have enough money for the matzohs, wine, and meat. Go back to the Poritz and ask if we can remain Christians until after Pesach is over.”
The villager got the message and understood that he had to keep every Shabbos according to halacha.
Hishtadlus to Merit the Divine Light:
Sefer Yesod Ha’avodah writes that this pasuk hints to for a person to merit being influenced by the Divine light he must first do his histadlus, rather than waiting for the light to come to him. The pasuk can be read as saying: “Ben Uri” – how does one merit receiving the Divine light (ohr)? By being a “ben Chur”. The word “chur” can mean a small hole. This can be seen as a reference to the words of Chazal (Shir Hashirim Rabbah (5:3) that if one “opens an opening the size of a needle’s eye, Hashem will open for him an opening the size of a huge hall.” Thus, the pasuk is saying that one needs to do a small hishtadlus, and he will then receive Divine assistance.
Tikkunim Through Emunah:
Sefer Ohr L’Shomayim (Parshas Bo) writes that when a person uplifts himself spiritually, he must also try to uplift others along with him. He says that in previous generations, the way to rectify one’s soul was through bodily afflictions, which destroyed the klipos that harm the neshama. In our times, however, it is much easier to fix one’s soul. Afflictions are unnecessary and one only needs to have emunah in Hashem.
He uses this concept to explain the pasuk (Shemos 13:4): “You are going out today.” This means that our neshamos are going away from the klipos that negatively affect them and are returning to their pristine state. “In the month of the spring” – this is a hint that we will return to our natural, pure state, and we will be spiritually uplifted.
Serving Hashem With Enthusiasm:
The Toldos Yaakov Yosef (Sefer Poras Yosef) writes the following moshol in the name of the Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh zy”a:
There once was a man who did an apprenticeship by a goldsmith. He learned the entire trade and wanted to start working on his own. Before he left, the goldsmith wrote him a list of what he needed to do in his work but he forgot to write down to heat up the anvil with lit coals at the beginning of the job. The goldsmith thought it was obvious that the anvil needed to be made hot with fire and there was no need to remind his student of that.
However, the student erred and he thought that everything could be done without fire. He went to the king’s palace and got a job there. He toiled all day but got nothing done, until he was fired from the job. He then went back to his teacher and complained that he never instructed him to put a fire to the anvil before starting to work.
His mentor told him, “You are a fool! Don’t you know that the fire is the main thing? Without it you can’t start the work. I didn’t need to write that at all because it is so obvious.”
It is the same with the work of serving Hashem. Without fire and passions, it is impossible to begin, and one can toil all day and not succeed.
He uses this idea to explain the pasuk (Shir Hashirim 1:11): “We will make you rows of gold with sparks of silver.” The “gold” refers to the Torah and mitzvos, which, of course, are needed to serve Hashem. However, the main thing is the “sparks of silver”, the fiery embers that one needs to light the fire of serving Him with passion and love.
The Baal Hatanya zy”a had a chasid named Rav Shmuel Minkes. Rav Shmuel was once traveling to be with the Rebbe in Liazhna. It was a cold winter day, and there was a lot of snow on the ground. A wagon passed by and the driver offered him a ride, which he gladly accepted.
When Rav Shmuel climbed onto the wagon, he saw that the driver had several large bottles of whiskey. He asked if he could drink a bit of whiskey to help him warm up and the driver was happy to give him some. He took a drink and greatly enjoyed it.
When Rav Shmuel reached Liazhna, he told the Baal Hatanya that he had learned a chiddush in avodas Hashem. He said, “I learn that it is possible to sit in a wagon that is full of whiskey but that won’t help at all to warm you up. You only will feel warm after you drink a little bit of it and put some whiskey into yourself. So too, one can spend a lot of time serving Hashem but it won’t help him unless he adds a little warmth into himself.“
