Welcome to Embrace Shabbat.
The Sefer Torat Shabbat quotes the following question from Rav Mordechai Ablechovitch: if Shabbat is a spiritual entity, how can it be the mekor haBracha, the source of incredible physical bounty?
He answers that the bracha stems from Tosefet Shabbat. When a person infuses the physical weekday with holiness by taking in Shabbat early, the new spiritual entity brings about physical bounty.
This does not only refer to the Tosefet Shabbat, which can be done from Plag HaMincha and on. A person can also fulfill Tosefet Shabbat by refraining from doing melcha after Chatzot on Friday. Stories abound about people who closed their shops early on Chatzot on Fridays and witnessed incredible wonders.
Moshe Stern lived in the old Meah Shearim area and had a kitchen appliance store. Not only was he honest and knowledgeable about his goods, but he also was very good at repairing various appliances.
Moshe had a custom to close his store after Chatzot on Friday. One Friday afternoon, he received a phone call an hour after Chatzot. The man on the other end was frantic- something was wrong with his refrigerator and he could not find anyone to come and fix it. The man begged Moshe Stern to come help him. However, Mr. Stern replied, “I am very sorry. I don’t work after Chatzot on Friday, so I cannot come fix your appliance,” The man pleaded and even promised to pay double or triple Moshe Stern’s going rate, but he wouldn’t budge.
Moshe had a soft heart, and a few minutes later he arrived at the caller’s home dressed in his Shabbat finest, including his white kippah and Yerushalmi coat. Moshe bent down under the refrigerator, played around a little bit, and fixed the problem. The homeowner was overjoyed and asked what he owed Moshe. He answered, “You don’t owe me anything. I don’t work on Friday afternoon. I came to do a chesed, but I will not accept money after Chatzot.”
The homeowner from the story was not a chareidi Jew, and was in shock. He could not believe that something like this could happen. He was a journalist and wanted to pay the man back in a positive way. In his upcoming article, he wrote all of the details of the story. He spoke about the authentic Jew from Meah Shearim that would not take all the money in the world, but fixed the refrigerator as a chessed and did not waver in his principles.
This caused a tremendous kiddush Hashem, notwithstanding the free advertisement. Obviously many people called Moshe Stern after Shabbat for his services. His addition to Shabbat on Friday afternoon clearly served as the tosefet Shabbat, bringing about the mekor haBracha.