We read in the Book of Bereshit that immediately following the world’s creation, G-d declared Shabbat a special day: ויברך אלוקים את יום השביעי ויקדש אותו – “G-d blessed the seventh day and made it sacred” (Bereshit 2:3). Shabbat was “blessed” and declared “sacred.”
Indeed, a strong connection exists between these two concepts – berachah and kedushah. Namely, sanctity brings blessing. When we experience kedushah, we bring upon ourselves berachah. This is why, as we recite in birkat ha’mazon, our אבות הקדושים, our sacred patriarchs, were blessed בכל מכל כל – with abundant and endless blessing. As they epitomized kedushah, they earned unlimited berachah.
I recently brought a group of women to meet with a number of outstanding Rebbetzins in Bnei-Brak. On one visit, we met with Rebbetzin Borenstein, the wife of Rav Shmuel Yaakov Borenstein, a revered Rosh Yeshiva in Bnei-Brak. The Rebbetzin spoke to the women about this vital message – that kedushah brings berachah, and she applied it to tzeniut (modesty). Rashi, in the beginning of Parashat Kedoshim (Vayikra 19:2), writes, מקום שאתה מוצא גדר ערוה אתה מוצא קדושה – avoiding all forms of promiscuous conduct brings holiness. Not surprisingly, then, many stories have been told of women who raised their standards of tzeniut as a source of merit when they confronted a difficult situation, and they earned the help they needed in this merit. By raising their level of kedushah, they brought upon themselves great blessing.
Besides tzeniut, we experience kedushah also through the study of Torah, which is sacred, and through the proper observance of Shabbat, which is a sacred day. The Rebbetzin noted the Gemara’s comment in Masechet Betzah (16a) that a person’s finances are determined for the entire year on Rosh Hashanah, but his expenses for Shabbat, Yom Tov and Torah education for his children are not included in this allotted amount. This means that if, for example, G-d decreed that a person will have $300,000 to use over the course of the year, this does not include these expenses. He may spend as much as he needs on Shabbat, Yom Tov and his children’s Torah education without any concern, because these expenses are covered separately from the annual “budget” allocated for him at the beginning of the year. The Rebbetzin explained that Shabbat and Torah learning bring kedushah, and therefore, by extension, they bring berachah. We thus have no reason to fear spending money for Shabbat and Torah, since they bring us the blessing we need to cover these expenses.
These three sources of kedushah all merge on Shabbat. For many, Shabbat is a time when men spend extra time learning Torah, and when women pay greater attention to proper standards of tzeniut in dress. Shabbat is a time of kedushah, and so it is when we raise the level of our devotion to Torah and modesty, the two main sources of kedushah. (We should add that Gaon of Vilna wrote that the primary source of kedushah for a man is Torah learning, and for a woman is tzeniut.) And Shabbat is therefore the מקור הברכה, the source of all blessing, because it is a time when we experience kedushah at an especially high level.
Earlier, we noted the description in birkat ha’mazon of the boundless berachah bestowed upon our patriarchs: בכל מכל כל. The gematria (numerical value) of the word בכל is the same as that of the word בן (“son”). The ultimate berachah that we earn through kedushah is the blessing of children who follow our traditions and grow to become committed Jews.
My father-in-law, Rav Nosson Scherman, told me the story of Mr. Benzion Feldman, an outstanding figure who served as the treasurer of Yeshivat Torah Va’daas, and who passed away around thirty years ago. He was blessed with many outstanding children and grandchildren who became esteemed figures in the Orthodox Jewish world, despite raising his family under conditions that made it very difficult to maintain an observant lifestyle. During the 1930s and 1940s, American Jews endured great challenges in regard to Shabbat observance and to affording Torah education for their children, and yet Mr. Feldman succeeded in raising religiously devoted children. When he was asked to identify the secret of this success, he told two stories of how he withstood difficult challenges. Significantly, one had to do with his children’s Torah education, and the other involved Shabbat observance.
Yeshiva tuition in those days, Mr. Feldman told, was $3 a month. While this might sound to us as a tiny sum, for many during the period of the Great Depression, this was a major sacrifice. Mr. Feldman was unable to pay this amount, and people told him that most parents did not make their tuition payments on time, and so he shouldn’t worry about it. At first he thought they were right, but he then realized that he owed it to the school and to the teachers to make his payments in a timely fashion. In order to come up with the money, he decided to forego on the 25-cent lunch he used to buy himself each day. He instead brought with him a piece of bread and an onion from home to work, and ate that as his lunch. This sacrifice for Torah education brought him the great berachah of outstanding children and grandchildren.
Mr. Feldman earned a living by collecting leftover remnants of material from a factory towards the end of every week, on Thursday, and then peddling them. The owners of this factory were non-observant Jews, and one day they informed Mr. Feldman that they no longer had time for him on Thursday. They asked that he come collect the scraps of material on Saturday, instead. He explained to them that he observed Shabbat, and could not come to work on Shabbat.
“Come’on, Feldman,” they said. “Who are you kidding? You’re not religious! You’re one of the boys, like us.”
He insisted that he was observant, and he showed them his tzitzit. The factory owners were impressed, and they agreed to continue the arrangement whereby he came every Thursday.
This, too, Mr. Feldman believed, brought him berachah. His insistence on observing Shabbat and experiencing the special kedushah of the day brought him blessing and resulted in his outstanding offspring. When a person sacrifices for Torah learning and for Shabbat, he earns blessing.
My father-in-law also told me another story about Mr. Feldman. A fire once broke out in the Torah Va’daas building, which was then situated in Williamsburg, and the facility was evacuated. The yeshiva’s Rabbis stood outside watching the flames, and wept. They realized that the building would be unusable for an uncertain period of time, and they worried how they would be able to continue teaching their students. As they stood there weeping in anguish, Mr. Feldman was busy making arrangements to hire contactors to create makeshift classrooms in local synagogues that agreed to house the yeshiva in the interim. The students did not miss a day of learning, thanks to his efforts.
This is what brings blessing – working to increase kedushah through Torah learning, Shabbat, and tzeniut.
In the merit of our efforts to grow in these areas and increase our levels of kedushah, may we all be blessed like our sacred patriarchs בכל מכל כל, with all the blessings we could ever wish for, amen.