We Know the Spirit, But What’s the ‘Body’ of Shabbos

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel Archives.

Last week I gave a little background on how Chabad started in America through publications - what Rabbi Mindel wrote and the Rebbe made notations on. And today I want to share with you the book that the Rebbe wrote notations on - the book is Volume 2 of "My Prayer," which is on Inyonei Shabbos [matters of Shabbos].

The book begins with: the first symbol of Shabbos is light. We bring the light into Shabbos - how? By the woman lighting the Shabbos candles; she brings in Shabbos with light. And you end Shabbos with light also - he speaks of the Havdalah candle. So you bring in Shabbos with light, and you end Shabbos with light.

Light, he writes, is identified with the first emanation from the Creator, the Ein Sof light itself. So the symbol is light. Just as light does not get affected by shining - when light shines, the light itself doesn't get affected. For example, the sun: the sun shines, there's no change in the sun. The sun can cure, and chas v'shalom the sun can do the opposite - the sun can make an egg hard and something else soft; the sun can make the face burn, and the sun can cure. So the sun does a lot of things, depending on how we receive it, but the sun itself - there's no change in the sun.

The same is true with Hashem: by creating the world, there is no effect on Him. On Shabbos He finished creating the world, and He constantly recreates the world anew - but there's no change in Him. So on Shabbos you begin with light and you also end with light.

Just like everything in the world has a body and a soul, Shabbos also has a body and a soul. What is the body of Shabbos? That's the physical aspects of Shabbos. Lighting candles - that's the body of Shabbos. The Shabbos meal, the seudas Shabbos - that is the body of Shabbos. Shabbos clothes - the body of Shabbos. The niggunim, the songs of Shabbos, the zemiros Shabbos - that's called the body of Shabbos. Prayer is called the body of Shabbos. Sleeping on Shabbos is also called the body of Shabbos - taanug, it's a pleasure to sleep on Shabbos.

Now there is a discussion somewhere - I saw it in one of the writings - whether the pleasure is when you sleep, or the pleasure is when you get up. But once I heard from a doctor - he says he believes in the revival of the dead. I asked, why do you believe it, it's amazing? He says: when, on Shabbos, he makes Kiddush and eats, and he eats fish, and he eats whatever we serve - chicken, kugel, everything - he eats on Shabbos, and he goes to sleep, and he wakes up... he believes - it's amazing - there is definitely a revival of the dead. So, anyway, these are called the body of Shabbos.

What is the soul of Shabbos? The neshama of Shabbos - that's the hidden spiritual, that's the meditation, that's the kavana of Shabbos. That's why people daven longer on Shabbos - they have kavana in prayer. I remember when I was a bochur - I don't see this now, but older chassidim used to daven on Shabbos standing by the wall, and daven at length - you could see the meditation, the davening - that's the neshama of Shabbos.

So this book, "My Prayer," speaks about that - the Rebbe writes here about the neshama, about the soul of Shabbos. The Rebbe said many times: "mina mitbarchin shisha yomin" - from Shabbos the weekdays are blessed. When we understand and feel the holiness of Shabbos, the body and the soul, then the entire week is meaningful. The week is a vessel - that's why among the weekdays, in Hebrew, there is no "Sunday," there is no "Monday," there is no "Tuesday," "Wednesday," "Thursday," "Friday" - there is no such thing. What is Sunday called? The first day to Shabbos. Monday - the second day [to Shabbos], Tuesday - and so on, because the purpose of the weekdays is that we should live the weekdays from Shabbos. So it's "Sunday to Shabbos," "Monday to Shabbos" - that's why there is no independent "Sunday" or "Monday."

Now, as I mentioned, we're talking about the body - we'll be talking about food on Shabbos. Once I was at a place - I don't recall exactly where - and I noticed a difference, that they eat fish with their hands on Shabbos. So I asked, where does it say this, what's the reason? So they showed me - first of all, why do you eat fish on Shabbos? Because "dag" [fish] - dalet-gimmel is seven [in gematria] - [connects to] Shabbos, the seventh day - so you eat fish. Why do you eat fish with the hands? Not everyone does this, but some do - since the food is the body of Shabbos, and fish is "dag," [associated with] the seventh day, they want to touch the fish - instead of eating with a fork, they want to have the mitzvah of touching the body of Shabbos. Why fish, why not something else? So they say, because we learned a few weeks ago that fish was given to be eaten with the hands [unclear]. So they have a minhag - it's good to know why; many people in other communities didn't even know why, but I found out this is the reason - and that's the body of Shabbos.

This reminds me - a few years ago there was a rabbi in upstate New York, [with] a big shul, but he had to leave for a few summers, so I took over that shul. It was a full shul - there were people [from various backgrounds] - Satmar, chasidishe, Belgium people, baalei teshuva. And then we had a Kiddush. Now, people that came by car - I usually tell them you can't come to shul like that, you shouldn't come to daven [if you drive]. Anyway, they didn't come to daven, but they came to the Kiddush, which, you know, draws a lot of people who drive. So I asked them: you come by car to daven, which is not good - it's also not good to come and be mechallel Shabbos to come to the Kiddush by car - why did you come to the Kiddush by car? Don't you have a Kiddush at home? Don't you have a piece of herring in the house? Why don't you eat that at home? [They said] if you want herring, you have to take a car and go. So they all told me - and this is the neshama of it - they said, Rabbi, the food that we eat, the herring that we eat by the Kiddush, or the challah that we eat by the Kiddush, tastes much different - it's different, it feels holy when you eat it by the Kiddush, the taste is different. This is - even they feel the body of Shabbos.

So this is the body - the Havdalah, the fire - this is called the body of Shabbos. So, as the Rebbe writes here, connected to this, also in a letter: the women begin Shabbos - they begin with the lighting. If they light the Shabbos candles with kavana - the light, the candle, with kavana - and they put their hands over their eyes and have kavana, not just stam, but knowing that this is a very important time - the children are around the table and they see it when the mother, the wife, prepares food for Shabbos, that the food is holy for Shabbos, it has a holiness, and the clothes for Shabbos. And when the children see - as the Frierdiker Rebbe writes - when they see that before Shabbos, before the father takes his son to shul, he says, "check your pockets" - they know they have to wait for the father to tell them to check their pockets, that they shouldn't carry out [on Shabbos] - this is called the body of Shabbos, that the children will absorb a great deal from this. And then they take the - the husband, who is the neshama, who lights the Havdalah candle - to make a complete Shabbos, full of light and mitzvah.

Next week we'll continue our program about "My Prayer." Thank you.