The primary method of making ourselves a vessel that is ready to receive the spiritual light of Shabbos is to yearn, be mishtokeik, for Shabbos. An important component of yearning is to express that yearning through action. If I really, really want to experience closeness to Hashem on Shabbos, I demonstrate that desire by preparing for Shabbos! By investing time, effort, and money in order to prepare to honor Shabbos properly, I am showing Hashem that I cherish the gift of Shabbos, and this in turn will ignite my neshamah with even more passion to anticipate and look forward to Shabbos Kodesh.
Preparing for Shabbos during the week is not just about the end result of what to eat on Shabbos. Although it looks like physical preparation of the body, it is, in fact, spiritual preparation of the soul! This is why the Gemarah teaches us that the greatest of rabbis would exert themselves to physically prepare for Shabbos, even though there were other people who could have done it for them. They wanted to fulfill the mitzvah of preparing for Shabbos themselves, to prepare themselves to receive the spiritual light of Shabbos. No activity was too mundane or belittling for them when it came to preparing to honor the Shabbos queen.
There are many ways to prepare for Shabbos, but they all have one common denominator: doing something that makes you think about Shabbos that is an expression of your excitement and anticipation for Shabbos.
We can awaken our desire for Shabbos by anticipating the closeness to Hashem that we can experience on Shabbos. It could be a Tuesday afternoon and we feel distant from Hashem. Maybe our week isn’t going as planned and Hashem seems so concealed, or maybe we are feeling connected but we know there is so much more we could be feeling. That’s a powerful moment to prepare for Shabbos. Tell Hashem that we don’t like it when we feel distant, and we can’t wait to see Him on Shabbos! Included in this is learning about Shabbos. Whether it’s the parsha of the week, the halachos of Shabbos, a piece of gemarah about Shabbos, or seforim about the pnimius of Shabbos, any amount of learning about Shabbos can accomplish this.
Honoring Shabbos properly takes a lot of work, and can be different for everyone, based on his or her particular situation. For some, it might mean planning, making a menu, shopping, or cooking. For others it could be running errands, getting paper goods or drinks, inviting guests or getting an invite. The more we prepare, and the more elaborately we honor Shabbos based on our means and what is enjoyable for us, the more we show Hashem we are taking this seriously. Again, even though it looks like physical preparation, preparing for Shabbos is about much more than preparing a good meal – it’s about preparing our soul. Any action that we do in honor of Shabbos – as an expression of our yearning for a holy and uplifting Shabbos of closeness to Hashem – is the ultimate partnership between body and soul.
The message of Shabbos is the message of Ein Od Milvado. Shabbos is when we see that Hashem runs every aspect of our lives. Shabbos is when we take our hands off the wheel and realize that we were never the ones driving in the first place. During the week, it’s hard to see this, but of course, it is still possible. Every time we put in the effort to pause and reflect in the middle of our week and bring Hashem into our lives, we are having a “Shabbos moment,” a mid-week taste of Gan Eden. Shabbos teaches us that the only true pleasure in this world is the spiritual pleasure of closeness to Hashem. Every time we push ourselves a bit – based on our level – to separate ourselves from the illusionary pleasures of the physical world, we are elevating ourselves with another “Shabbos moment.” This is how we hold onto the power of Shabbos, and take it into our daily lives, and this also helps prepare us for the next Shabbos.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 15.
