Shabbat: Uniting the Jewish People - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

[Music] there's a very interesting observation that is made about the Liturgy of Shabbat in every other holiday there is a bracha in the Amidah there's abraha and the Shmona are a that is the same for the evening prayer the morning prayer in the afternoon prayer it is a middle brother that focuses on the holiness of the day Shabbat is the only sacred day in the Jewish calendar where the middle blocker in the Amidah is difference between the evening the morning in the afternoon there is a different theme a different aspect of Shabbat that is emphasized Friday nights we emphasize the Shabbat of creation that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day Shabbat morning we emphasize yet another Shabbat the Shabbat of mattandsarah when on Shabbat God gave us the Ten Commandments and then I'm in that time as Shabbos is ebbing away we no longer think about the Shabbos of the past but we think about the Shibata of the future the Messianic age the time of redemption the time that will be as our sages call it Yamcha cool Osia about the day of the eternal Shabbat and that is why the Mincha prayer talks about God is one and his name is one because when the Messiah comes God's name will be one and that is why we talk about the Jewish people being one because as long as there's Sinatra nom as long as there is hatred polarization and dissension among the Jewish people there cannot be go Allah these are the three steps in the Shabbat liturgy creation revelation Redemption those of you that are familiar with philosophy may know that friends rosin swags work the star of redemption was based on precisely these three principles and perhaps although I don't know he derived them from the structure of the Shabbat liturgy but the point that I want to share with you is that these are not just describing nationalistic or even cosmic phenomena but these represents three stages that each and every one of us can potentially go through single shipment the first stage of Shabbat we are liberated we are reborn we shed the accumulated burdens of the week and we enter the world of rest the world of calmness the world of serenity like a baby being nurtured by his mother that is the Friday night theme of the Shabbat of creation we are recreated we are no longer slaves to a world that dominates us and controls us perhaps that is why there is a universal phenomenon among Jews that when Friday night comes we become enormous ly sleeping because the burdens are not there and we finally let go but ultimately that's not enough it is not enough to simply take away the demands of the world and it's not enough to be free the question then becomes free to do what's what is the purpose of your freedom freedom without commitment and without responsibility is nothing more than mere animal liberation and thus after we experience the recreation and the rebirth of Friday night we take our newfound freedom and we pledge it as obedient to God which is the revelation at Sinai freedom coupled with responsibility but even after that there's more of a journey that we have to undertake and that is although there are many types of gullets many types of exile the deepest and most profound exile is when a human being is estranged against themselves there is a dichotomy there is a distance between the head that cognitively understands what is right and wrong and the heart that doesn't always feel connected to God it doesn't always feel connected to others it's not always in touch with its deepest self and thus when we talk about unity and redemption we are not just talking about the Jewish people coming back to Israel with the baton mikdash and mushiya although we are surely talking about that but we're talking about the holistic reuniting of head in heart of mind and emotion of cognition and feeling in which I become one I'm in the zone as the expression goes and I live my life with authenticity with integrity with wholeness every single Shabbat we can potentially go through these transitions freedom responsibility and the integration doesn't mean it always happens you know there's a famous rabbinic saying he who prepares on Arab Shabbat will eat on Shabbat that doesn't only refer to food although it's true there too but if one wants to truly use Shabbat as a day to reconnect to their essential self to God and to the Jewish people it requires advance preparation meditation contemplation study spiritual meditation and then you've prepared yourself for the soul food the food for the neshamah which is the great great gift of Shabbos Kodesh the extra enhanced soul that God gives us a non-religious famous philosopher once remarked more than the Jews have kept the Shabbat the Shabbat has kept the Jewish people I urge and I pray that all of us will enjoy this precious gift and achieve a holistic reintegration of ourselves and our connection to God Thank You Philip [Music] you [Applause]