A touching story is told about Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the Rabbi of Jerusalem in the early 1900’s.
One Friday night, his wife fell ill, so he went to the home of Dr. Schwartz to ask him to treat her. When the Rabbi knocked on the door, the doctor answered with a lantern in his hand. The Rabbi was disappointed that Shabbat was being desecrated but he didn't say anything about it. The two of them went back to the Rabbi's house where the doctor examined the rebbetzin and gave her some medication which quickly improved her condition. The Rabbi thanked the doctor, and they began walking together back to the doctor's house.
On the way, the Rabbi asked the doctor, “What percentage of a person's body does the head comprise?” The doctor was puzzled by the random question, but he answered, “The head takes up about a seventh of a person's body.”
Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
“That's all?” said the Rabbi. “So, imagine if all the limbs and organs united against the head and complained, ‘It’s not fair! We do all the work, but when it’s time to eat, you open your mouth and devour all the food! And when you want to express an opinion, your mouth becomes the spokesman for all of us! We protest!’ But the head responds, ‘It’s perfectly fair because I direct and orchestrate all actions of the body. If it weren’t for me, you’d all be worthless hunks of flesh.’”
The doctor, amused by the Rabbi's allegory, agreed with the argument of the head.
Then the Rabbi said, “The ratio of the head to the body is exactly the same as the days of the week - six days of physical pursuits and one day of rest. From the one day of rest, a person draws his inspiration and blessing for the other six days, and through that, his days are filled with meaning and perspective. If not for Shabbat, man would become a slave to his desires and monetary aspirations. We should therefore be careful to preserve the sanctity of Shabbat, just as it preserves us in body and spirit!”
The doctor was inspired by the Rabbi's words and accepted upon himself to keep the Shabbat from that day on. As we say in the Lecha Dodi prayer on Friday night, “Ki hi mekor haberachah—for [Shabbat) is the source of our blessing.” The more we elevate the level of our observance of Shabbat, the more blessings we will see in the rest of our week.
Reprinted from the Parashat Yitro 5786 email of Jack E. Rahmey based on the Torah teachings of Rabbi Amram Sananes.
