The tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades have spent the week focusing on the themes of Kavod v’Oneg Shabbat. In Sefer Shemot,The Ramban comments on the mitzvah of
זכור את יום השבת לקדשו - Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify/separate it.
He tells us that “this verse commands us that we should always remember the Sabbath on every day, so that we should neither forget it nor confuse it with the other days. By always remembering the Sabbath, it will at all times remind us of the creation, and we will forever acknowledge that the universe has a Creator “ My husband and I once went on a cruise to Alaska with friends, and on Friday night, we asked the waitress to pour the wine into only one cup instead of serving everyone. As we stood up for kiddush, the waitress asked what we were doing. My husband thought for a moment and said, “We are celebrating the Creation of the Universe.”
The Ramban invokes the pasuk in Yeshaayahu that teaches us about כבוד וענג שבת, the honor and pleasure of Shabbat .וקראת לשבת ענג לקדוש ה’ מכובד And call the Sabbath a delight, the sacred (day) of the Eternal honorable
"The meaning of this is that the resting on Shabbat should be ours because it is a holy day, [which enables us] to turn away from our mental preoccupations and the vanities of the times and instead to give delight to our souls in the ways of G-d.”
Our classes have been exploring the different ways of achieving this state of honor and delight. All week, we anticipate Shabbath by counting our days in reference to it…
.היום יום ראשון בשבת שבו היו הלויים אומרים בבית המקדש - Today is the first day of the Shabbat, in which the Levites said the following song of Tehillim in the Temple.
We follow the example of Shamai the elder, when we buy special snacks and put them away for Shabbat treats. We bathe and dress ourselves in clean clothes before Shabbat. We set the table and use our best tableware. We go out to greet Shabbat Hamalka and welcome it into our homes, just as if we were welcoming the Divine Presence itself. And then,when Shabbat arrives, we make sure to distinguish it from the days of the week through the way we walk, the way we talk, how we dress, and how we eat….
I believe that the girls emerged from this study with an expanded understanding of all the beauty that Shabbat has to offer. It is my hope that they share this with you all. Shabbat Shalom.
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