Chapter 1: Welcoming Shabbos

I recently received a wonderful book, from a close friend called “Nefesh Shimshon, Shabbos Kodesh” by Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus. In his note he asked me to learn everything in the book and teach it to him, I thought I could teach it to everyone by posting excerpts every week. Enjoy.

Why is Shabbos in particular treated as an individual? We refer to Shabbos as a guest in our home. None of the Yomim Tovim or other mitzvos are depicted as personalities, besides Shabbos. Tefillin is a mitzvah, mezuzah is a mitzvah, and Pesach and Shavous are also mitzvos.

Shabbos is a personality.

So let us understand who Shabbos is. Whom are we welcoming when the sun sets on Friday? We are not asking, “What is Shabbos?” Rather, we are asking, “Who is Shabbos”…When Shabbos enters, our entire avodah is through song.

Why?

Some things simply cannot be expressed in words. For example let us imagine someone in pain; something is hurting him. He meets a friend who has never experienced pain (Of course, there is no such person. But let us pretend for a moment that there is.) Now, there is no way in this world that the person in pain will succeed in explaining to his friend the meaning of, “It hurts me.” Only someone who has felt pain himself can relate to “It hurts me.” He recalls the pain once felt and understands what the person is telling him… The only language for communicating things too deep for words is song. If our ear is attuned, we hear the moving message borne by the melody. But a coarse and insensitive person will miss it.

When Shabbos begins, we attain such closeness to Hashem that it cannot be expressed in words. So, at the exalted moment, we don’t talk; we sing. Nothing less will do. Whoever has an attuned ear understands that there is no other way to express the neshamah’s joy over the coming of Shabbos Kodesh. If someone doesn’t understand, there is no way to explain it…This is what Shabbos is all about. It strikes a chord hidden deep within the Jewish heart. It is the point of connection between us and Hashem. We asked before: “Who is Shabbos? Who is this personality?” Now we can answer: This ‘personality’ is actually Hashem. For Chazal tell us that ‘Shabbos’ is one of Hashems names. Love of Shabbos flows from love for Hashem. And desecrating Shabbos is the opposite of this love.

One reason we don’t feel the presence of Shabbos is because we don’t know how to greet her. We don’t give her the welcome she deserves. If we work on this, we will feel the holiness of Shabbos much more, and this feeling will open up the great fountain of berachah that Shabbos is, showering goodness and blessing upon us all week long.