Parshas Vayakhel
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
The Talmud in Shabbos 30b tells us that before the great Rabbi and Talmudic scholar Rabbah would start his class, he would share with the students some mili d’bedichusa, light humor and “jokes”, to open their hearts so that they would be more receptive to the Torah that they were about to learn. So here goes ….
HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE A JEWISH REDNECK …
you have a gun rack in your sukkah
you think KKK is a kosher symbol
Willie Nelson sang at your Bar/Bat Mitzvah
your Rabbi ever yelled “Yee-Haw” during his sermon
your belt buckle is bigger than your yarmulka
you light the Shabbos candles from your cigarette
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FRIDAY NIGHT SHABBOS MEAL: “Why do we Light Shabbos Candles on Friday Night?”
Kevod Shabbos - Honor of Shabbos
The celebration of Shabbos is a cornerstone of Jewish faith, and as such it is only fitting that Shabbos be treated as an honored occasion. For this reason, our Sages ordained that candles be lit to brighten and lend an air of dignity to the Shabbos meal, which marks this special time. Lighting candles is therefore a fulfillment of the mitzvah of Kevod Shabbos, honoring the Shabbos. It is also for this reason that we set the table before Shabbos and make other preparations in honor of the “Shabbos Queen”.
[Of course, one should be very careful to light the Shabbos candles before sunset. (Actually, it is preferable to light the candles 18 minutes before sunset). As the Torah commands us in the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, “You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day” (Exodus 35:3).]
Oneg Shabbos - Joy of Shabbos
According to some authorities, the reason for candle-lighting is to enhance the pleasure of the meal, since a meal cannot be properly enjoyed in the dark where the food cannot be seen. Thus, by lighting candles, one fulfills the mitzvah of Oneg Shabbos, experiencing joy on Shabbos. This explains how the Jewish people could complain about the manna that fell down for them from the sky each day for 40 years – even though it magically tasted like any food they desired. The answer is that it still always looked like manna, so they could not fully enjoy it!
Shalom Bayis - A Peaceful Home
A dark house casts gloom over its occupants and generates discomfort by making it difficult to move around. In the dark, people are prone to accidents (e.g., tripping over chairs, bumping into walls, etc.) and are more likely to hurt themselves. To create an atmosphere of Shalom Bayis, domestic tranquility, and dispel the tension that prevails in a dark house, the Sages ordained that the home be illuminated for Shabbos, enabling the members of the household to be joyful and delight in the Shabbos.
SHABBOS MORNING MEAL: “Why do We Wash our Hands Ritually When We Wake Up in the Morning”
There are four reasons given by the halachic authorities for the obligation of Netillas Yadayim, “washing hands”, when we rise in the morning:
(1) The Rosh explains that during sleep one’s hands move about and unavoidably touch parts of the body that are not clean. Therefore, one must wash his hands before reciting the morning prayers.
(2) The Rashba explains, based on a verse in Lamentations 3:23, “They are new every morning, Your faithfulness is great”, that each morning we are created anew. Therefore we are duty bound to thank G-d - Who created us for His glory, that we may serve Him - and to recite blessings in His name. The Sages therefore instituted the blessings that we recite each morning and enacted that every morning, when we are about to serve G-d in prayer, we must sanctify ourselves and wash our hands from a vessel, just as a Kohen (priest) must wash his hands from the Kiyor (basin) in the Temple before performing the Divine service.
(3) The Talmud in Shabbos 108b-109a speaks of an “impure spirit” resting on the hands during the night. This impure spirit does not leave the hands until one pours water on them three times each.
(4) Beis Yosef quotes the Zohar who teaches that when one sleeps at night his soul leaves him, causing an impure spirit to rest on his entire body. When he wakes up, the impure spirit leaves his body but remains on his hands. By washing his hands one removes the impure spirit entirely.
THE THIRD SHABBOS MEAL: “Why Do We Look at our Fingernails during Havdalah?”
It is customary to gaze at one’s palm and fingernails by the light of the Havdalah candle. One “legalistic” reason for this is because the blessing over the light must be made on a candle that is bright enough to distinguish coins by it. In order to check this we look at the fingernails and ‘test’ to see if the light is bright enough to see the difference between the nail and the flesh.
The nails are also a symbol of blessing, in that they constantly grow. The lines on the palm of the hand are also a sign of blessing.
One cryptic explanation for this seemingly strange ritual put forth by the Kabbalists is that prior to the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, he had a “skin of nails” which covered his entire body. Afterwards, the nails remained only by the fingers and toes. We remind ourselves of this at Havdalah when we use the light of the fire to view our fingernails.
Rabbi Uziel Milevsky ZT”L explained this idea as follows: Nails are different than other parts of our body. While we would be in incredible pain if someone were to cut off one of our fingers, we regularly pay manicurists nice money to cut and trim our fingernails. This is because as much as nails are attached to our body, and cover parts of our body, they are not our actual body like our fingers.
We can thus say that nails covering the body are a metaphor for the clarity we must have about our bodies as a whole. The body is attached to our soul, “covers” the soul – but is not our actual essence. It is just a garment clothing the soul, only to be shed when we die and move on to the Heavenly realm.
Adam, before his sin, had that “fingernail” clarity – he knew exactly who he was and what role his body played – and that clarity was manifest in his body being entirely covered by nail-like substance. But then he partook of the forbidden fruit and, by so doing, brought about a cosmic distortion and lack of clarity to the world. Now he - and all of us, his descendants – are no longer in the other-worldy Garden of Eden, but instead are surrounded by a very physical world where we have to struggle with this great and constant identity crisis, never knowing for sure if we are just a physical body or a Divine soul clothed with one.
There is of, course, one day a week when we can regain some of that original clarity that Adam once had. That day is Shabbos, a day when we pull ourselves away from the world of work and physicality, giving us the opportunity to see our lives in a proper perspective. And at the close of Shabbos, just as we are about to go back to the mundane world in which the body often reigns supreme, we gaze at our fingernails – that last remnant of a world of clarity long gone – to remind ourselves about who we truly are and what’s really important in life.
May G-d bless us that we merit to spend at least as much time, energy and money on our spirituality – our Divine soul and the mitzvos and good deeds it craves – as we do on our physicality – our body and its needs. This way, after 120 years, when we ultimately leave our bodies behind and our souls ascend heavenward, instead of feeling pain and anxiety at losing our very identity, we can hope to experience what our forefather Jacob did when he died – a sort of heavenly “manicure” in which the body that is no longer useful is cut away, leaving only our true selves to bask in G-d’s Presence in the World to Come. Amen.
[Sources: The Radiance of Shabbos by Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, Artscroll Mesorah Publications]
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