Preparing for Shabbat All Week Long
The story is told of a man whose wife delivered their first child, and that very day he rushed to meet with a certain tzadik and ask his advice for educating the child.
“How old is your child?” the tzadik asked.
“He was just born today!” the father exuberantly replied. “I came already now so I can get a head start on educating him properly.”
“A head start?” the Rabbi said. “You’re already late. You need to begin preparing for your children’s education well before they are born.”
There is a famous Talmudic adage, איזהו חכם? הרואה את הנולד – a “wise” person is somebody who anticipates and looks ahead to the future, and plans accordingly. Planning to raise and educate a child should occur already before the child is born. We should be anticipating what will unfold ahead of time, to whatever extent possible, and plan in advance, because the earlier a head start we get, the better the outcome will be.
This is true of Shabbat, as well. The earlier in the week we start preparing, the greater the impact of the Shabbat experience will be.
Rav Yisrael Salanter was once asked at which point in the year he began preparing for Yom Kippur. He answered, “On Motza’eh Yom Kippur.” As soon as Yom Kippur ended, he right away began preparing for the next Yom Kippur.
Likewise, we should be preparing for Shabbat, at least one some level, all week long.
The importance of advanced planning and preparation can be learned from the day of Tu Bi’Shvat, which is called ראש השנה לאילנות – “the new year for trees.” The significance of Tu Bi’Shvat can be understood by way of analogy to the concept of a “fiscal year” in tax law. When determining tax liability, one calculates his earnings and deductions by a certain date. Income received after that date is not taxable for that year, and expenses paid after that date cannot be deducted from one’s tax obligation for that year. This is, essentially, what Tu Bi’Shvat is. Certain percentages of one’s produce grown in Eretz Yisrael must be distributed to various groups of people (kohanim, Leviyim, the poor, etc.), and the ‘fiscal year” for these obligations as they apply to fruits begins and ends on Tu Bi’Shvat. Fruits that began to bud before Tu Bi’Shvat must be tithed with the previous year’s produce, whereas fruits that began to bud after this date fall under the next year’s tithing obligations.
Why is Tu Bi’Shvat the cutoff point? What is unique about this particular point of the year that makes it the beginning and end of the “fiscal year” for fruits?
The Gemara explains that by Tu Bi’Shvat, which falls in the latter part of the winter season, the rains that fell during the previous months have already begun affecting the fruit tree, such that the sap has started rising up the tree in preparation to produce fruit. Although no signs of fruit can as yet be detected, nevertheless, the process is already unfolding by virtue of the winter rains which have produced sap that is now in its preparatory stages for forming fruit.
This is an enlightening example of הרואה את הנולד. On Tu Bi’Shvat, the fruit trees are bare. There is no discernible sign of fruit. And yet, our Sages tell us to take a deeper look and realize that the fruit is on its way. Already at this very early stage of the fruit’s development – when the sap is rising in the tree –we consider the new year of fruit to have begun.
The Torah tells us in the Book of Devarim, כי האדם עץ השדה – people are compared to trees. My esteemed father-in-law, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, explained that a child’s preschool and elementary school years parallel the period when the sap is rising up the tree. We cannot see a finished product, the child has not yet began achieving, but the process has been put into motion. The “fruit” appears when the child is grown and has reached adulthood, when he begins to achieve and succeed as a devoted husband and father, and as a committed Torah Jew. Everything that preceded that stage, even the stage of the “sap,” when this outstanding adult was just a young child, contributed to this final product. A child’s entire education helps form the “fruits” that we see in adulthood, much as the earliest stages of a fruit’s development play a vital and indispensable role in its coming into existence. Indeed, it is said in the name of righteous tzadikim that if a child has an elementary school teacher with genuine יראת שמיים (fear of G-d), this experience has a profound impact upon the child even in adulthood. So much so, that even if the child at one point leaves the path of Torah observance, the impact of the יראת שמיים imbibed during his childhood will eventually lead him back. The earliest stages of development have a profound effect on the final product.
The same is true of Shabbat. The final product begins at the very earliest stages – as soon as the previous Shabbat ends.
It might seem strange to us to begin preparing for Shabbat on the previous Motza’eh Shabbat. But the truth is that everything we do all week long contributes to our preparation for Shabbat. The kedushah of Shabbat is produced by the mitzvot we perform throughout the previous week, which begins immediately upon the conclusion of the previous Shabbat. And so indeed, we can begin preparing for Shabbat already on Motza’eh Shabbat – just as Rav Yisrael Salanter began preparing for Yom Kippur on Motza’eh Yom Kippur the previous year.
There are a number of special prayers that many people have the custom to recite on Tu Bi’Shvat, and we have attached them to this email. One of these prayers is a prayer formulated by the Ben Ish Hai, asking that one should have a proper and beautiful etrog on Sukkot. Tu Bi’Shvat is observed seven months before Sukkot, and yet, according to the custom of the Ben Ish Hai, we begin thinking already now about our etrog on Sukkot. The Ben Ish Hai is teaching us about the importance of advanced planning and preparation. The seeds of the mitzvah of etrog which we will perform in another half a year are planted already now, on Tu Bi’Shvat. The etrog, which is shaped like a heart and symbolizes the purification of our hearts which we achieve during the High Holidays, is produced from the sap of Tu Bi’Shvat, from our prayers and efforts already now, many months earlier.
Admittedly, most of us are not quite on the level to be preparing for the High Holidays in the middle of the winter, or to begin for Shabbat on the previous Motza’eh Shabbat. But the fundamental concept of preparation and looking ahead is something we can all put into practice. In terms of Shabbat, this is applied on the most basic level in the halachic requirement to designate for Shabbat special foods or drinks that we come upon during the week. But beyond that, it means recognizing that all the good deeds we perform throughout the week prepare us for Shabbat. The more we devote ourselves to Torah and mitzvot during the week, already from Motza’eh Shabbat, the more impactful our Shabbat experience will be.
Of course, this lesson applies to all areas of life, and not only to Shabbat. Our Sages famously teach, מי שטרח בערב שבת יאכל בשבת, מי שלא טרח בערב שבת מה יאכל בשבת – “One who toiled on Erev Shabbat will eat on Shabbat; one who does not toil on Erev Shabbat – what will he eat on Shabbat?” The Mesilat Yesharim explains this as referring our preparation for the next world. We are to spend our lives in this world preparing for the next world by devoting our time and efforts to Torah and mitzvot. Only if we toil in this world will we be able to enjoy the delights offered in the next world. As the expression goes, what we put in is what we take out.
Let us internalize and implement this lesson of Tu Bi’Shvat, and always remember the value of advanced preparation. The more we invest in preparing for Shabbat and for the other mitzvot we perform, the more meaningful they will be and the greater an impact they will have.