Warm Up While You Are Here | Rabbi Binyomin Weinrib

[music] >> In the early 1800s, there was a poor peddler who lived in the mountains of Ukraine. His name was Tuvia, and he would go around [music] from village to village selling his wares trying to make a few dollars to be able to support his family. [music] He would walk from village to village by foot carrying his heavy sack of wares to be able to sell. And this was his parnassa day in day out, winter, summer. And he hoped that somebody [music] would be nice enough to perhaps give him a ride from village to village. But this is his reality. This was the only way he knew how to make parnassa. One winter, it was a difficult, frigid, bitter winter. And Tuvia found himself schlepping from place to place hoping to get a ride. But unfortunately, there was a heavy snow. And the snow was falling heavier and heavier. And he found himself very deep in snow wishing and hoping he can get some place dry to be able to go ahead and warm himself up. Finally, after trudging through the snow for over two or three days, he sees an inn coming up ahead. And he sees the lights in the inn, and it gives him a little bit of comfort knowing that he'll be able to go there, warm himself up, change his clothing, get something warm. Tuvia walks into the inn. He gives the money to the innkeeper [music] to be able to buy himself a warm bowl of soup to be able to change his clothing, to be able to get a warm bed, to be able to relax [music] in. And as Tuvia is sitting there eating the soup, he starts to think to himself, "The soup is warm, and I'm warm as I'm sitting here [music] in the inn. But I know that tomorrow morning I need to continue. If I want to be able to provide parnassa for my family, I need to continue [music] in the frigid snow outside tomorrow morning." And as he's thinking about what his journey is going to be tomorrow, he realizes that if he doesn't fully immerse [music] himself in the warm experience of the inn, if he doesn't fully appreciate the warm soup that he has in front [music] of him, and the warm bed, and the warm pajamas that he's going to have that night, he'll never have the strength [music] to be able to get back on his feet the next morning and to walk through the snow again. And he understands that the only way to really be able to make [music] it out of the inn is that when he's in the inn, when he's in the warm confines of the inn, he's able to be fully immersed in the experience and the warmth that's there, [music] and that will give him the strength to be able to move on. The Sadiqim tell us that that's what Shabbos is. A person trudges through the week, six days a week, [music] getting cold. Not cold from the physical cold, but perhaps his neshama is getting cold. And his neshama is yearning and desiring for some connection and some [music] warmth in his Yiddishkeit. Finally, a person enters into Shabbos. But the only way that Shabbos can give a person [music] the ability to make it through another six days is when a person puts himself fully into Shabbos. [music] If during Shabbos Kodesh a person's thinking about Motzei Shabbos, Sunday, Monday, then you're not fully in Shabbos. And [music] you're not feeling the feeling of Kol Melacha Assura as if you're 100% immersed in the warmth and the beauty of Shabbos Kodesh. And therefore, if a person wants to experience [music] and be able to get the chizuk that Shabbos gives, a person needs to move into Shabbos fully and immerse himself [music] in the experience of Shabbos. The Heilige Kedushas Levi says that the possuk tells us about Shabbos, "Ushmaru Bnei Yisrael es haShabbos l'dorosam." [music] But the word l'dorosam, which literally means for the generations, is spelled without a vav, which can be read as l'dirasam, [music] for their homes. Says the Heilige Kedushas Levi, if a person wants to be able to appreciate Shabbos properly, he needs to move into Shabbos like he moves into a home, fully immersed, fully enveloped [music] in the warmth and the light of Shabbos. And only then will Shabbos give a person the ability to then be able to walk out [music] of Shabbos Motzei Shabbos and say, "I've been given the strength, I've been given the gift of Shabbos that will now allow me to walk through the next six days of the week." >> [singing] [music] [music and singing] [music]