BECOMING AN EREV-SHABBOS JEW
It was Friday. I called a friend of mine to say hello and wish
him a good Shabbos. He picked up the receiver with a greeting
I had never heard before: “Good erev Shabbos!”
Thinking that he must have said, “Good Shabbos,” I jokingly
said to him, “You’re getting rid of me so soon? Shouldn’t you wish
me ‘Good Shabbos’ at the end of our conversation - not at the beginning?”
“You didn’t hear me well,” came the reply. “I said, ‘Good erev
Shabbos.’
Let me explain. I just heard a speech from my rabbi
about how important it is to look forward to Shabbos. He said
that today, thank G-d, we have many Sabbath-observant
Jews...but how many erev-Shabbos Jews are there? Jews who passionately
yearn for Shabbos throughout the week are hard to
find. Yes, many observe the halachos of Shabbos with much devotion,
but few strive to inject avodah shebaleiv, true service of the
heart, into their shemiras Shabbos. This can only come from feeling
great anticipation for Shabbos. At the very least, on erev
Shabbos, we should be yearning for Shabbos.
My friend continued, “I decided that from now on I will refer
to Friday as ‘erev Shabbos’ as often as I can. Perhaps then I will succeed
in giving erev Shabbos the respect it deserves. And, by improving my
appreciation for erev Shabbos, the excitement and passion
for Shabbos itself will be attained much more easily.”
An erev-Shabbos Jew is what the Ohr HaChaim envisions in his
explanation of “v’shomru bnei Yisrael es haShabbos - the Children
of Israel should guard (shomru) the Shabbos.” The word shomer,
says the Ohr HaChaim, does not only mean “guard,” but at times it
means “anticipate greatly,” as in the verse “v’aviv shamar es
hadavar,” Yaakov yearned for Yosef’s dreams to come true.
Bnei Yisrael must anticipate and yearn for Shabbos: v’shomru bnei
Yisrael es haShabbos.
An ‘erev-Shabbos Jew’ is what the Ba’al HaTurim had in mind
in a letter to his children:
All agricultural work, the plowing and planting is done in order
to bring forth fruit. Similarly, all that a person does to
take care of his body is done in order to sustain the soul’s existence
in this world. The daily fruit of the soul are the times
of prayer, and the weekly fruit of the soul is Shabbos.
The Ba’al HaTurim is describing the experience of Shabbos
as the ultimate goal for all activities of the week. The erev-Shabbos
Jew knows and lives this ideal.
An erev-Shabbos Jew, a Jew who fervently yearns for Shabbos.
How can one reach such a level?
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky, zt”l, was known to relate this thought.
Reminders of Shabbos
One method to attain this spiritual level is to remind oneself
of Shabbos as much as possible. The Chafetz Chaim writes that
even when one refers to an event that took place in the previous
week he should say, “Before Shabbos, on Thursday...” instead of
just saying, “last Thursday,” in order to mention Shabbos. He also
writes that there was a certain Torah giant who would somehow
manage to relate the topic of Shabbos to his regular Gemara shiur,
so that he would fulfill the mitzvah to remember Shabbos every
day.
Of course, in order to become erev-Shabbos Jews we need to
understand the value and significance of erev Shabbos in its own
right. Minhag Yisrael Torah cites Mishmeres Shalom who says that
it is proper to eat a little meat on erev Shabbos, because the sanctity
of Shabbos is me’urav, combined with, and spills into erev
Shabbos. Hence, the name erev, meaning “mixed.”
In addition, erev Shabbos is similar to erev Yom Kippur, because the Gemara
states, “Whoever observes Shabbos properly is forgiven for his
sins, even if his sins include idol worship.” Just like there is a
mitzvah to eat on erev Yom Kippur, erev Shabbos has a similar feature.
Now, it is certainly not a halachic obligation to eat meat or
even more than our usual fill on erev Shabbos. In fact, one must be
careful not to overeat in order to have an appetite for the se’udah
on Friday night, but the sources cited do give us a perspective
on the prominence that erev Shabbos should be accorded.
Learning from Our Sages
Perhaps the most important area to concentrate on when try
ing to become an erev-Shabbos Jew is how to use our time and set
our schedules on erev Shabbos itself. Let us take a peek at how
some of our Torah giants arranged their erev Shabbos:
• Rav Yechezkel Abramsky would make sure to have his table
set for Shabbos already on Friday morning.
• Rav Mordechai Sharabi would sit down to learn the weekly
parashah right after davening on Friday morning. He would
then go to buy fresh challos, and then immerse in the
mikveh. He would also avoid speaking about mundane matters
throughout erev Shabbos.
• The Netziv, the Chafetz Chaim, Rav Elya Lopian, and the
Steipler Gaon, among others, were all known to immerse
themselves in a mikveh on erev Shabbos.
• The Maggid of Kelm, Rav Moshe Yitzchak HaDarshan, and
the Brisker Rav, Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchek, would both
treat chatzos (halachic midday) as if it were the time at
which Shabbos began. From then on, they would not contemplate
worldly matters, and the spirit of Shabbos permeated
their homes.
• Rav Chaim Ozer would never sit and judge cases on Friday
afternoon. The Steipler Gaon would not write on Friday
afternoon.
• Rav Aryeh Levin would not open letters that he received on
Friday afternoon, lest there be some information in the letters
that might worry him over Shabbos.
It is true that we can’t fully emulate these Torah leaders.We
have jobs and responsibilities on erev Shabbos that preclude us
from having the freedom to spend all day involved in spirituality.
But perhaps we can muster the strength to accept Shabbos a half hour
earlier than regular candle lighting time or, at the very least,
ten minutes earlier.
Rav Yaakov Weinberg, zt”l, rosh yeshivah of
Ner Yisrael, Baltimore, would often advise people to accept
Shabbos upon themselves ten minutes before candle lighting
time. In this way, when Shabbos comes in we are in a calm state of
mind, rather than in a frenzy.
Perhaps we can start taking care of all Shabbos preparations
as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the Friday afternoon
rush. Maybe we can eliminate our procrastination, at least
when it comes to erev Shabbos. Then, we would have time to sit
and learn a little before Shabbos or read stories to our kids. People
who have begun arranging their erev Shabbos schedules in
this fashion have testified to the sanctity they feel when Shabbos
comes in.
By taking steps toward a meaningful erev Shabbos, by becoming
erev-Shabbos Jews, we set the stage for a powerful and meaningful
Shabbos.
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