Dvar Torah for Parshat Vayakhel

Moshe assembled the entire Israelite community..."treat the seventh day as sacred, a Shabbat...to God" (Exodus 35:1).

Our Sages teach that Shabbat is akin to the World to Come. Rebbe Nachman teaches—over and over—that one of the defining features of the World to Come is unity. The process of preparing for the Unity which is the World to Come, is observance of Shabbat law, refraining from archetypical creative activity. Why? (In addition, of course, to the basic, reductionist, bottom line, "The Boss said, that's why.")

Earth, wind, fire and air and the energies that they manifest are essentially different from one another. Though they certainly combine in many miraculous ways to form the backgrounds, larger structures and circumstances of life, they also often seem to battle and attempt to claim supremacy from one another. We human beings, in our efforts to harness the power of the elements deal with them in different ways, ways that match, or complement, their disparate forces.

It might seem that these forces are primary, and that we must deal with them in an unconnected fashion. Enter Shabbat. Acknowledging that we human beings are not the masters, that behind these elemental forces is a much greater Force that drives them, even combines them to do His work, enables us to focus on the One, in Whom all is united.

This is why Moshe, the tzaddik who is the human Shabbat, is able to assemble "the entire Israelite community." This is why Shabbat can assemble "the entire Israelite community." This is why we need to study halakhah (Jewish law), what Rebbe Nachman terms "the delight of the World to Come." Of all the spiritual practices that Rebbe Nachman recommended, only two did he say were universal. One of those two is the daily study of halakhah. If you don't already have a regular program for studying halakhah, why not start with the laws of Shabbat? You'll appreciate Shabbat that much more. (Go to www.breslover.com.shabbat_reading.html for some comments on works available in English.)

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

(The other universal practice? Hitbodedut!)

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