Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos #12 - Taste Shabbos on Erev Shabbos

good Erev Shabbos to everyone our holy Erev Shabbos Jews have joined us weekly we get together to prepare ourselves to transition not to abruptly enter but anything holy needs introduction anything holding each transition needs preparation and Shabbos is no different Shabbos is the holiest day of the week and we have to enter it with a sense of consciousness and mindfulness with a sense of preparation it occurred to me we don't have a sponsor for the turn Friday into Erev Shabbos she responds with all the other series if you're interested in sponsoring this series for the year please feel free to be in touch with me so I want to talk about for our short time together today the notion of mindfulness the idea of being present not only in all that we do throughout the week but especially as we enter Shabbos so many do so even in this corona time this Quarantine time even when we are essentially restricted to our homes so we're not rushing to get home we already home nevertheless time feels like it's endless this early Shabbos and middle Shabbos and late Shabbos and we flirt with the last of those 18 minutes that we have as we go into Shabbos still scrambling scrambling to prepare ourselves and be ready scrambling to chase the people in our home for them to do the preparations that they're meant to do and that they're responsible to do and when we enter Shabbos frazzled and fragmented divided and distracted then we can't achieve we can't experience the peace and serenity the Chaves are meant to provide and the way in which Shabbos is meant to be experienced I appreciated this today on a whole new level because those learning DAF Yomi will recognize today we learn the grammar and Shabbos deaf I am and the Gemara there is talking about the notion of show gig we know we have 39 categories of forbidden labor on Shabbos six days a week go out and conquer the world learn about the world manipulate the world being controlled dominate the world the keeve's schewe conquer that world innovate and create and discover an invent and the seventh-day rest be at peace be at peace with nature be at peace with the world around us and so the Torah tells us there are 39 categories or doesn't tell us we derive there are 39 categories of what we derive what we are call creative labor and by refraining or abstaining from them by resting like God rested we liberate ourselves and we mark and celebrate the creation of the world so the Gemara says what happens if a person violates one of these categories of creative labor by accident and there are two ways you can do something by accident because I'll tell us either you forgot it was Shabbos so tomorrow you turn on the light switch tomorrow you plant plow grind separate cook whatever the 39 categories you forgot it was Shabbos is one way or you remembered it was Shabbos but you forgot that that particular act or you forgot that that particular behavior was forbidden either case the chorus says you do something B shogi by accident you bring a carbon a carbon hot dose such an individual such a Jew had to make their way to the base I make dosh purchase an animal and bring it and have the animal offered on their behalf a carbon lattice and it should occur to you why what did you do wrong what happened to accidents sometimes you forget it's only natural it's a very unusual to find a Jew who never once in their life forgot it was Shabbos woke up in the middle of the night and turned on the light or check their phone or made a mistake it's easy to forget it's Shabbos and it's easy to not be familiar and forget a particular law a detail within the laws of Shabbos and yet such an individual is so responsible so accountable they have to make their way to you shall I am they have to bring a carbon Cantus our rabbis were telling us something incredibly important not only in the laws of Shabbos it's in the whole Torah but also particularly in the laws of Shabbos and that is the following there are accidents that you're not responsible for there are missteps that we couldn't have anticipated and we couldn't have known or done better on a stock amount of pottery sometimes there are circumstances there are things that are beyond our control and yet and yet there are things that are in our control so you'll say well how is it in my control that I forgot it was Shabbos how is it in my control that I forgot that particular law of Shabbos and the answer is being mindful or a mindless is in our control that's what the tour is telling us the reason that you have to bring that sacrifice that carbon is not for the particular error or mistake within the laws of Shabbos the offering of the carbon is to atone is to repair for being mindless entering Shabbos when Shabbos comes for the next 25 hours you have to know I'm entering a holy period a holy time I am immersing myself in a place of refuge of peace of serenity of tranquility where I'm whole where I'm complete I'm tasting a portion of the world to come and the Jew who entered Shabbos but forgot it was Shabbos so mindless were they so negligent were they so distracted were they that they forgot the very day that they were in is accountable not accountable as if they did it intentionally but accountable for allowing themselves to be mindless accountable for the negligence of forgetting what day it is for being mindless about those particular acts or behaviors so as I was studying the Daath today that Gomorrah and Shabbos what seems to be an archaic and outdated the law which seems to be something which we can't really relate to or is not relevant doesn't resonate for us that if you do something by accident you make it to the temple you bring a Korriban a sacrifice we don't relate to that we should relate to that what it's telling us is we have to be mindful every day you should be mindful you'll reach on the Shabbos chain of the Shabbos lishi today is Sunday it's Monday it's Tuesday be mindful it's your anniversary it's your birthday be mindful it's a milestone of somebody around you we have to be mindful all the time with what we're doing and we have to be particularly mindful when it comes to celebrating Shabbos we have to know what day it is we have to know the laws and the details that govern that day and that empower and that enable and that create a platform that propel us to achieve what we're dreaming of on that day which is peace and serenity and joy I sent out in our whatsapp group every Friday we have a short message to inspire our Friday and turn it into a Shabbos and I shared from the Shira Shabbos a wonderful book quotes a practice of the be a Loretta that that sense of mindfulness of intentionality of consciousness so absent and so challenging in our time with technology and connection and noise we can work on it as we go into Shabbos there are exercises the very fact that we have rules about how we prepare for Shabbos your thoughts on part of the end of Aragua we spoke about several weeks ago that we wash our hands and our face our body not only physically but metaphysically we reflect on the week we had and we pledge to do better we make ourselves whole with the people we've heard or we accept an apology from those who have hurt us we go guilt free and shame free into Shabbos having cleansed not only our body but our soul having washed you know it's part of the other Baraka of not only physically but metaphysically we set our table so the be allah rabbun shirishama tells us the way in the order in which we set our Shabbos can help increase or promote our sense of mindfulness and this is not a law doesn't appear in show sonarak it's not yet another thing I have to do before anyone accuses me of triggering them this is not something that I'm posing on anyone sharing a nice thought and a nice idea for those who want to embrace it she Rishabha says when you set the table don't be listening to music don't be in a conversation when you sit at the table be mindful and present in what you're doing in welcoming Shabbos Sayla covered Shabbos Kaddish every fork you put down every plate you put down every cup you put down every ingredient you add to the potato kugel every the selection of which wine you're putting in your wine fridge or you're going to take the cork out and prepare for that night with everything we do with intention and consciousness and mindfulness we are already accepting and receiving the holiness the kaduche of the sanctity of Shabbos so he says the order to set the table shouldn't be random you grab the silverware whichever you got first but rather first the suckin the knife then the Maas leg the fork and then the calf the spoon why because the sonic of sucking and the mem of Maas leg and the huff of cough spell out so make so make Hashem Liholiho know flim all week long I'm falling I'm falling into despair and hopelessness I'm falling into depression and guilt all week long I'm falling into victimhood all week long I'm falling into a place of feeling scattered and fragmented and divided and then so may Hashem Lahaul and a flim o the handling of Shabbos is coming only five more days four more days three more days only one more hour I'm gonna shower shower and shave I'm gonna prepare myself physically metaphysically and then I'm going to immerse myself in the cocoon in the protective place called Shabbos no news and no data and no updates no strife and no fights no worry no anxiety no Envy no arrogance I'm gonna immerse myself in a place of study and song of sleep and conversation of after of games so may Hashem lejano flim so made is hinted to alluded to in suckin my leg and calf even the very order in which again nada halakhah not imposing this on anyone but if you want to take it upon yourself or even just see it as an example of the capacity the ability to practice mindfulness if we want even in the very way in which we set the table so the intention the mindfulness the purpose the consciousness with which we bring to Shabbos will liberate us it'll liberate us so many of us struggle our minds race and they take us so many different places and we can't help but think and worry but Shabbos Shabbos releases us Shabbos emancipates us Shabbos frees us Shabbos allows us to be fully present and mindful fully immersed within a sense of Shabbos - la Hakadosh and they say fromage Shalom says you know how you can win the battle you know I Shabbos empowers and gives us those tools because Shabbos you get in Michelle may you Sarah Shabbos when you turn off all the noise you can turn up the volume on your soul all week long he says there's a battle between the body and the soul and it's pretty evenly matched if anything the body has the advantage the body's tempted to look and to speak and to listen and to eat and to do this sleep and the soul that selam aleykum the godly spirit inside us that's disciplined and dignified that is supposed to empower us to be able to overcome and channel our body we are embroiled in a battle royale but body versus the soul well Shabbos the scale is tipped in our favor why not because we're on steroids but how do we defeat the body in Shabbos neshama our neshama is on steroids we have an additional layer additional presence what does it mean to have a new show me Sarah I'd like to suggest what the schlong means it is the neshaminy sarah means a greater sense of mindfulness of consciousness of presence when we come into Shabbos and we've gone through the ritual of turning off our phone of shutting away technology of putting a beautiful white tablecloth or a Shabbos decoration over the technology putting it in a specially designated cabinet or cubby and we go through a ritual which disconnects us from the things that distract us and now we're able to be mindful and present and all that we do and so that's the neshamah USERRA my soul is more its perceiving more my soul is more on fire the antennae of my soul is further extended it has greater bandwidth and greater capacity and it has a higher speed to connect it's a neshama which is USERRA it's additional it's expanded it's extra and because it is therefore the neshamah can defeat the goof the expanded soul the double soul it can take on the body and therefore I can reach to higher levels I can achieve a better and a higher sense of self shabbos is an exercise in mindfulness in consciousness and therefore were accountable even from allaha we do be show gig when we do something by accident there are accidents that didn't have to happen we were negligent had we been mindful in what the day is about how we've been mindful in its laws we wouldn't have been negligent and violated that that act and that's why we're accountable I have to bring a carbon the way we set the table the way we prepare can sharpen and cultivate a sense of mindfulness and intention the neshamah is sayo we welcome is a greater and a higher sense of of mindfulness so I bless us all we have a mindful Shabbos a present and all that we're doing that we restore and return our soul to its roots and in that way we're able to achieve a peace a tranquility and I wish each and every one of you a happy a healthy and a and a healthy Shabbos have a wonderful Shabbos