Kedoshim - The Freest Man on the Face of the Earth

[Music] every Friday night at the shabas table after welcoming the angels with Shalom Alim we sing the song ases K sort of an Ode to the mothers of our home ever wonder why we specifically sing it then why precisely at that moment do we turn to our wives at our mothers and sing them is why don't we sing it to them right after Hava or ones or on or on our mother's birthday are we merely thanking our mothers and wives for the beautiful chabus meal they've prepared and that's why we sing it to them precisely then or is there perhaps something fundamentally deeper I believe Paras kesim gives us a clue after the tah in the very first PUK urges us to be holy in almost the same breath it tells us to rever our parents and Safeguard chabas what is the ju to position of the two why is the Mitzvah to be holy immediately followed by the need to respect our parents and the Commandment to make chis Paramount why not follow the need to be holy with the importance of yum Kipper or the severity of idolatry or better yet why juxtapose anything at all just summon us to be holy plain and simple so rapers offers an amazing explanation of this he says Hashem knew that we could never be holy in a world of unholiness without his instructing us how to do so so hence he immediately tells us the two most effective ways of instilling and maintaining ing Holiness in this world and that is our parents and chabas the two most essential and Powerful tools in the kadua toolbox are a home with vibrant parents and a home AOW with a radiant chabus how so each and every child walks a very confusing path in their early years what's up what's down what's right what's wrong what's saintly what's devilish what should we worship and what should we poor the outside world will point in a thousand directions the home is a cocoon of clarity the home is a cocoon of Holiness the home is where a child can shut the door to the confusion of the outside world and have parents in a harmonious and pleasant environment ins still genuine Purity within them a home is where a child finds his two greatest Advocates and his two greatest fans he looks to his parents to see what Hashem wants from him he looks to his parents to see how he should act how he should think how he should look at the world every word they say is cherished every kiss they give him is prized every tear of his they wipe away as another brick building his soul the world is confusing our parents are our link to Sinai a time when the world finally got Clarity if aen so um was brought to the court with only one parent we declare him innocent the court declares his innocence because inadequate Parental Guidance led to this wayward child it is not his fault he needed them and they wer in there our parents are our everything without them we can become susceptible to every spiritual illness lurking outside of our doors what our parents are to us shabus is to the Jewish people collectively shabas is there when we are not chabas is there when we busy ourselves with the mundane of the week shabus is there to pick us up when we fall down shabus is for many the only connector they have to Holiness it is the pipeline to Infinity if not for chabus where would we be shabus grabs the weekly money making pleasure seeking NeverEnding Carousel of the 9-to-5 life that we live in and forces it to stop it forces us to think it forces us to connect to something bigger than ourselves it gives us Clarity in a world bereft of [Music] it B says that honoring and revering our parents is the hardest Mitzvah in the entire Torah to keep shabas properly is likewise one of the hardest mitzvos in the Torah yet we do it with love for keeping it keeps us for sanctifying them sanctifies us I was once on an 11-hour train ride traveling from Baltimore to Rochester so early in my journey a large beefy man boarded a train and sat down right next to me so after a while he turned to me and asked want to hear my life story so assuming that anyone offering to tell his life story to a complete stranger on a train must have quite the story to share so I said sure well he began when I was a baby my parents often stayed at high-end expensive hotels one night while holding me near the bathtub my father accidentally dropped me into a boiling hot water I got severely burnt after I recovered my parents excitedly sued the hotel chain for millions of dollars which they promptly placed in the stock market in my name those Millions turned into tens of millions and when I was 15 I grabbed that money and ran I ran so far from my parents I don't even know what country they live in anymore I got married five times and I got divorced each time I couldn't be bogged down I couldn't stay still I traveled the world over isn't that fascinating he turned to me and asked I turned to him with a fake smile and said totally that is absolutely fascinating so what do you do now now he said I spend my life on the railroad traveling up and down the country going wherever I feel like going I stop off at any town I want and I check into the fanciest hotel eat at the nicest restaurant watch the town's best plays and then hop back on the train and do it all over again somewhere else I was amazed but before I could ask any more questions he looked outside and saw that we were pulling into a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania I haven't tried this town yet he said and he got up to leave as he was walking out of the train he turned to me and said well now you know my life story I live a life most people can only dream of I am the freest man on the face of the Earth and with that he walked off the train off into the sleepy little town no parents no Direction just his convoluted idea of freedom every Friday night after we welcome the shabish Angels into our homes we immediately turn to our mothers and say if not for you and your tireless safeguarding of our Holiness we might end up lost like that man chasing what the world calls Freedom if not for shabas and if not for our parents we would be aimlessly traveling down the spiraling railroad of life our parents breathe holiness into our homes shabas breathes Holiness into the world together they grant us lives as truly the freest people on the face of the Earth [Music]