Accepting
Shabbat Ten Minutes Early
Many
Rabbis throughout the generations have advised people to begin Shabbat ten
minutes earlier than the time by which one is strictly required to begin
Shabbat, as this practice renders one worthy of divine assistance and
salvation.
What is
the concept underlying this practice?
Why shouldn’t a person wait until the time written on the calendar? What is the significance of accepting Shabbat
early?
By
accepting Shabbat before the time that is strictly required, we demonstrate how
much Shabbat means to us and how eager we are to begin. This is not some kind of magical formula,
whereby we start Shabbat a few minutes early and then earn Hashem’s help with all
our problems. It is far deeper than
that: beginning Shabbat early is meant to shape our entire outlook and
perspective on Shabbat, which, in turn, has the effect of enhancing the entire
Shabbat experience.
Shabbat is
referred to as a כלה – a bride. Each week,
when Shabbat begins, we – the Jewish People – get married to Shabbat. And thus our preparations for, and
anticipation of, Shabbat must resemble the way we prepare and look forward to a
wedding. The closer one is to the simcha,
the earlier he arrives at the wedding.
The bride and groom arrive very early, and the immediate family members
likewise show up well before the official starting time. Close friends and relatives ensure to arrive
on time, while those guests who do not feel especially close to the bride or
groom might show up late. If we truly
see ourselves as the “groom” getting married to Shabbat, we will “show up”
early, even before the scheduled time.
We should look forward to Shabbat with eager anticipation much as a
bride and groom eagerly anticipate their wedding day.
In our
Shabbat prayers, we say, חמדת ימים אותו קראת – Hashem called Shabbat “the most coveted
of days.” The word חמדת brings to mind
the final of the Ten Commandments – לא תחמוד – “You shall not covet.” Hashem “desires” and cherishes Shabbat the
way we are naturally inclined to envy our fellow’s large house or luxury
car. The Ba’al Ha’turim (Bereshit
2:2) comments that Hashem called Shabbat חמדת ימים in the Torah, in the pasuk which
tells of how He ended the process of creation on the seventh day: ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי מלאכתו אשר עשה – “G-d completed on the seventh day the work which He
performed.” The Targum
Yerushalmi, as the Ba’al Ha’turim cites (this does not appear in our version
of the Targum Yerushalmi), translates the word ויכל – which is commonly
interpreted as “He completed” – as וחמד – “He desired.” The Shem Mi’Shmuel and Tzeror Ha’mor explain that the root כ.ל.ה. means “yearn” or “desire,” as in the pasuk in Tehillim (84:3), נכספה וגם כלתה נפשי לחצרות ה'. Thus, the phrase ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי describes
Hashem’s great love and affection for Shabbat.
By the same token, the Shem Mi’shmuel
adds, a bride is called כלה, because she is desired by
her groom who yearns and longs for the moment when he will be married to his
chosen soulmate. Hashem uses this same
word to describe His “desire,” so-to-speak, for Shabbat. This is how much Hashem cherishes and
anticipates Shabbat, as the Tzeror Ha’mor
writes, חמד
השם ביום ז' יותר מכל המלאכות שעשה – “Hashem desired the
seventh day more than all the actions He performed [during the six days of
creation].” And this is how much we, too, must cherish and anticipate Shabbat.
Just as a bride and groom make a point of arriving early for their
wedding, we, too, should endeavor to arrive early for our “wedding” and begin
Shabbat a few minutes before time when we are strictly required to. Needless to say, accepting Shabbat early
becomes an especially difficult during the winter months, when Shabbat begins
in the afternoon and people need to return home and quickly prepare. But if we view Shabbat as our bride, we will
do everything we can to arrive at our “wedding” early, to show our genuine love
and affection for this חמדת ימים – the
most precious of all the days.
