Parshas Yisro - Results Belong to Hashem

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with's never ending assistance inel 5779 2019 this is para par and our para contains the The Ten Commandments that God spoke openly with the Jewish people they were able to hear God's voice and God commanded those Ten Commandments the fourth of which I'd like to speak about i' like to share with you a thought from Freelander the verse tells us remember the Sabbath to make it holy work for six days and do all of your work the seventh day Saturday is the day of the Sabbath it's a day of rest forem don't do any work here means conscious creative acts turning on a light is also you your sons your daughters your servant your maid servant your animals and the stranger who lives in your Gates CU it took six days for God to create the heavens and the Earth the Seas and all that live in them God rested on the seventh day of creation and therefore God blessed the day of the Sabbath and he made it holy so we have this amazing concept of chabas of the Sabbath and God commands the Jewish people to keep the Sabbath it's it's a special sign between God and the Jewish people only the Jewish people keep the Sabbath on Saturday as is prescribed in the Torah this is a special Covenant between a Jew between the Jew and God a non-jew who keeps the Sabbath is actually liable for death so a special thing for the Jewish people what is the idea behind it what is the concept of chabas what does it teach us we see very clearly it reminds us of creation of the fact that God rested on the seventh day God created the entire world in sixth days and the seventh day he rested and I'd like to understand like to look at what is the concept behind shabas and freedlander points out something which is fundamental in last week's para he also speaks about our verses but he speaks about some of the verses in last week's para which is where the concept of chabas is mentioned in the context of the man the man was a special Mana which God gave to the Jewish people throughout their 40-year wandering through the Wilderness and in that time every single day like clockwork they the M would fall the Mana would come and that's what they would eat each and every day that was their bread and we see like this so he brings like this I'd like to read it for you inside the First Command that the Jewish people received when they left Egypt which is also mentioned in the Ten Commandments was the Commandment to keep the Sabbath interestingly the command came as the Mana was falling for the Jewish people in the wilderness this is what it says this is in Exodus 16: 22 and 23 was on the sixth day whereas on the previous days no matter how much they collected no matter how little they collected when they came home and they opened the box there was exactly one Omare per person a certain measure per person of the Mana when it came to yishi when it came to the sixth day of the week when when they collected on Friday even though they collected the same amount when they came home there was a double portion so the the princes of each tribe came and they told Moses that this is what happened they it was unexpected Rashi explain they asked him what's going on here what's what why do we get a double amount why did we we get a double portion and we see from here that Moshe Renu Moses had not yet told them about shabas about the Sabbath and that the mon would not be falling the man would not fall on the Sabbath immediately afterwards so they they were told the Commandment of shabas this is what God Said that tomorrow is going to be a day of rest it will be a time when you cannot collect the man it will be a time that you can't collect the Mana can't be involved in your parosa your livelihood and therefore you need a double portion on Friday which is going to be used part of which will be used for shabas so what is the idea what is the connection on wants to know between the man the Mana and chabas why is it that that the command comes Hashem puts it in moshe's mind perhaps we could say to to talk to the Jewish people to reveal to give them the command of chabas in regards to to the mon what is the idea here what is the concept and why is it indeed that the M does not fall on chabas why can't they collect the man on chabas what's the idea so it's let's see because there there's more to this he says already in braus in Genesis chapter 2:3 we find that the verse tells us that God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy he made it holy all the way at the beginning of time all the way at the beginning of creation what does it mean that he made it holy what does it mean that he blessed it Rashi [Music] says he blessed it that when it came to the man all of the days of the week so they would each receive this precise amount of an OM per person on the sixth day they would receive a double portion so there was a blessing that came on Friday because of chabas so there was a a blessing in regards to shabus which was a double portion on Friday and there was a Kush there was a sanctification of shabas what was the sanctification that the mon would not fall at all on the Sabbath and the verse is is telling us that God at the beginning of creation made uh connected a blessing to chabas and made it holy it's speaking about something that's going to be manifest in the future in regards to the man it's an amazing thing that already from the time of creation there was already a connection between shab and the Mana he says clearly the the foundational concept of chabas the foundational concept of the man are are interch are not interchangeable are interlocked are interdependent and therefore they were given together these two concepts were given at the same time so he points out clarifies are two portions two two different concepts here there's a blessing that comes shabas this is the influx of blessings of shab which causes the entire week to be even more blessed than if one would not keep shabas and it's expressed it comes to expression in the fact that as a result of shabis or in honor of shamis the the Jewish people would receive a double portion on Friday by there's also an aspect of making it holy sanctifying the day besides for an additional blessing which is a positive thing there's a there's a active thing that's going on there's also an aspect of Holiness that goes on what is the concept of kadha of Holiness separation separation an Cas and gmas something happens on shabus which is that we become separate from the Physical Realm we become disconnected from our physical selves we become more connected to the spiritual right the blessing that comes is on the physical aspects the the blessings manifest themselves as a double portion on Friday but the kadus of shabus the Holiness of chabas means that there's something that's that we are more separated from the physical the way that that it was Manifest this K this Holiness this Detachment from the physical was that the man didn't come down on chabas how does it work for us what's special about chabas for us when it comes to this aspect of kadus we don't work on chabas we're not involved in our livelihood on shabas we separate ourselves from the physical on shabas so what is idea so he wants to give us a bit about the the essence of shamas so he says let's talk about the rest of shabas the the concept that we rest upon the shabas what is the idea we find that Hashem rested on chabas right in in in Genesis after working so hard as it were for 6 days creating the entire universe so then rested on shabas God completed on the seventh day the work that he did what what is going on here it says that he finished on the seventh day it's not true he already completed the work on Friday shabi didn't do anything as it were the world had this concept of action it had this concept of creation it had this concept of work what was missing was the concept of rest what did hem create on the seven day has created the concept of rest and that was the completion that was the final it was the final Hammer blow of of creation was I created the concept of work I created the concept of action of being involved in creation and I also created hasem created the concept of of of of not creating of resting what's added what's new is the rest of chabas this isn't just a lack of work that's not what Manuka is manuka is a positive thing it's it's something which is which is we could say almost active we'll see what that means this is what brought the creation to Perfection was the concept of what was missing in the world rest now came and rest came and that was the end the completion through the rest rest through the rest that God did through this stopping from creation that's what completed creation says the obvious question how can we talk about a creation when it comes to rest doing nothing that's a creation what's the idea in our when it comes to the command to keep shabas what does it say on the on the Ten Commandments you work for six days and do all of your work the seventh day rest it's a day of rest forem your God we could ask a question it's it's a straightforward question perhaps it's even obvious I have to work 6 days and then I have to rest why what's the connection what if I don't work during the six days what if I'm on vacation then I don't have to rest on shabas we see that somehow the the six days of work are connected related essential to the man the rest that we do on shabas how does this word work we need to understand we also need to understand the language of the verse it says you shall do all of your work what I can do all of my work in those six days what does it mean let's say I have a certain project I want to complete it I'm not going to it's a project that takes me a month or a year right so what does it mean I shall do all of my work that almost sounds like I'm going to be completing the work is that true can I complete the work in the six days it's true when shabas comes if you're working so you stop so he didn't necessarily complete it shabas is over he will continue with his work how can we say you shall do all of your work you shall complete it explains something amazing when shabas comes it needs to be it needs to feel to you like you've already completed all of your work on chabas we don't even think about our work all the things that we've been involved in throughout the week that have taken up all of our energies all of our all of our emotional energy all of our our mental capacity on chabus we let it go we don't think about it we're not involved in it we're not trying to work out what's my next move what's my next step shabas we stop we stop on chabas it's like everything is done I've already reached the goal I don't have to work on it anymore there's nothing to think about that's the creation of chabas that's what he's trying to say that's the creation it's a new thing something amazing something new here that's going on it's that even though I'm in the middle of something I don't need to think about it I don't need to be involved in it on shabas it's not enough to to not act person needs to also rest from any thought not to be involved in any thinking about the work that he's doing even though when if we look at it from the perspect perspective just thinking about it without speaking about it is permitted it's not considered a Prohibition it's not the true of shabas the true rest of chabas is I'm not involved I'm not even thinking about it he brings from what does it mean according to this when it says in the verse six days you shall work the rest of shabas means what what is it that we're doing on shabas we're resting from those six days it's all the work that we did on those six days is done as far as we're concerned on shabas shabas is when we are done with our work even if it's not done we are done with our work how is it possible to to get to such a level where I don't think about it involved in in in in what's my next step what's my next move he has to stop in the middle person is involved in his work he's involved and he's in the middle of all the different things that he's involved in he's on the middle of telephone calls Etc how do you just stop how can you just stop thinking about it so our sages gave us an idea they gave us some advice it needs to be in your eyes as if it's completed already imagine for yourself you already finished the the business dealing you're in the middle of work and they're knocking on your door you have to think in your head as if you youve finished it already what what is this advice what are they trying to say you're supposed to imagine that I finished already I I'm not in the middle of it how do you do that let's try to understand the depth of what our sages are telling us in order to get down to the to the foundational concept the secret behind the resting of shabas the verse tells us he rested on the seventh day the S tells us that when hasem rested on the seventh day or when we're right this is in our para right it says hasem rested we rest why because hash rested because everything was done everything that was necessary in order to bring us to the goal it was done when is a person at rest when a person is finished when a person is involved when he's in the middle so he's his mind is full of all the things that he needs to do all the things that he needs to complete so he's not going to be able to rest properly he's not done he's in the middle he's still hasn't gotten to his goal we see it's not enough to have an external superficial level of quiet of of rest there needs to be an internal sense of rest which comes because a person recognizes that he's completed excuse me that's the true only so is it possible for person to reach that Perfection that completion that that goal how do we see we see from shabas itself completed the entire creation all that was necessary to bring the world to its completion this is the the root of shabas this is the the example for us of what shabas is supposed to look like it's supposed to look like I'm done I'm really done okay so to read it inside I can't do to read the answer but what I can give you is a tamit the essence of what he says and that is that that the idea here that we come that we see here is that we think that we are in charge of the results we think that we are in charge of the results when it comes to our actions we're involved in creating things in doing our business and in bringing in the parasa we're very involved in thisas and and there's two Shas which I won't get get into but one of the opinions is that you don't need to do any okay we won't get into that you can listen to my sh podcast if you want to hear about that the second the second group of those podcasts the first group speaks about the who holds that we need to do we need to put in efforts in order to to get our livelihood that's AER from Hashem we need to be involved but now the question is when I'm doing those things is it me doing it am I actually accomplishing these things to whom do the results belong the that I do the actions that I do the the the efforts that I put in to bringing in livelihood to bringing in the the the dough so that my wife can make the bread so we can eat you know we can have bread on the table is that really a result of my efforts or is that completely disconnected from my efforts on shabas we stop we stop making any efforts we're not involved in in his we're not involved because what we're coming to do with shavas we're coming to recognize that it's not me that all I do and I have to do it because it's a it's a it's a decree from Heaven because Adam sinned Adam and Eve sinned the result was that it's it's a decree that we need to work in order to have livelihood but the work that we do has nothing to do with our livelihood it's just the there it's just a decree our livelihood is decreed from God that we will have whatever we're meant to have on shabas we don't work we're not involved in anyless not involved in any actions in order to obtain our livelihood why because shabas is the time that we recognize that the results belong to God the results belong to hasem and therefore on shabas we don't work and and it's counterintuitive because we haven't worked and we've reminded ourselves and we've recognized that that it's all from him that it's all from Hashem that's the it pours out into the whole week we get a double portion of Friday of mon why because shabas we have Rec we are recognizing that it's that it's God who's doing everything for us and it's not even our efforts to gather the on and it's not even our efforts to be involved in our work that provides us with the food that we eat on chabas on chabas everything is already prepared this is this is to get that feeling like it's not us everything is prepared from before shabas of course it's our wives who have prepared the food for chabas but our wives are not working on chabas to prepare the food we get the sense that it's not our efforts the results the whoever works hard on Friday will will Merit to rece to be able to enjoy the things that he's worked for on Shamus but but chabas we're not working but chabas we are receiving and and the feeling the feeling that we're supposed to take out of chabas is that it's not us on chabas We're Meant to stop and because we're not really supposed to be involved at all in the results what does it mean that on shabas like we saw before that that that uh we're not involved whenas comes everything is finished already why because throughout the week we're supposed to feel like it's already finished all that we're doing is we're we're we're going through the motions because we have to go through the motions that's the decree of Hashem we have to go through the motions the curse of Adam but we're just doing the motions and it's Hashem who's in charge of the results in charge of our livelihood in charge of everything that's what we feel on shamas as we get from shamas and that is the message of the m the M was something which came miraculously they didn't actually do any yeah they had to collect it perhaps but it came from Heaven it was It was obviously openly the the revelation of the fact that Hashem was the one doing it for us but it's not just then it wasn't just the 40 years in the wilderness of the Jewish people were were given this amazing sustenance abundance from Hashem it continued for the last 3,000 years until today each and every one of us has the same experience if we choose to view it that way and that's what shabas affords the opportunity to see and recognize that every single thing every morsel of bread that we eat every every dollar that we earn it seems like it's us but Hashem wants us to remember and recognize with the shabas that it's not us that it's all him that just like Hashem rested we're remembering that the whole creation the whole creation everything came from God the whole world was created everything that all of the resources that we use are all in in truth and in essence they belong to God and shabas reminds us of that and shabas continues to remind us of that and that's the lesson of shabas so I want to bless you and I I ask you to bless me H should help us that we should be Z we should Merit to have this recognition to come to this recognition to the the BR of shabas the blessings of shabas should pour out throughout the week and it comes and it will and should help us to recognize that it comes because of the fact that we know that he's the one that's doing it for us and yes we make efforts but we recognize should help us to recognize that it's not our efforts but rather it's all Hashem who's doing it for us every single moment thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ar goldw .c or search 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