Chazal (Shabbos 111b) tell us a most amazing thing about Shabbos. The Gemara says that someone who keeps Shabbos properly, even if he worshiped avoda zarah (idolatry) like the generation of Enosh—which was the generation that originated the concept of avoda zarah, which means that all avodah zarah stems from them—nevertheless, if they keep Shabbos properly, all of their sins are forgiven.
This seems to be quite difficult to understand. Forgive him for no reason? What happened to teshuvah? What is it about Shabbos that erases avodah zarah?
To understand this, let us introduce an old, interesting debate among the students of the Baal Shem Tov, about whether it is possible to be a chossid of two Rebbes.
Some said that you can only be a chossid of one Rebbe.
Other tzaddikim said that it is possible to be a chossid of multiple people; you can learn different ideas and gain different madreigos from different people.
The Chozeh of Lublin had the following perspective. He said that it is entirely possible for a person to think they are chassidim of different people. So, one day a person may pick up a sefer and say, “Wow, I feel so connected to this—I’m a chossid!” And then the next day he sees a different sefer from a different Rebbe, and says, “Wow, I guess I’m a chossid of both Rebbes!” Or perhaps he thinks to himself, “I guess I’m a little confused about who I am.”
But in truth, says the Chozeh, there is a certain madreigah in being a chossid to a Rebbe, that when a person reaches that level, it dawns on them that all the other relationships they had with tzaddikim weren’t a true connection. For there are many layers of being attached, explains the Chozeh. One dimension is relatively superficial: learning, drawing ideas, etc. — all of which are possible to glean from many people.
But the true definition of a chossid, explains the Chozeh, is complete and utter attachment to the Rebbe; it is total devotion of the soul. That level of attachment is only possible with one Rebbe. And so, when a person reaches that level of devotion, they begin to realize that whatever connection they thought they had, was not true attachment after all. They may have once thought that was the case, but now it is clear to them that there can be only one.
The second Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, had the following interesting custom to determine who was a real chossid. He would smell the chossid’s beard, and if it smelled like him, he was able to say, “That’s my chossid.” Now, even if he may learn some ideas from someone else, he is still my chossid.
What is Shabbos? It is possible for a person during the week to worship many idols, to be connected to different movements and philosophies — until the person asks themselves: Who am I? One day I believe in this “ism”, the next day the other. Am I just confused?
But then Shabbos comes along, and Hashem, kaveyachol, smells our beard and asks, “But who are you really a chossid of? If we keep Shabbos properly, it is clear that we are, in fact, only connected to Hashem, and it becomes clear that any connection we had outside this relationship was meaningless; it wasn’t a true connection.
Shabbos is absolute hiskashrus (connectedness), and therefore any avodah zarah is forgiven, because that is when it becomes clear that none of it was a true bond. Any prior connection to a foreign deity was only an acquaintance. OK, he may still need teshuvah, but this certainly wasn’t an act of avodah zarah. True “avodah—service,” can only be to the Ribono Shel Olam.
Shabbos means to become a chossid of the Ribono Shel Olam. This doesn’t just mean going to his tish, but something much more profound than that: You are completely bound to the Ribono Shel Olam in the deepest sense. When this takes place, you can only be a chossid of the Ribono Shel Olam—everyone else is only an acquaintance.
May Hashem help us that we should be zocheh (merit) to keep Shabbos properly, and become chassidim of the Ribono Shel Olam, and for Him to “smell our beard” and smell the Shechinah Hakedoshah! Through this, we should be zocheh to what we say on Shabbos by minchah, “Atah echad, v’shimcha echad, u’mi k’amcha goy echad b’aretz” — there is only the Ribono Shel Olam; there is only one Jewish nation, and everything else in the world are just acquaintances. May we merit to experience this openly b’einayim gluyim, b’einayim gashimi’im, with the arrival of Moshiach, b’meheirah b’yameinu, Amen!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 2.
