Shabbat - On the Way In

Introduction

“I have a precious gift in My treasure vault,”
God told Moshe.
“Its name is Shabbat.
I intend to give this gift to the Jewish people.
Go inform them.”
(Shabbat 10b)

Experiencing Shabbat takes preparation. God let us know in advance about this precious gift, that we might gear up for it. To jump from a stationary position into the upward movement of holiness of any kind is all but impossible, and this is certainly the case when it comes to the unique holiness of Shabbat. The preparations we make in honor of the seventh day give us the running start we need.

A person should rise early on Friday morning in order to prepare all that is necessary for Shabbat. Even if one has a full staff in one's employ, one should make it one's business to prepare something personally in honor of the holy day. Thus Rabbi Chisda would mince the vegetables; Rabbah and Rabbi Yosef would chop wood; Rabbi Zeira would light the fire; Rabbi Nachman would arrange his house, bringing out those items needed for Shabbat and clearing away objects used only during the weekdays.

We should all follow the example of these sages and not say, "Don't expect me to belittle myself [with such menial activities]!" On the contrary, it lends one dignity to honor the Shabbat by preparing for its arrival (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 250:1).

Preparing for Shabbat means many things. It begins with our looking forward to the upcoming Shabbat and anticipating its arrival from the moment Shabbat ends. This is the meaning of the Torah’s instruction, "Remember the Shabbat" (Exodus 20:8). From the very first day - even the very first moment - of the week, we are to remember it. The first-century Talmudic sage Shammai did just that. Whenever Shammai ate, he kept Shabbat in mind. On any weekday, if he acquired some tasty food he would set it aside for Shabbat; if something even more desirable then came his way, Shammai would eat the other food and set aside the better one for Shabbat.

The bulk of our Shabbat preparations are reserved for Friday. The mitzvahs we perform to get ready for Shabbat, both the halakhic requirements and the customs, fall into two parallel categories: outer cleansing and inner cleansing.

In a general sense, outer cleansing relates to preparing our homes and our bodies; it includes purchasing, preparing and sampling the foods to be served at our Shabbat meals, readying the Shabbat table and donning fine garments in honor of the holy day.

Inner cleansing relates to preparing our minds and our hearts, shedding the negative feelings and qualities that have clung to them through our involvement in the marketplace. These preparations include reviewing the weekly Torah portion, immersing in a mikvah, and sitting in secluded meditation and self-evaluation, examining all our actions, words and thoughts of the week gone by.

Then, as sundown approaches, we detach ourselves from all weekday involvements and refrain from the "work" - the creative activity (melakhah) -that the Torah proscribes on Shabbat. Reciting the special prayers and psalms of Friday afternoon gives us the strength to let go of the week; we begin to enter the Shabbat state of mind, leaving our weekday worries and trials behind us.

In a more general sense, preparing for Shabbat is representative of man’s purpose in the world. The weekdays are to Shabbat what this world is to the World to Come - both the weekdays and our existence in the world are preparatory stages for something far greater.

The Talmud sets forth the principle: Only one who has prepared beforehand will be able to eat on Shabbat. This is true on the spiritual plane as it is on the physical. We cannot expect to enjoy all the wonderful spiritual delights of Shabbat - the inner calm, the higher awareness, the sense of connection and oneness - unless we have prepared ourselves during the week. All our spiritual devotions in this world are the preparations we make to enable us to receive the precious gift that God’s wants us to have: the gift of Shabbat.