Shabbat - The Source of Blessing

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The Gemara says that Hashem told Moshe Rabbenu:"מתנה טובה יש לי בבית גנזי"- I have a special present in my treasure house that I want to give to the Jewish people. We know that a mortal king likes to put his opulence on display. Only his most exquisite and precious jewels are kept in his treasure house. What did Hashem, the מלך מלכי המלכים - King of Kings, have that was so precious that He kept it in His treasure house? The Gemara says that it was the Mitzva of Shabbat.

Those who keep Shabbat properly can attest to its beauty. They look forward to it all week. Besides for the enjoyment it provides, its spiritual benefits are enormous. Chazal tell us that the Mitzva of Shabbat is equal to all of the other Mitzvot combined. Thus, it is the מקור הברכה - source of merit and blessing.

A Rabbi told me that he gave a class in Manhattan on the topic of the beauty and blessing of Shabbat. After the class, one woman approached him and said, "Rabbi, I am living proof of what you spoke about." She had been married a few years and was not able to conceive. One day she was talking to a friend about it. Her friend said, "Stop using your phone and your iPad on Shabbat. That will give you so much Zechut." The woman said that it was so difficult for her, because she conducted all of her business with her phone, but she stopped. Less than three weeks later, she was at the doctor, and he told her that she was expecting. The power of Shabbat is amazing, especially when it involves self-sacrifice.

The same Rabbi told me that shortly afterwards, a man asked to bring his wife to speak with him. The wife told the Rabbi that ten years ago, she was diagnosed, and after a long and grueling process, she was pronounced clean of the disease. That past week she was at the doctor, and he saw something that didn't look good. It was too deep to even take a biopsy. Now she was crying to the Rabbi, asking for direction. The Rabbi immediately thought of the other woman who was helped by accepting to keep Shabbat. He asked this woman how her Shabbat observance was. She admitted that it was not what it was supposed to be. He told her the story of the other woman. She responded that she would do whatever it takes. On the spot, she accepted upon herself to fully observe the upcoming Shabbat, something she had never done in her entire life. The following week the Rabbi received a phone call from her husband with good news. They went to a different doctor who said it was not cancer. They eventually did a biopsy and, Baruch Hashem, they found that it was benign. The Rabbi said, "We will never know for sure if anything changed due to her accepting Shabbat. However, it was clearly Hashgacha Peratit that she called me during her difficult time, and I had the other story of Shabbat fresh on my mind. Hashem wanted His daughter to keep Shabbat - and now she is."

Shabbat is for everyone - no matter how many times a person has desecrated it, he can now start observing. Even a small step goes a long way. Hashem is waiting with open arms, as it were. A Rabbi from the Catskills told me that a few months ago, he spoke at the funeral of a woman who survived the Holocaust. None of her children are observant, but she, herself, was. The Rabbi said at the funeral, "No matter what she went through, she kept her Emunah in Hashem and served him until her last day." During the Shiva, one of the children approached the Rabbi and said, "I was very inspired by your speech at the funeral, and I have a question: I live five miles from your Shul, which is the only Shul in the area. Will it bring comfort to my mother's soul if I drive to Shul on Shabbat to say Kaddish for her?" The Rabbi told him that he has a lot of room in his home and would love for him and his family to be their Shabbat guest. That Shabbat, the man stayed with Rabbi and grew closer to him ever since. Now, just a few months later, that man is keeping Shabbat.

Everyone could improve. Shabbat is Hashem's present to us, for our benefit. It is the מקור הברכה - source of blessing.

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