Welcome to Embrace Shabbat. This is a special edition for Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach.
There is a well-known Midrash that if the Jewish people keep even one Shabbat properly, the Geulah will come immediately, as it says היום אם בקולו תשמעו, today if you listen to My voice. היום refers to שמור את יום השבת לקדשו; G-d will come if you listen to His voice and keep the day.
There is a beautiful Midrash in Shemot Rabbah that teaches that Pharaoh said תכבד העבודה על האנשים, put a heavy workload on the Jewish people. The Jewish people held special scrolls that they would delight in reading as they rested on Shabbat. They knew from these scrolls that Hashem would redeem them. Pharaoh wanted to uproot that- הבה נתחכמה לו, let us outsmart him. Pharaoh’s first decree was to uproot the Shabbat. He knew that as long as the Jewish people were keeping Shabbat, he would not be able to subjugate them. Therefore, he tried to get rid of Shabbat so that he could keep them in galut.
This concept does not just refer to Galut Mitzrayim, but every future galut. Keeping Shabbat allows the Jewish people to escape from galut. This is why we repeatedly say that Shabbat is zecher l’yetziat mitzrayim. What does Shabbat have to do with yetziat mitzrayim?!
We must remember that G-d took us out because of zechut Shabbat. It was in the zechut of Shemirat Shabbat with those scrolls that allowed us to be redeemed.
קרבה אל נפשי גאלה, come close to Me and I will be redeemed. Our Rabbis teach that this does not just refer to a national redemption for the entire Jewish people, but for a personal geulah from a person’s tzarot. Shabbat has the ability to take us out of our difficulties, as it allows us to strengthen our Emunah.
The power of Shabbat stems from our learning Torah on Shabbat, which gives a person chizzuk. Pharaoh said: אל ישלוט דברי שקר. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky gives a brilliant chiddush: Moshe Rabbeinu wrote 11 of the Mizmorei Tehillim. Among them is מזמור שיר ליום השבת, where it talks about טוב להודות לה. Surprisingly, this mizmor doesn’t talk about Shabbat, but about chizzuk and Emunah. Rav Kamenetsky suggests that this perek was written in order to give us chizzuk on Shabbat, because the chizzuk and the emunah that we got from Shabbat allowed us to be redeemed in Mitzrayim!
Have a Shabbat Shalom and a Chag Kasher v’Sameach.