BS”D

Vaeschanan – The Greatest 2 for 1 Special?

A Guten Erev Shabbos everyone. This week’s parsha is Vaeschanan, which, as they say in the classics, is a jam packed parsha where every sentence could be a shiur of its own. What we are going to focus in on today is ‘the greatest 2 for 1 special’. Not a double parsha, but there is a double something going on here. We have to understand it on a level that possibly we never understood before.

One of the laws that comes out of this parsha in Perek Daled posuk beis is ‘Lo tosifu al hadavar asher anochi metzave eschem, lo tigru mimenu. Lishmor es mitzvos H’ E’l asher anochi metzave eschem.” What does that mean? You shall not add to the words that I command you nor shall you subtract from it. This is probably one of the most important foundation blocks of all of Torah. It is so important that it stems from the very first sin until today, it has been at the very essence of all the machlokets that exist in the world. On the surface it says do not add and do not subtract. The Rabbis say it is obvious we should not subtract. What it comes to teach us is, do not add because it will lead us to subtract. It comes to teach us that adding anything to the Torah is by definition subtracting from it. How can that be? Wouldn’t we think its good to add to the Torah? Aren’t we showing how precious the Torah is to us by adding more and more? That what we have isn’t enough. We want more. Wouldn’t adding more to the mitzvos make the other 613 more special. Wouldn’t it show how much we want to do the will of H and how much we want to embellish and beautify the mitzvos. The Torah is perfect, temimah, and anything added to it by man takes away from it. Anybody who believes that the Torah is Devine would not dare to think that anything man adds to it could possibly enhance it. The opposite is true. A mitsva made up by man is not comparable. The first time we find this idea of not adding to Torah is right at the beginning, with Adam and Chava. Not only was she not allowed to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but she was told it was forbidden on the penalty of death even to touch it. Since he added to G-d’s commandments there was a pesach, an opening, for the snake, the Nachash, to come forward, and give evidence to Chava that this in fact was not the truth. What he did was, he said to Chava, do you really believe that what Adam said is absolute? Why is it that he doesn’t want you to taste from the tree of knowledge? Because you could get smarter than him. You could be as smart as H’. This is an amazing thing. Why doesn’t he want you to touch it? He doesn’t want you to touch it so that, if you don’t touch it, for sure your not going to eat it. But this isn’t the truth. In fact, the Nachash, the Medrash says, took Chava and threw her into the tree of knowledge. When she came out of it alive, the snake said, ‘you see this is all a lie. It is not true at all.’ So by Adam HaRishon creating a Geder, a gvul, a fence to say, if you can’t touch it how much more so you can’t eat it. It sounded amazing on the surface, but by adding to it, it was as if it was imperfect. As if that which H’ commanded didn’t have enough safeguards. Lets add to those safeguards and by adding to them, for sure we wont stumble. In fact the Nachash had eavesdropped both on what H had told Adam HaRishon and what Adam HaRishon had told Chava. The Nachash, being the smartest of creatures, saw the petach, like a gaping wound. It was just begging to be opened up and destroyed. So what happened was that when Chava realized that that was not in fact the law, that she was alive and well having touched the fruit, which was beautiful to the eyes, it didn’t cause death. So all of a sudden, the onus of proof shifted - the whole halacha seemed to be manmade, a fiction not to be believed, chas veshalom. Therefore, R”l, Chava ate from it and gave it to Adam Rishon and said “this fruit is terrific, its incredible, there’s never been anything like it. You’ve got to taste it”. He saw that she was still alive, so he tasted it, and that brought the initial destruction. By adding to Torah, you are in fact taking away from it.

H’s world is perfect in conception, perception and in completion. Nothing is incomplete about the word of H’. It is perfect. Toras H temima. So we see from this tragic initial omission how the rebound, literally and figuratively, has reverberated not through Adam and Eve but through World History. Look at the gratitude Adam Rishon gave to H. This woman you gave me, she made me. Hows that? H gave him the perfect soul mate. Can you imagine in the Garden of Eden, Adam walking around saying, Chava, I’m just not sure if I’m your beshert. I’m just not sure. So lets reflect on this. H had made from the side of Adam HaRishon, Chava, so this in fact was flesh of his flesh, bones of his bones. It was him. His soul mate. His perfection. The woman was an ezer kenegdo for him, she was meant to be his safeguard. What about the tree of knowledge. H commanded. He did the exact opposite. He made her stumble in the process. The whole world stumbled. Instead of going into Yom Shevii, Shabbos, they went out of Gan Eden into a land of terrible trauma, toil and tragedy. Until today, we feel the effects of the Nachash, of Loshon Hora, of what comes from Loshon Hora, shedding of blood, murder, anger, taiva, gaiva, kavod, the world is littered with man’s opinion. You see the tragedy of it, people today talk about 2 yardsticks, 2 measures, the measuring stick of justice and the measuring stick of politics. In politics, all is fair. It seems as though in politics, we can rewrite all the rules. Rules are for fools and the one with the most toys wins. And if it feels good, it is good. What the public say, that’s the way. It’s a tremendous tragedy, choshech she bechoshech. Bringing darkness upon darkness. And we see, throughout all of the writings and throughout all of world history, how far from the truth the world has come. Originally everything was crystal clear, Adam haRishon had such a perfect communication with H’ that the light of his skin radiated to the world. Maybe like the light of the face of Moshe Rabbeinu when he came down from Har Sinai, there was a light that lit up the whole world. What is clear is that this was Betzelem H. This was the absolute image of H’. He brought death into this world, a tremendous tremendous tragedy. When we read parshas Bereishis every year I’m amazed I don’t see people shedding tremendous tears. When we go to Levayas, we see tremendous heartache and devastation. The only reconciling fact in a Levaya is that you know that that neshama has gone on to a better world to its toil and trouble in this world. Given as it may, it didn’t have to be. That was the original idea of don’t add to the Torah.

If that is the case, then there is a question that begs to be asked. The Shnei Luchos Habris. The two tablets of the covenant. H is the perfect doctor, H hu ha Rofeh – He is the one that heals. Who was the first doctor to prescribe tablets? H said take this two tablets and call me every morning. There is no finer medicine, because it is all spiritually contained in the 10 Commandments. Parshas VaEschanan contains the 10 Commandments. The question begs to be asked. In parshas Yisro it seems Moshe Rabbeinu came down from Har Sinai with the 10 Commandments. What happened? He saw the tragedy of Am Yisrael, through safek (doubt) finding another’Shaliach’ having forced Aaron HaCohen on the pain of death, to bring to them a golden calf. Aaron threw the gold into the fire hoping that it would destroy it and he could then scream out to Am Yisrael, these are your gods. See how you waste your money and your life. To his absolute horror, out of the fire came a calf. From there came so much tragedy. We still commemorate it today. This says something intrinsic about the luchos. The samech and mem sofit – how could they be carved into the rock? How were they set? Surely the central part would fall out. If you tried to do something like that it would never stand unless you filled up the central part with epoxy or glass. You could never get something that could levitate. The Shnei Luchos were miraculous. Not only that, but Chazal say that the back of the Luchos was exactly the same as the front, and you could see through the letters to your friend on the other side. Anochi, lo yiyhe … On the back, it was exactly the same, Anochi, lo yiyhe etc. So it’s a miracle of infinite proportions. Not difficult for H’. The commentaries also say, the kever of Moshe Rabbeinu. People went to the top of Har Nevo and said they saw the kever was towards the bottom. They went to the bottom and saw it was towards the top. They were going up and down to try to find the kever, but it was revealed in Torah that man will never find it. Much as man looks for it, it will never be found until the right moment when H brings Moshiach tzidkeinu and we will all experience the things destined for the time of Geula. Who knows, maybe Moshe and Aharon will come back to this world, and will lead Am Yisrael to perfection. Until we desire it, until we desire absolute, pure Torah, H lets us lead ourselves through the darkness. If a person really clings to H at the end of history, as it says in this weeks parsha, he will have a true spirit with H, rather than the tree of knowledge, wanting to outsmart H’.

We have to ask a deeper question. If we had the shnei luchos, OK Moshe Rabbeinu broke it out of shock and tragic disgrace that had been brought to the nation through the golden calf, surely the shnei luchos could have been put back together again. Either showing the signs where it was cracked and broken because it was in fact Am Yisraael that broke them, which is a frightening thing because when H creates something that is Netzach netznahim, for eternity. As long as there is heaven and earth there will be Am Yisrael, which means forever. There will never be another reality. In that case, why did we need a second set? Could there be a tikun on the first set? Was it a “copy”? What is going on here. Isn’t this the strangest thing? Surely Moshe Rabbeinu should have gone up and got another sefer Torah. Right? That is what he came down with originally, the sefer Torah and the luchos. This needs further investigation. Is this just a repeat? Is that the case? How does this work? If you look carefully, you can see that some of the commandments are exactly the same. Anochi H, I am H your G-d, have no other gods before you, don’t bow down to anything else, don’t create any foreign images. All these things absolute and perfect, according to H’s commandment. If you take away from them, you see the tragedy of the world we live in today. Ask people what it means, tmuna or pessel. What is a picture and what is a statute. What are these things that H says are forbidden? Idolatrous pictures, idolatrous statues? It seems amazing enough – it says any bird in the sky, any creature on the earth and any fish below the earth. Were all these things worshipped? If they were worshipped, why can’t the original be worshipped, just like it says about the trees, ‘chop down those trees of idolatry’. When we come back to Israel, all the temples of idolatry have to be destroyed. The only question is, which generation has the emuna? If we don’t have that emuna, it will be the opposite of chopping down the trees, it will be an absolute invitation to the nations of the world, to launch the greatest attack in world history, against Am Yisrael. As we see today, in spite of not provoking, despite trying to appease, the 70 nations of the world, Shivim zeviim, they are sharpening their knives and forks for what they think is the seuda acharon. But in fact it will be their Yom Acharon, those who make themselves enemies of H’. But, the only thing that has not been determined is, who is for H. The answer is the righteous gentiles and the righteous Jews. Each and every one of Am Yisrael and each and every gentile has it within his grasp to choose life, and H and His Torah. For non-Jews the Torah is the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. The 7 Universal Laws of Noah, which saved Noah and his family from the flood. Thereafter when Am Yisrael came to Sinai, we received the 613 mitzvos and this is our Tree of Life. From the Garden of Eden until Har Sinai there was no tree of life. It was all Torah UMesoret. From Noach until Sinai, the nations of the world were told orally the 7 Mitvos Bnei Noach and Am Yisrael kep the laws of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov Avinu. Bris Mila, the Gid HaNeshe, all the different things as they developed, but it wasn’t codified so to speak in the written Torah. Even the written Torah had to be codified, had to be fermented for eternity, with the oral Torah.

Now look what Rashi says about do not add and do not subtract. We have to tremble. You shall not add and you shall not subtract – by definition the Torah cannot be improved upon. To add or to subtract to the commandments of the Torah carries an unacceptable implication heaven forbid, that the Torah is lacking something. Did you hear that? A damning accusation. If anybody feels there is something lacking or something overdone, and it is known if somebody says they keep 612 mitzvos, whichever one is missing – they cannot accept the 613^th because it does not make sense in their eyes, they are not accepted. It is called apikorsos, they are regarded as total atheists, on account of which they cannot be trusted. It will lead them ultimately to the destruction of thir faith altogether. So we have to be very careful not to add or subtract. What does Rashi say? This negative commandment forbids one, for example, listen to the example, adding a fifth chapter to the 4 chapters in the tefillin. We have 4. If a person adds a fifth, that is completely posul. If they are 3, they are completely posul. If 1 letter is missing or 1 letter is added, or even if 1 letter is touching another letter in the tefillin, the whole tefillin is posul and it cannot be repaired. The person has to get a totally new tefillin. The tzedukim did not have the oral law. Not because they didn’t have it, but because they refused to accept it. For them, totafot bein eineihem, they had them literally between their eyes. But the big question is, what did they have between their eyes? Which pesukim? And mezuzah, on their doorposts. What did they have? Any posuk that they just felt good about? Did they just have a little mezuzah case with nothing in it. How did they get their mesora? How did they get the oral law. They didn’t get it. They rejected it. What about Shabbos? They refused to have any light in the home – as a result they sat in darkness throughout the week and for eternity. There is no Mesora when a person turns his back on Torah mi Moshe mi Sinai. It is impossible for a Yid, wherever he is, or anybody, wherever they are, to say they are the ultimate source of knowledge in the world. That 1 kilo or 2 kilos of grey matter can begin to comprehend the eternal wisdom of the creator, the perpetuator and the master of the universe. That he designs things which until today we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. From the smallest nano-meter sub-atomic particle, sub-electronic, sub-atomic particle, and where are the outer boundaries of the universe – so we haven’t got near the smallest nor the biggest. (23.35) We have got to the Torah which encompasses and embellishes all. Everything that ever was, is and will be. All comprehensive and comprehended when H brought Torah to the world. H the Creator of everything, the contemplator of everything. That is why Shlomo Hamelech, the wisest man, said “there is nothing new under the sun”. Doesn’t every day have new opportunities? Everything that comes into in the world was contemplated before creation. The only thing that wasn’t guaranteed was freedom of choice. Hakol Biyedei Shamayim Chutz Mi Yiras Shomayim. The ultimate brocho is to have this fear of going over the edge by adding extra mitzvos or not fulfilling all the mitzvos. One builds tremendous tremendous fences, but one does not see the land underneath eroding until one’s house collapses. From the erosion he comes to undermine the Torah and take away from it. A negative commandment, for example, forbids one to put a fifth chapter in the four chapters of the tefillin, or to add a verse to the three of Birchas Cohanim. This is codified for eternity. There will never be another word, another letter, that is necessary or adequate if taken away. If one letter is taken away from a sefer Torah, that whole sefer Torah cannot be used, immediately. As we described previously in Parshas Pinchas, when the Vaad in the Bris Shalom, for someone who wasn’t learned, when he saw the crack in the vav, he thought it was a posul sefer Torah. It was a perfect sefer Torah. That vav in the sefer had to be a vav shavur, a broken vav. We learn infinite things from it. There is no end to that limud. Conversely, it is forbidden to leave out anything from the tefillin, from the Sefer Torah, or from the Shnei Luchos, the Two Tablets of the Ten Commandments. So, if that’s the case, its forbidden to take away or to add anything, then the question that begs to be asked right now, is, how is it possible that Am Yisrael had to get a second set of luchos. It is a shocking question that has a very urgent message for us. The real question is, what is the message? What do we learn from the second set of shnei luchos. Was it an exact replication? Was it like Adam Rishon sent out of the Garden of Eden and now he toils for the same fruit H gave him free of charge. There were Challas growing off the trees. There was every delight that man could wish for in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t appreciate it – ‘Get out of the Palace’. Now you are going to toil in the land of Gehenom, the land of sweat, blood and tears. Now you are going to feel what it is like to decide for yourself. Is this the message of the second set of luchos, that Moshe had to go up again for 40 days, fast, then he had to make his own set of Shnei Luchos, and what happened to the second set of samech and Mem sofit, did they levitate or was there a big gap there. At the back of the second set of luchos, was the mirror image inverted? What was with the second set of Shnei Luchos? What about the first set. Was it necessary for them to keep them? If it was an exact mirror image copy what do you do with the first one? File it away? Its not necessary. It seems very strange because in the kodesh hakodshim, in the Aron Hakodesh, there was actually the two sets of Shnei Luchos – 4 tablets. Isn’t this funny? So what do the second set of tablets do? The real question is, was it necessary? If it is it raises a question about the whole episode of Moshe Rabbeinu coming down the first time with the first set of Shnei Luchos. Was it not sufficient? It seems it was sufficient. If only we hadn’t fallen from grace, as a nation, and worshipped foreign gods. The first set of Shnei Luchos would have been sufficient. Now Moshe Rabbeinu had to go up again and until today we mourn the breaking of the Luchos, the destruction of both Temples and the exile. One day will come the third Beis Hamikdash and shir shel yom hashishi shall be le netach netzachim, for ever, and then the whole world will be full of the knowledge of H like the Sea is filled with water. We have to contemplate this very deeply. The first question is, was it in fact just a replication of the first set? It seems like it. Anochi H, you shall have no other gods, don’t desecrate His name etc. A second helping of the same? If that’s the case, lets look at it closely. The fourth commandment is Zachor es haShabbos. What is the reason for Shabbos? Zecher leMaaseh Bereishis? In rememberance of the Act of Creation. On the 7^th day H rested, so you rest. Does H need to rest? He rested so that we would rest. 6 days work. Seventh day – taste Gan Eden. You, Am Yisrael. The rest of the nations, keep working. Your doing a great job, keep working. When your not working, your endangering yourselves. There is no seventh day for the nations of the world. They have the 7 Mitzvos Bnei Noach but not Shabbos. If they keep Shabbos, they are chayav misa d’oraisa. Imagine edim that come to testify to the world, it’s the wrong day, its yom shishi. Yom shishi, Shabbos vayinafash. What happens to such an ed – double jeopardy. What about Yom Rishon? Everybody down tools, have a strike. Have a vacation. Yom Rishon is the day of rest? Ed sheker. You are testifying against Torah on both accounts. Hochesh she be choshech – there are those who are testifying for H and those testifying against. So we see how much the world is in darkness today. The two other ‘grreat’ religions, great in number but not contact (with H’) are basically giving edus neged the Torah.

Som in this weeks parsha, Vaeschanan, we understand that we are reading the 10 Commandments again. But come on, we read it already in the Chumash. What do we need to read it again for? Is it a repeat. Ok Mishna Torah, Sefer Devarim is a review of all of the Torah, so to speak. We have to keep all the commandments. What is so special about the 10 commandments, that they need to be mentioned here. So that everybody should have a quick reminder. OK, everybody we’re getting close to Rosh Hashanah, Ten Commandments – Ok we’ve got it. Taryag mitzvos – got it. It can’t be that simple. There’s got to be much more. Lets find what it says in the fourth commandment in parshas Vaeschanan. Remember the Sabbath day … And you will remember that you were slaves in Egypt…(Perek 5, posuk 12). What is the reason for keeping the Shabbos now? Zecher leyetzias mitzrayim – to remember leaving Egypt. So hold on, if this is the case, the first reason zecher lemaaseh Bereishis, remembering creation, contradicts the reason here. It’s a tremendous, tremendous question mark what is going on here. If the 10 commandments were a reproduction, then this commandment could never have been through a kol vehomer. We could never have got to this commandment by ourselves. How could we have ever known the fourth commandment in the second set of the Shnei Luchos. What is going on here? What kesher does creation have to yetzias mitzrayim? Did you ever see it before? This is a massive, explosive revelation. It seems now, for the first time, that the second set of Shnei Luchos wasn’t a luxury item , or a 2 for 1 special. It was intrinsic and essential. It was critical to the whole world that the second set of Shnei Luchos had to be brought to the world. Wre the first set not adequate? Chas vehalila. Was the second set a by product of the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu threw down the first set and shattered them because they could never be repaired. So, go back and get a second set? Its under warranty. Chas VeChalila. This shows that everything that comes into the world is an infinite learning experience. We had to have the second set of Shnei Luchos. We had to have it. It may not have had to have come under those conditions, but H would have absolutely had to have brought to us this information, through the repetition without the aveira. The Golden calf didn’t have to happen, but the shnei luchos did. H’s intrinsically eternal first set, and Moshe Rabbeinu’s second set, the guiding light for Am Yisrael in the world.

So, now, the real question shifts to Shabbos. What is going on here? Of all the Ten Commandments, we learn that it is Shnei Luchos. Why Shnei Luchos? The commentators say, the first set is Bein Adam Lemakom. Between H and am Yisrael. The second, between the 6^th and 10^th Commandment, bein Adam Le Chavero, between man and his fellow man. Which includes, murder, stealing, adultery, false testimony and coveting your neighbour’s property, his blessings – it will be his destruction. Don’t do it. So we see from all of these, the first five we cannot really explain on a physical, civil law basis. Is there any civil Court in the world that would sentence a person because they worshipped a foreign god. If it wasn’t for fear of the Government, The Mishna says, people would eat each other alive. It shows us that even a person who doesn’t have the most basic Yiras H’, Yiras Shomayim, everything else is in a state of freefall. A society that observes the 7 Mitzvos Bnei Noach has to set up a Court of Law. For every one of the 7 Mitzvos Bnei Noach the penalty is not to repay the day or repair the damage. The penalty is death. That’s the way the rest of the world experience Yiras Shomayim. The din is so absolute that if a person went and committed tzar ba’alei hayim, he hurts a little ant, he deserves to die, if he had no reason and two people warned him. The reason being, that he caused unnecessary destruction in G-d’s world. If the ants were getting into the food and causing destruction, he would have a reason. You can’t kill a person to save a cat. If a person by accident runs over a cat in the road, what can he do. But if he starts hunting for it, that is different. Back to the question of Shabbos. What is this whole thing about Shabbos? This is intrinsically bein Adam LeMakom. H brought the first 5 commandments to Am Yisrael as intrinsic light between H and his nation. If that is the case, what is it about the Shabbos that makes it so unique? Why the Shabbos? To give you a little bit of background, as a nation that survivied approximately 2000 years, in spite of some of the most severe, devastating persecutions of world history. We’ve been removed from our home land. Exiled under the auspices of every other nation in the world, under the most severe conditions. Throughout all this, we have been kept alive morally and spiritually. No other nation has experienced such a miracle of being taken out of its land, and having survived coming back hundreds of years later. Ilan Ramon said so awesomely up in space, carrying a sefer Torah saved from the holocaust “this sefer torah is our national homeland, through all the darkest moments and that is the Tikva, the hope for the future. The Sefer Torah is the portable homeland of the Jews. Whatever the nations of the world try to do to us, they will never accomplish. Because it is the word of H, The Eternal G-d. All other gods have mouths but cannot speak, they have eyes but cannot see, they have ears but they can’t hear. H hears Am Yisrael and all of creation. As much as the Jew keeps Shabbos, Shabbos keeps the Jew. More than the Jew keeps Shabbos, Shabbos keeps the Jew. In our prayers we say, rejoice in the Kingdom, you who keep the Sabbath. We cannot experience it on the outside. No other nation ever had the kingdom of H’.

At this stage, let us take a look at the makeup of the Jewish Law. What holds us together as a nation? After we lost our land, and lost our language what did we not lose? Our minds, our religion, our way. Let us review. Jewish religion makes a distinction between mitzvos Bein Adam LeMakom and Bein Adam leChavero. The ethical side and the ritual side. The ritual is between man and H’. The ethical between man and his fellow man. In ethics we learn, love your domain, do not shame, bear a grudge or take revenge. Do not hurt other people, or animals. These all bring trust between people. These are the fabric of civilisation. Like the laws of marriage, don’t cheat on a wife, don’t mess around with another man’s wife, because that carries the death sentence. If a person doesn’t believe it, unfortunately, it would be too late. The ritual law strengthens our relationship with our creator. The Jewish holidays, kashrus, tefillin, tzitzis, shatnez, bris mila, and the myriad of other laws that separate the men from the boys, and the Jews from the rest of the nations. Its irrelevant to the rest of the nations how the Jews celebrate Sukkos or Pesach. Even if they want to emulate us, there is no reward. By trying to imitate, it may even carry the death sentence in shamayim. One of the most important rituals in Judaism is the seventh day, the Shabbos. It’s the only ritual mentioned in all of the Ten Commandments. Of all the ritual laws. Does it mention Shatnez, Bris Mila, Tiztis, Tefilin, Kashrus? None of those are mentioned in the Torah. Just one ritual law, Shabbos. So lets understand something intrinsic. The Shabbos is the only ritual that marks the Jew. In the Gemoro it says that breaking Shabbos is like idol worship. How an it be? What is that? Some people claim that a good Jew only needs to keep the Ten Commandments. Heard that before? OK, OK I will keep the Ten Commandments. So then, amongst the Ten Commandments is keeping Shabbos. OK OK 9/10 is still a pass mark at University. That’s University, the Tree of Knowledge. You might think that 9/10 ain’t bad. In fact there are 613 mitzvos that radiate from the Torah. At best today we can only perform about 200 of them, outside the land or without the Temple. We function at about a third of the ideal. All mitzvos were given for our good. After Tisha B’Av we have to contemplate. Outside Eretz Yisroel at our very best we can only do about 200 mitzvos. Shabbos is just about the only ritual mitzvah that can really be kept. In the Torah, if you are caught breaking Shabbos, carrying sticks to build a fire, you were put to death by stoning. The most severe death penalty. In modern times there may be a leniency for a person who doesn’t know. A person who violates Shabbos probably doesn’t understand its intrinsic meaning. Unless we have absolute evidence, we assume that a person violating Shabbos is doing it out of ignorance rather than rebellion directly against H’. Ironically, the day least traveled is the biggest killer on the highway. The least people travel on Shabbos and ironically it is the biggest killer. So we see exponentially it defies all reality. As a Torah law, Shabbos is repeated more often in the Torah than any other commandment. Judaism doesn’t recognize orthodox, conservative or reform but rather two kinds of Jews – shomrei and mehalel Shabbos.

What is the real meaning of Shabbos? Is it a day of rest? Is that what it is? What would you describe the Shabbos as? A taste of Olam Haba. On Pesach you have a fabulous Seuda. Yom Kippur is called Shabbos Shabbason, but you don’t taste anything. You fast and go through tremendous atonement. That’s called Shabbos. So how can we understand the Shabbos? It doesn’t feel like me’ein Olam Haba on the 24^th hour of Yom Kippur. Everybody feels dizzy, their tummies are rumbling and they are dreaming about that slice of cheesecake and hot coffee floating by. So what do we understand by a rest day? There are those that feel that Shabbos was given as a day of rest for the wary worker. If this was all it was, then they would say, if they are not particularly tired, there is no need for them to keep the Shabbos at all. If after a hard week on Shabbos morning they want to go out to the beach or to the shopping centre, that is a certain type of enjoyment for certain people, it’s a tragedy of infinite proportions. They’ve missed the whole point of creation. With the Ten Commandments being so fundamental to Judaism, if a person is not tired on Shabbos, why is it so important to rest? Every seven days we are given an invitation “come and celebrate the wonders of creation with your Creator”. That is the essence of Shabbos. In Parshas Yisro it says, “Zachor” that Am Yisrael will observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath for generations. An eternal covenant between H and the Children of Israel, it is a sign. Os Hi Le’Olam. This is the sign that marks the Jew. That on 6 days H created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh, H rested and was refereshed. How can we have such a concept? H was refreshed? Do me a favour. H is the eternal infinite energy. The creator of everything. He needs a rest? This is incredible. It is beyond our comprehension.

I do have a clue to this. I was once in a Kolel were on every Yom Shishi we would review all the learning we had done in the week and we would have a test. The Rosh Kolel would gather all the Kolelnicks around a table and fire questions at us and ask each one, in front of the others, deep questions on Rashi, Tosefos, the Maharsha, the Ran, whatever we had learnt that week. If we didn’t remember all the weeks learning, it was a taste of me’ein gehenom. The esh of Gehenom was roasting under feet. It was a terrible embarrassment if we couldn’t remember what we had learnt just a few days before, let alone a week before, a month before or a year before. So everybody, on erev Shabbos, the night before, would whiz through everything they were learning, and go through everything so that we would be ready for the behira, the test the Rosh Yeshiva would give in the morning. We dared not make a mistake. If a person did make a mistake it was evidence that he was not serious about his learning so maybe its not for him. So it was really a matter of survival. It was more than a luxury item. It was critical. So one week I said to my chevrusa, quickly, lets go through this one more time, we’ve got half an hour to get through all the learning of the last week. He said, what are we going to accomplish by going through this once more? We went through it last night. Lets just go in. I said, “no, no, no we’ve got to get through all our learning”. He said “why”? I said “to refresh our memories”. What is the intrinsic meaning of refreshed? Each week H reviews all of creation. Is my world a better world? Did people keep more mitzvos? Is more Torah being learnt. Are more gentiles learning Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach? Is this a better world than the one we saw last week? If so, its worthwhile keeping it. If not, tohu vavohu. I’ll destroy everything. There is nothing worth keeping if the world stops keeping Torah. That was the intrinsic purpose of creation. Our task is to live the vision of H in the world, without which it is hoshech she behoshech.

Taking this a little bit further, what is the connection between Bereishis, zecher le Maase Bereishis, and zecher leyetzias Mitzrayim. The ten commandments. The fourth commandment in parshas Yisro says remember the act of creation. Coming to Vaeschanan, it says zecher leyetsias mitzrayim. You were taken out of Egypt. So these two things are tremendous chidushim for completely different reasons for keeping the Shabbos. So who is right and what is right? Creation was the birth of all the nations. When we came to Egypt we were Bnei Yisrael. When we left, we became Am Yisrael. When we were Am Ehad at Har Sinai be Lev Ehad, we could keep Torah Ehad. When we became ready for that, we were at the epi-centre of creation, because we would be the Os to the Olam. In 6 days H created the world, brought us up out of Egypt, so that we could be that Os, that sign to the world, that H is eternal, H is the creator, H is forever, and H is bound up with His nation.

To understand this a little deeper we have to understand what is the concept of Shabbos. What is the concept of work? What is the meaning of work. In a scientific sense, work = force x distance. W = m x s. The mass x the distance. If that’s the case, moving a table around inside the house on Shabbos, is that work? Can you work up a sweat pumping iron? 150kilos of iron in the gymnasium? Its not in the spirit of Shabbos, but is there any law in the Torah that forbids it? No. A person takes this tiny little pen out with him on Shabbos and he is carrying on Shabbos. What is the penalty? The death penalty. He carried something tiny and light! Carrying a huge 150kilo load around his house, a sack of potatoes, and he is drenched from the sweat – that is not work. It seems that the halachic definition of work is vastly different from the scientific one. What is the Torah concept? There are two words in Hebrew that differentiate it and define it much more clearly. The one is melacha, the other is avoda. Avodas H beSimcha – doing H’s work beSimcha is an eternal mitzvah. Melocho is shabbos work. So there are the 39 melachos on Shabbos and in the Gemoro, and there is a tremendous limud that a person can delve deeper and deeper into the fine tuning of how to keep Shabbos. Without that halocho, iy efshar, it is impossible for a person to know what he is doing on Shabbos. Unless he goes into acoma (has veshalom) at the beginning of Shabbos and comes out at the end of Shabbos, not remembering that it was Shabbos, he did not violate shmiras Shabbos, but he didn’t remember what he kept so he is not really zoche for what he is doing. Work in the Torah sense shows man’s domination over nature, by means of his intelligence and skill. Not through remote control bulldozers, but by the intrinsic act of purposefully creating new things.

In conclusion, rest in the Torah sense is not interfering with nature, not exhibiting dominance and mastery over it. It is a perfect state of harmony between man, nature and their creator. Therefore, any interference in the three way relationship, no matter how small or trivial, is a desecration of this relationship. Now we understand Shabbos Shalom is infinitely more than just sleeping. It is a completeness of creation through the week, reaching Shabbos and keeping Shabbos, according to the way the creator wants us to harmonise with nature. Man can attempt to reach a State of Harmony in this world, a state of perfect peace with all creation. All week man lack’s that freedom, he is bound to the physical world, he is laden with pressures, he shows dominance over nature by taking his bread form the ground. It is a blessing, but also a curse, from Adam Rishon to whom H said “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread”. He has to plant, cultivate, water, weed, harvest, reap, crush, sift, thresh, knead, pass it through water and then pass it through fire. Only then does he have his Challos for Shabbos. A year of work for a moment of pleasure. Therefore man’s having a certain dominance, trying to conquer nature, makes him a slave to it. Dominance over nature chains man. Shabbos shatters the shackles. We can exist in perfect harmony with nature and no longer need to battle with it, and that is the gift of the Mitzva.

Shabbos teaches us to plan ahead. Everything you want to have on Shabbos must be prepared beforehand. He prepapres for Eternity. As Chazal say, “he who prepares on the Sixth day will have what to eat for Shabbos”. I wish you, kol Am Yisrael and the whole world a Gut Shabbos between each man and his maker, may we all know a Geula Shleima, tehiyas hameisim, moshiach tzidkeinu and Olam Haba be’Olam haze. Good Shabbos to everyone.