Preparing Ourselves for
the Kedushah of Shabbat
Somebody recently asked me the question
of what Shabbat is all about. Pesach is
the time commemorating our freedom, so we have mitzvot to perform
relevant to the celebration of our freedom.
Shavuot is the time when we celebrate Matan Torah, and Sukkot is
the time of joy, and the laws and customs of these holidays are intended to
highlight these themes. But what about
Shabbat? What is the theme of Shabbat,
and what are we to do to achieve that objective?
I answered, very simply, that Shabbat is
about kedushah, sanctity. And
unlike the Yamim Tovim, when we have mitzvot that we need to perform
related to the holiday’s theme, there is nothing we need to do on Shabbat to
receive its kedushah. The Peleh
Yoetz writes that the extra soul we receive on Shabbat comes automatically,
without us having to perform any action.
This is in contrast to the other special occasions, when we are given
specific mitzvot to perform.
Indeed, Rav Yerucham Lebovitz commented that Shabbat is, in a sense,
more difficult than the Yamim Tovim in that we do not have specific mitzvot
– besides the recitation of kiddush – that we must observe. How, then, do we ensure to receive the full
impact of the special kedushah of Shabbat?
The answer is that the impact of the kedushah
of Shabbat depends upon our preparing ourselves to receive this kedushah. The more worthy we are of kedushah
when Shabbat begins, the more kedushah we will absorb over the course of
Shabbat.
How do we make ourselves worthy of kedushah?
Rav Ades of Yeshivat Kol Yaakov observed
that the Jewish Nation today is not producing Torah giants of the same stature
as Torah luminaries of previous generations.
For example, the Arizal passed away at the age of 33, and he achieved
extraordinary greatness in such a short lifespan. The Rama similarly passed away in his
thirties, and yet managed to become one of the major arbiters of halachah,
with his rulings included in the Shulhan Aruch. The Ba’al Ha’ma’or began writing his
halachic works at the age of 19. The
Malbim began writing his work at the age of 15.
Why do we not have such power today?
Rav Ades explained that our souls today
are equally capable of receiving kedushah, and thus we could, in
principle, achieve the same level of greatness as was achieved by the sages of
earlier generations. However, our
physical beings serve as an impediment to kedushah. In order to receive kedushah, we need
to become receptacles of kedushah by preserving the purity of our bodies
and our physical beings.
The Torah commands in Sefer Vayikra (11:44),
והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים (“You shall make yourselves holy, and you shall be holy”). Rashi explains this to mean, אדם מקדש עצמו מלמטה, מקדשין אותו מלמעלה ובעולם הבא – “A person sanctifies himself down below, then he is
sanctified from above, and in the world to come.” The Sefat Emet writes that when Rashi
speaks here of “the next world,” he refers to Shabbat. If we work to prepare ourselves for kedushah
“in this world,” during the workweek, then we will receive the special kedushah
on Shabbat, and it will make us holy people.
The impact of the Shabbat experience depends upon our maintaining proper
standards of holiness during the preceding week.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah) notes
that Parashat Kedoshim, which begins with the command of קדושים
תהיו (“You shall be holy”),
appears immediately after the section of the Torah that deals with עריות
(forbidden intimate relationships). The
reason, the Midrash explains, is to teach us, כל מקום
שאתה מוצא גדר ערוה אתה מוצא קדושה
– sanctity is achieved through גדר ערוה, by implementing safeguards against
promiscuity. Significantly, the Midrash
speaks not of simply refraining from forbidden relationships, but rather of גדר ערוה –
erecting safeguards, extra measures to protect against such misdeeds. Indeed, the Midrash proceeds to draw proof
from the story of the Shunamite woman, who hosted the prophet Elisha in her
home and observed that he was a “holy” person.
The Midrash explains that the woman realized that Elisha was “holy”
because he did not look at her (שלא הביט בה בימיו).
The way to achieve holiness is through גדר ערוה, protective measures that guard against
promiscuous conduct.
One example that is commonly given to
explain the concept of גדר ערוה is the line painted on the edge of the subway platform beyond
which one is not permitted to stand. The
line is painted not right at the edge of the platform, but rather a few feet
away from the edge. The authorities do
not want people to stand on the very edge of the platform, or even within a few
feet of the edge, in order to avoid tragic mishaps. Similarly, we must keep a safe distance from
forbidden relationships, and this will allow us to reach great heights of kedushah.
One of the important safeguards that we
must implement, as we see in the Midrash’s comments about Elisha, is שמירת העיניים
– guarding our eyes to avoid improper sights.
Indeed, the Tiferet Shelomo (Parashat Hayeh-Sarah) writes that
the most important of all the safeguards is שמירת עיניים – guarding against improper sights. He cites as a source the pasuk in
Sefer Bereishit, איה הקדשה היא בעיניים, which could be read to mean, “Where is
holiness? In the eyes.” Kedushah is achieved, primarily,
through guarding our eyes. Thus, the
more we guard our eyes during the week, the more we will be able to absorb the kedushah
that descends on Shabbat. The kedushah
of Shabbat comes to us as a gift, but we cannot accept this gift unless we are
properly prepared, and the way we prepare for receiving this gift is by
guarding our eyes throughout the week.
With the advent of technology, שמירת עיניים
has become an especially difficult challenge in our generation. We must therefore make a special effort to
guard our eyes, to avoid sights that should not be seen, and we will thereby
turn ourselves into worthy recipients of the special kedushah of
Shabbat, so we can reach greater heights of holiness each and every week.
