לזכר נשמות לאה שושנה בת אהרן ריעדער מורינו ר׳ צבי הערש בן ר׳ ניסן חיים מורינו ר׳ ישעי בן ר׳ משה ר׳ יעקב בן ר׳ שמואל יוסף מ׳ חוה רבקה בת ר׳ שמעון ריעדער

Based on Nefesh Shimshon by Rav Shimshon Pincus, zt”l

Another puzzling aspect of Shabbos is the tremendous stringency connected to being mechallel it.

If a person transgresses even the tiniest melachah, then by Torah law he is liable for sekilah, stoning.

That’s even more severe than the punishment for murder.

Indeed, Shabbos is the weightiest of all the mitzvos. Its desecration is equal to idolatry. Shabbos is as important as everything put together, as Chazal say: Desecrating Shabbos is like desecrating the entire Torah.

But this doesn’t explain why.

Let’s say that chas v’shalom, someone burns a sefer Torah. What is his punishment? He is flogged for each erasure of Hashem’s name, but he doesn’t incur the death penalty. Yet someone who lights a fire on Shabbos does. Why?

The Torah metes out the death penalty to someone who has tremendously sinned: serving idols, inappropriate relationships, he kidnapped and sold a Jew. Yet when it comes to Shabbos, it can be for something small.

Why?

Of course, we ask these questions only in order to increase our understanding, not to question halachah or Torah. This will bring us more pleasure and satisfaction in the Holy Day.

We can’t answer all these questions right away, but we can lay some foundations in the coming weeks.

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Let’s Reflect:

Do we truly feel that every act we do on Shabbos is so tremendous? How can we increase our yirah for this holy day?

Can we point out when we are doing something: Look, kids, I’m not just pulling forks out of the pile of cutlery, that would be borer.

Look, see, I’m not going to skim the fat off of the soup before putting it away, we don’t do that on Shabbos.

The beauty is in the details; share them with those in your life.

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