Shabbat Shechina

Welcome to Embrace Shabbat.

In his sefer Yafei LaLev on Shabbat, Rav Chaim Palagi (letter 118) quotes the passuk קחו מאתכם תרומה לה' כל נדיב לבו, take from among you gifts to Hashem, everyone that is generous of the heart…. This passuk about donations to the mishkan is written right next to the topic of Shabbat.

There are many reasons quoted as to why the topic of the Mishkan is next to Shabbat. One of them, simply, is to teach that the mishkan cannot be built on Shabbat; Shabbat overrides the mishkan.

It is a statement of Emunah. The Gemara (Beitza 17a) teaches that a person’s livelihood is allocated on Rosh Hashana for the entire year, with the exception of Shabbat and other religious expenses. Therefore, whatever a person spends on Shabbat is not included on their account! They can spend without counting pennies! On Shabbat, a person should become a נדיב.

Shabbat represents the mishkan in time, which is why the mishkan is not allowed to be built on Shabbat. There is a concept of the mishkan in time, place, and person; there is a holy place, a holy time, and a holy person. Every Shabbat, we have a mishkan in time, where G-d dwells. For this reason, a person must be a נדיב לב on Shabbat. Just as generosity brought the shechina down into the mishkan, generosity brings the shechina down into our Shabbat.

Shabbat is about השראת השכינה- it is when G-d’s shechina dwells in the Jewish people. This concept is included week’s parsha, Parshat Shemot. The passuk says: את יעקב איש, Yaakov, a man, and his house came down to Mitzrayim. Rav Yitzchak Palagi (letter 112) quotes the Yalkut Reuveni that in the zechut of Shabbat, Hashem’s shechina went down with us to Mitzrayim, as it says את יעקב איש. The last letters spell שבת when read backwards. G-d’s shechina went down to the Mitzrayim with us in galut in the merit of Shabbat. Wherever we are, Hahsme is with us, but we need the zechut of Shabbat.

One of the reasons why we go out to the fields to greet Shabbat with בואי כלה בואי כלה is because we must go out to greet the shechina, and then the guests of the shechina come into our homes. Furthermore, the nefesh yetaira that we have on Shabbat is connected to the shechina that comes into our homes. Shabbat signifies the spirituality of creation. The world was created as a spiritual creation, as a guf, but every guf needs a neshama. The neshama of the world is Shabbat; it infuses the world with spirituality. T

We must reconize the special holiness that is inherent in Shabbat, prepare ourselves for it, and act in a respected way. Wherever there is holiness, there is kavod. Even in the darkest of places, like when Yaakov Avinu goes down to Mitzrayim, Shabbat brings the holiness to be with us.

Have a Shabbat Shalom.