Experience the Dimensions of the Sanctity of Shabbos - Journey to South Africa: Ohr Sameach Capetown

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com thank you very much have breett for the warm introduction do you remember me I was here six years ago so before we begin I'm going to give you a little test on what I said 6 years ago okay we're going to start with the first 10 minutes segment could anybody recite word for word does anybody remember anything I spoke about 6 years ago good because I'm going to repeat again what I said 6 years ago actually what was most memorable for me six years ago and I remember this very clearly there was a boy standing here and he was praying with so much devotion and so much connection to God I was so inspired by the way that boy was Rabbi Brett's son right if I remember correctly and I even mentioned it in one of the books so I have very fond memories of being here in Cape Town and I have such fond memories that I convinced 15 Americans to join me this time and from New York and it's not easy to sell people from New York to do anything so that just shows you what a deep impression this beautiful Community left this chabas in South Africa and around the world is known as the chabas project so we're going to speak about chabas and let's try to understand in a very profound way the significance of chabas we know that chabas commemorates that God created the world in six days and he rested on the seventh day and yet chabas is given a very great pedestal in Jewish thought shabas is so important that it actually has a spot in the Ten Commandments and if you think about it what's shabas doing in the Ten Commandments I understand belief in one God not to serve Idols not to take God's name in vain these are the tenants these are the fundamental principles of Judaism but chabas is just a day of rest a day of commemoration the holiday of sukos is not in the Ten Commandments even yum Kipper is not in the Ten Commandments there's no day of commemoration that is in the Ten Commandments why the seventh day of the week why is shabas so important actually according to the talmud the observance of chabas is considered the defining observance of the entirety of the whole Torah why would that be after all I believe in God he knows it I believe in him with every fiber of my being I love him why do I actually have to take take a day off to demonstrate my belief but the r tells us in theim in my in the guide for the perplexed you can have a beautiful necklace and each on this necklace you have pearls and each Pearl may be invaluable you have Pearl number one Pearl number two Pearl number three but guess what if you don't have a knot at the end of your necklace then as valuable as those pearls are those pearls will not be maintained they will no longer stay the day will come when they will fall away and you won't know where they are that is the role of chabas and Judaism yes belief in God is a pearl not serving Idols is a pearl but what are you willing to do to demonstrate that you really believe because you could say you believe and you could really believe shabus is the knot at the end of the neck list that ensures and preserves the true devotion of the juice so chabus is the Hallmark observance of the whole Tyra what I would like to share with you this evening is to upgrade and Elevate our understanding of what shabas is you know if I were to ask you how is chabas how is your chabas so it was good it was bad it was medium it was mediocre it was okay it was fantastic if I were to ask you how is shabas you should say rabbi what kind of lame question was that what kind of unsophisticated question was that let's say we just went to a very fine restaurant the best fic restaurant in all of Cape Town any now I got a little nervous I got a little nervous you know when uh Rabbi Gilbert says he has kosher Safari I was trying I was like scratching my head kosher so what are we going to do we're going to catch a rhinoceros and in New York they haven't figured out how to make that kosher what exactly is the kosher Safari but if I were to ask you how is the meal so in this restaurant you can't just say good or bad you have the you have the entree you have the dessert a meal has different parts to it you have a soup it's not just good or bad they're different components the different parts of a meal what I would like to share with you is a very important idea that chabus is not one uniform enti but there are different dimensions and elements of our appreciation and understanding of chabas that could best be appreciated by studying the Varan various nuances of the prayers that we have Friday night as opposed to chabas morning as opposed to chabas by we know that they're actually on the Sabbath on chabas we have four primary prayers we have the Friday night prayer Marv we have the chabas morning prayer shakas musaf and and it's very interesting to observe that there's a little discrepancy between one particular word a Friday night as opposed to shabas day as opposed to shabas by and that word it seems innocuous you may jump over it but it's a very telling word Friday night we say they the Jewish people will rest on her the Jewish people will rest in her shabas is called she chabas morning we say they will rest in him shabas is called he shabas we they will rest in them shabas is called them so will the real shabas please stand up and identify itself are you she are you he or are you them next we'll move on from that one rather quickly you know on yff we have one uniform liturgy for all of the various is that the tune they use in Cape Town okay good that's the we use Y at night y in the morning y by it's the same exact all three when it comes to shabas and by the way during the week it's the same night morning afternoon when it comes to shabas though we have a different liturgy for each Friday night we say you Sanctified shabas morning we say Moses rejoiced by we say you fix the shabas shabas we say you are one and your name is one why did our sages formulate four different liturgies for the four different prayers of shabas yam who was good enough to have one liturgy for all but chabas each specific has its own unique and special liturgy why do they do that here's another uh question we know by each of the chabas meals we have how many Kalos two two two kalas we have two Friday night two chabas day two B actually it's there's a very interesting concept that the chabas meals bring blessing the six kalas that we have over shabas 2 two and two bring blessing to the six days of the week so by being careful to eat those six three meals and two loaves by each meal in sanctity we breathe life and and Holiness into all six days of the week There's a rule in is called you cannot pass over a Mitzvah if you have the opportunity to do a Mitzvah you can walk by it to do a different mitzvah for instance we know in the morning men put on Talis and fan what do we do first first Talis and then fan first we put on the Talis and then we put on thean why do we first put on tals and then many reasons one of them is we like to go up in kadus has more Holiness so we start with Talis and then we go up in Holiness and we put on the Fain so we first put on the Talis and we make sure that the Talis is the first thing we encounter in the bag and the Fillin is not closer to us because if you touch your before the Talis you are obligated to put on the before the Talis you cannot pass over doing a Mitzvah so these two Kal that we have on chabas we're breaking the kala we're going to make on one of the kalas which Kal do we make on so you would expect we're obligated to cut the top kala after all it's closest to us and we don't want to violate not to pass over the mitzvah and indeed that's what we do shabas day we make the blessing on the top kala but Friday night we make the blessing on the bottom kala why do we make the blessing on the bottom kala and actually isn't that a violation of we're passing over the top kala to get to the bottom kala so what we do is we position the bottom kala closest to us so that we're not passing by the top kala and violating in but why do we do that why Friday night do we break the bottom kala and do we break the top kala these are all very uh perplexing Customs Friday night it's her shabas day it's him chabas by it's them what's the meaning of all this so let me start by sharing with you a very fundamental idea of the essence of chabas you know we have many different relationships with God God is our King God is our Father God is also our wife we are married to God now Jewish marriage has different phases to it the first phase of Jewish marriage is kadushin aosen betrothal where you have a formal Arrangement the man has a formal arrangement with the woman he gave her let's say k he gave her something of value and that forges a relationship between them and she is now prohibited to marry anybody else however the marriage has not been consummated yet because they did not go under Thea that is called nin that is when they are fully married so there's kushin there's nin but the marriage is not yet consummated until husband and wife live together in the same house and then the marriage is consummated and that is when they do that is when they go into privacy just him and her so these are the three stages of marriage kin n is also called and well if we're married to God what do you think you know one day it's just you know he's our boyfriend and we're the girlfriend and then the next day we're fully married no they're has to be stages to the relationship so God will have to give us kadan the first stage of the marriage there has to be something called and then there has to be and indeed all three stages are reenacted every chabas Friday night is the cadan between the almighty the groom and kessis Israel the Jewish people the bride Friday night God gives us kadushin he begins the process it is aisen this is the initiation of the relationship between God the almighty and the Jewish people shabas morning is the n is the and shab is the is the complete Unity between God and the Jewish people when do you think then is the holiest most Sanctified most intimate moments of shab when do you think that would be shabas by it's very interesting you know Friday night we make Kos shabas morning we make Kos by the third meal by sud by sh we don't make Kos there's no K there's no cup of wine why why is there no cup of wine by shalas the answer is Friday night is the kadan between the almighty and the Jewish people that's the first stage of marriage have you ever been to a traditional Jewish marriage where there are actually two cups of wine first the rabbi will make the blessing on the cup that's so the first stage of marriage has a cup of wine so Friday night we have a cup of wine that's corresponding to kadan then at every traditional marriage there's another cup of wine at Thea at the stage which is known as n and therefore we also have a cup of wine by shabas morning but in the room after the when the and kala go into the privacy and seclude themselves just him and her there's no cup of wine there therefore there's no cup of wine by the third meal by sud that's the first understanding of chabas so chabas is renewing our commitment and our love and our devotion to the Friday night is the Kadin chabas morning is the shabas by is the so if somebody asks how is the wedding good that's what they say in New York good but if you want to give a more elaborate Fuller response you say what part of the wedding are you referring to are you referring to the kadu are you referring to the are you referring to the the shabas has many components to it and now here's an interesting idea at the traditional Jewish wedding the way the wedding uh is observed is the guy is in a room by himself with his friends in New York we call it the what do they refer to it it's the grooms room okay the kala she now what kind of chair is the kasan sitting at he's lucky if they found like some kind of folding chair in the rusty folding chair in the corner what kind of food do they serve by the groom old sponge cake expired alcohol you know if you want the good food you got to go to where the bride is the bride is sitting there on this white throne with flowers decking her and she's wearing her crown and she's surrounded by all her friends so basically the guy is like you know they treat him like uh he's lucky he's invited and all eyes are on the kala the focus is on the kala at the time of the kadan the focus is on her once they stand under the and they come out of the what is King David say and like the groom walking down the hey where did she go what do you mean like the groom coming out of theah where's the kala the kala has changed her last name from her maiden name to his name she's now subsumed under his identity you don't like that the kala and thean she is subsumed in the identity of thean but then in the room it's the unity of the two together Friday night is the kadan Friday night the focus is on the first element of marriage is on the aosen at the time of kadushin we mentioned all eyes are on the kala the focus is on the kala she's the star she's the center of attention therefore shabat is called you will rest in her it's a she the focus is on her because we're dealing we're focused on chabas we're treating chabas as a kadan and therefore the element of shabas that is emphasized is the feminine element shabas morning is the Thea is the full marriage Arrangement now she is subsumed in his identity therefore shabas is referred to as him shabat is the unity of the two and therefore chabas is called them the two of them together that is the expl ation for the discrepancy VI she Friday night him shabas day them shabas by but friends there's another entire stream of understanding that is taking place on every Shabbat did you know that in the history and the destiny of the Jewish people there are three historic sabbaths the first historic Sabbath was after God created the world in six days he created the heavens he created the Earth he created the trees and the plants he created the Sun and the Moon he created animals he created the big five he created man and God rested on the seventh day that is called Shabbat bit shabas bous that is the first historic chabas the rest after the creation of the world the next historic shabas is called shabat Matan T Shabbat Matan Tora was the Sabbath that God gave the Torah to the Jewish people thear teaches us everyone agrees the tah was given on Saturday when God came down in the year 2448 and he gave the Tyra to 3 million Jews that was the year 248 it was a Saturday it was Sabbath it was a Shabbat that was the second historic shabas in history shabat Tora and then there will be a third historic chabas and that is shabas of the future shabas of the days of mhia that is called shabat shabat of the future so therefore Friday night corresponds to shabat shabas of the creation of the world therefore we say we talk about we focus on the creation of the world did you notice Friday night the main subject matter of theot of Shabbat are the creation of the world shabas morning the emphasis of the is the Saturday of the giving of the Tor the main theme of all the of shabas day is the giving of the Tor Moshe Will Rejoice with the gift that God gave of the Torah did you know that all the that we say shabas morning the main theme the giving of the Torah who remembers in after B on chabas day we have a are you familiar with that why do we say that chabas day what's that doing in the S shabas day we don't say it on Thursdays or Mondays or Tuesdays or any other day we don't even say it on yam why do we say it on chabas here's the secret of K is a it starts with 12 words I'm sorry with 10 words 10 words refer that corresponds to the Ten Commandments we then say 72 words take my word for it 72 words because when God gave us the Torah he gave it with his special 72 letter name God gave us the Tor with the 72 letter name and who did he give it to 12 words to the 12 tribes you know that every single word in the sedor has powerful mystical cabalistic power that when you say these words even if you don't fully understand their meaning it creates ection situations throughout the Universe the reason we say this shabas day is because we're referring to the giving of the Tor God gave us 10 commandments with 72 words to the 12 tribes all the that we say shabas day are about the giving of the Torah who remembers when we put back the Torah shabas day we say a special chapter ofm we don't say this during the week we don't say this Monday and Thursday we say this only shabas day who remembers what do we say uh Shabbat day when we put back the Tor mavid why do we say MAV shabas mavid has 18 references to the name of God 18 times we say the four-letter name of hem 18 * 4 is 72 a reference to the fact that Shabbat day God gave us the Torah with the 72 letter name then shabat by refers to shabbat shabat of the future shabat on in the days of the coming of Mah therefore we say God you are one your name is one we talk about the unity of God and the Jewish people that will be achieved when mhia comes so we have these two different streams of ideas of how to explain the different texts of liturgy for the various F of chabas one approaches Friday night is the kin the first stage of marriage shabas day is thein the second stage of marriage shabas by is the the final stage of marriage that's one approach another approach is Friday night corresponds to shabat the Shabbat of the of the creation shabas morning corresponds to shabbat Matan Tora shabas of the giving of the T and then shabas by corresponds to shabat shabat of the future comes the VNA gaon and the vag gaon says that these two streams of ideas actually Fus together and work together to produce one Majestic approach to the various stages of the sanctity of chabas Friday night we're commemorating the creation of the world who did God create the world for God created the world for the Jewish people God's objective in creation is achieved by the Jewish people so when God created the world even though we weren't there yet but that was the initiation of our relationship with God so therefore Friday night which corresponds to the creation of the world is the first stage of our relationship with the almighty shabus morning is when God gave us the the tah that corresponds to the thein the full marriage of the Jewish people with God and Shabbat by is Shabbat of the future that will be the ultimate unity the of God and the Jewish people so actually if somebody asks you how is Shabbat so you're going to say well are you referring to the kadan part of Shabbat you're referring to the Friday night because if you're sensitive to the various discrepancies and practices of Friday night they are all understood in the context that Friday night is the kadan Friday night a Jew should have one type of feeling of sanctity shabas morning you've so to speak elevated your connection to God to the level of actually you know it's very interesting Hally does anybody know which K is more important Friday night or shabas morning Hally Friday night is more important you know that the K Friday night is biblical the K shabas day is rabic Friday night Kush is biblical shabas day it's rabic therefore we give the kidos shabas a very unusual term we call it K the great Kos it's a euphemism in Aramaic it's called euphemism meaning it's not really a big Kos like we refer to a blind person we call him sag he has a lot of light meaning he can't see a thing so shabas day we call it the big kides why because it's not a it's not really important all you need to do really is take a cup of wine and say that's it and you're done Friday night you have to recite the sanctity of the Shabbat Friday night is much more important that's Hally but cabalistic mystically the kabas morning is actually k a higher level of sanctity because Friday night our our relationship was go with God was only only kin but chabas morning we actually formalize the relationship to a greater sense and it really is K it really is a greater Kos now this also explains the positioning of the kala Friday night as opposed to shabas day see Friday night the emphasis is on the kushin the emphasis is on the kala the emphasis is on her in cabalistic thought the positioning of her is the lower one or below and therefore we use the bottom Kal shabas day the emphasis is on him thean therefore we use the top by we use both shabus is an exercise in reenacting and reinvigorating our connection to our connection to God and therefore there's so many different nuances and discrepancies that can only be understood in this context that the Friday night is the sanctity that we experience upon the initiation of our relationship with Hashem chabas morning is a fuller consummation of that relationship and you know among the great sadim among the righteous Saints so to speak when they would sit around the table at the closing moments of chabas and they would sing you know songs of Love of Hashem that we sing by sh we call that time of the week the Love of All loves because what's happening in the closing moments of Shabbat is really a full consummation of the relationship that Kess is that the Jewish people has with the almighty this is a gift that God gave to his beloved Nation the Jewish people so every Friday and every Thursday and when we're preparing for Shabbat we're not just preparing for a day off we're preparing for a wedding we prepare with love we anticipate the coming of Shabbat like we're waiting for the great wedding and this really elevates and enhances our appreciation for Shabbat so I want to thank everyone for uh inviting me to this uh wonderful kahila I want to thank Rabbi Brett for opening up our for uh this important lecture I want to thank Rabbi Gilbert for making arrangements to bring me all the way you know New York is in a on a planet very far in a different galaxy and I had to get on a special uh machine called an airplane and I went onto the airplane and I sat there and I sat there and I sat there and I sat there and after many many years I finally landed in South Africa but it was worthwhile to come here after 6 years to be able to share some thoughts about Shabbat which is really the greatest day of uh Our Lives I remember somebody once came to me said rabba you know I'm feeling like I have this Dark Cloud that hovers over my head and nothing is going right and could you give me a blessing I said you know we Jews God has already given us a blessing we say um go to the the Sabbath it's the source of all blessing I said all we need to do is embrace the Sabbath wait for her cherish her observe her and all blessing will flow through her so the more we're able to show our devotion and devotion is not just the feelings we have devotion means getting the details right you know know if um if you want to make somebody happy it's it's very nice you have wishes to make them happy and you want to make them happy but the only way you could really make someone happy is if when they give you instructions you get the details just right so when a person thinks you know I really want to make God happy my heart is overflowing with love toward him great so make sure that when he gives you all the minutia of how to observe the the chabas whether it's what we can do what we can't do what activities are permitted what are not what is not permitted it is the carefulness in the minua of the Sabbath which shows whether we're on the winning team so even if a person could upgrade an extra hour of observance or an extra practice of observance that will go the longest way to show God our true to him so may we all Merit to be among those who cherish the cherish the shabas and through that Hashem should bestow on all of us great blessing happiness and success good health thank you so very much and thank you yeah just to conclude and to thank um a couple of people that made us uh come together together firstly just want to thank my good friend rabad Dan Brett we uh went to coo together and uh we've spent uh many a year discussing different things we spent some time in ER Israel going on aor to our R bovit and RAB Brett is a an inspirational human being someone that I really look up to and uh the fact that he has donated his love and his family's life and everyone into Cape Town into Community just it's a big big uh honor to just be able to be part of this uh uh evening that we've done and just to wish ra Brett and his family bro and and all that they do and to be able to continue all of the learning of Torah that goes on in Cape Town and please God hasem should bless you and your family and all that you do and to my friend Steve lips just want to say a big thank you to him and to the Cape Town that has been initiated under his ores and together with all the other people that are joining into that to be able to bring Torah to Cape Town really a uh it's a an Endeavor which isn't an easy Endeavor it's not something which comes easily but anything that is going to be a a cases Alima that has a in this world doesn't come easy and so please God that should be able to bring Torah to this community and Hashem should bless you and your family and everything that you're doing in order to be able to marit ter to CL is RO and then uh just uh finally to that are also here they uh have given us of the beautiful base medish to be able to host this sh today they've renovated it beautifully I can see how wonderful it looks and please God always continue to build this community and the community in Cape Town should always continue to grow from strength to strength and uh finally last but obviously not least to raama gladin schlitter who has come and spent years on an airplane to get you and we really appreciate it very much because uh it is a long trip from New York and uh all the people that came along to be able to join on this uh wonderful trip that we've got over here a trip of kisuk for the community kuk for the South African Cape Town community the jobber community and the extended um community that are all going to be able to watch um from a distance as to what goes on over here and all the Torah that's being learned please God it should be Aus for Rabbi gladin for your family for your parents your children and everyone that has Theus to be able to learn and listen to your Torah please God you should continue to be able to uh bring Torah to all of those that are able to hear all the beautiful Torah that you have to say and please God it should continue for many many years and we want you to be able to come back to South Africa many times more to be able to give kuk to us and please God we look forward to that um if anyone is interested in buying any of Rabbi gladstein books uh we have a couple of her books over here um please afterwards you're welcome to come and uh uh chat to me I can just tell you the English books over there go in dollars it's $40 um we can just make payment through the rabbi's website Rabbi dg.com um over there so we'll bring out the books anyone who wants to buy them there's also Hebrew Books those go for $35 and the English ones are art scroll um published and those go for $40 and if anyone's interested in any of the other Publications that we don't have you can just talk to me and we'll be able to organize that so just a big thank you again to all of you that came for the Shi I know you know we could be doing other things but you committed yourself and a big thank you to everyone and hope you guys have a wonderful evening and thank you you for joining us you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tor anytime.com