R' Eliyahu Bergstein live on "Shabbat... How High Can It Take Us?"

ladies and gentlemen welcome to the community center where tonight once again has the honor and the privilege to host Renown lecturer berstein tonight's event is dedicated before we begin tonight's evening just a few quick and uh quick and important uh announcements regarding upcoming events and programs I'll start off by saying that we all know that Tuesday night we have the holiday of sh uh the bed Center will be having an all night learning program uh everyone is welcome to that a week from tonight kazak will be hosting World reown lecture that will be at congregation that's in Q Hills rabie wel men and women are welcome that's at 8:30 p.m. please come spr word to all your friends uh the following Monday and make that every Monday besides for tomorrow since it's uh kazak has the women's classes right over here in the back rooms for ladies only obviously uh the schedule is as follows June 9th we're going to be having pear AB bramwit on parenting June 16th we're going to be having uh rabbits and gy margareten the following Monday we're going to be having the one and only Jackie Bon from orava and the week after we're going to be having rabbits and darar kigle so ladies every Monday you know where to be it's over here spread the word tell all the ladies you know we have nice turns out turnouts but we're always looking for more people um June 1 I'm sorry Jackie June is June 23rd I believe so uh spread the word for that with regards to new kazak actually one more Community announcement that on Tuesday June 11th rabie ROV will be having his table for two that's right over here DAV gab will be do doing the entertainment there's going to be a dinner there is a fee for that I think $120 per couple that's going to be at the Bell Center June 11th for more information about all these announcements you can see the regular kak paral papers which are throughout the building programs so uh a lot going on we just moved to a new office uh 10 times the size of our old on so everyone said is telling us that if you guys did so much in a box how much more will you do in this new place we're going to do much more so one of the new things that we have over there is a studio that we built for our radio program the kazak radio it's a brand new program that we have it's going very well uh right now if you go on it kazak radio.com you're going to hear music great music interesting Lively entertaining uh fun and we encourage everyone to uh enjoy that but on Thursday nights we have uh lectures shows by various different speakers including the rabie schaer from the Sho and rabie bregman on the para and a few other things uh so we're trying to build as many shows as possible if anyone is interested or knows anyone that would be good at making a show please let me know that's kazak radio.com online for now my goal with God's help is to have the radio on air throughout the city so people when they're driving they can listen on a certain dial whatever it is if 613 FM is available we'll probably take that uh whatever works we'll try to do aside from that our goal is to create the kazak radio into a kazak TV as well where you're going to have live shows with uh you know instead of going to the secular sources for news you can come to us and a few other great ideas so uh stay in the loop uh and visit us online kazak radio.com TD Bank has joined kazak actually at a new program what it is is that whoever opens up an account will receive $25 and the organization will be getting a donation of $50 so whoever needs a bank account if anyone knows anyone that needs a bank account please go to the local TD Bank and tell them that uh you want to join the Affinity program which will have kak a part of uh you know get a small donation out of that and if for whatever reason you already have an account and you are with TD Bank uh you can uh connect your account with kazak and at the end of the year .1 of a percent will go towards kazak whatever is in your bank so if you have like a billion dollars we'll definitely benefit from that uh I could go on and on with the magazine and the par papers and the teens Division and the learning programs and the morning learning programs and a few other things but I just want to end off by saying that uh tonight's event wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for a certain member in the community who approached me and said that they want to do a shter memory of someone and actually the last few events that we've had have been in the result of that and all I'm trying to say is that many people when they have an Asar yard site they try to uh they rent out halls and they do all this Asar and all this stuff and uh many times it's it's it's instead of being Al for the for the Goof for the people in the crowd because they eat so much what I'm trying to say is that I think the best way to uh to have an for someone that passed away I think a great way is having a that besides for the impact of people in the crowd it just goes on and on online and then sometimes we make CDs and we have it on the radio now and and it just goes on and on forever so I really believe that a sh that inspires people is a great way to use your M money as well and if if it's not you could do it for the someone and if not for the could be for the of or for children for for match for whatever it could be so please come see us we want we have many events coming up we want to do more events and with's help we will do it so without further Ado it's my honor my privilege and my uh to call upon and uh I guess my very good friend RAB berkstein Round of Applause please sorry for taking so long no it's fine okay okay good evening everyone H welcome to bet Gabriel to tonight's program my name is Rabbi ELO Bergin I've been here bar before in fact I've mentioned many times before that as a little kid I went to Yeshiva actually in this neighborhood in the 1950s it's a little few years ago but I'm very glad to be back with kazak kazak is always a pleasure to come to and to speak for and I'd also like to mention that the kazak radio will have this sh on it and it'll get then to a wider audience even than everybody who's sitting here and it'll be and the to will be more and more the class I am teaching tonight has two titles one title is shabas how high can it take us and you're getting the alternate title Shabbat how high can it take us you know just it depends if it's an ashkenazic crowd or asaran you know so I just changed the first word from shabas to shabbat and then everything fits into place perfectly so we're here tonight for Shabbat how high can it take us and um i' like to start with a story that I find always interesting there was a somebody going up to the mountains we're about to go to the country that you know soon is going to start the season for uh going up to the country and The Story Goes that there was somebody going up rout going up to the country and pulled over by the police actually for going too slowly usually you know the police stop you for going too fast they were actually pulled over for going too slowly and the police officer says to him you know what's this why are you going so slowly and the policeman looks in the back seat and there's three passengers in the back seat and they look completely and totally dazed like they're off a roller coaster or something and he says officer why are you stopping me I'm just doing what the sign says the sign says 17 so you know that's a very low speed limit and the officer says to them that's not the speed sign that that's the root sign you're on rote 17 oh that explains it I just got off of I 87 whoa was that something you got to know how to read the sign everyone here is aware that Shabbat shabas Shabbat is one of the three Mitzvah that's called o it's a sign the other two Mitzvah are and chabas is one of the Mitzvah that's called a sign what's the significance of it being a sign more than another Mitzvah the special significance of a sign is if you go down 108 Street and you go into the dry cleaners and you have your clothing to bring into the cleaners and you come to the door and the door is locked and there's a little note out to lunch okay I'll come back another time I'll come back back later you forget you come back a week later door's still locked there's another little note there on vacation we'll be back this and this date okay you come back a week later after the vacation date the door is still locked but this time there's no little note lunch vacation nothing and you're looking you step back and you notice you know the place is dark inside there's no clothing inside there's no Machinery inside and the big sign on top of the store that used to say magic clean It's Magic if it gets clean is gone ah at this point you know they're not out to lunch they're not on vacation the place is closed it's permanent sometimes it could happen that a person is out to vacation for a particular Mitzvah you know you missed something you skipped something you something not perfect okay we'll do chva it'll be fine but when Shabbat disappears that's the sign that's the sign that it's a Jew's home if Shabbat disappears and Shabbat becomes like Wednesday Shalom God forbid then the sign is gone and ultimately the connection to to Judaism is ends up being lost what is Shabbat what are we supposed to do how are we supposed to feel well the benai who I'm sure everyone here has heard of the benishai actually says you can understand Shabbat from a little cute story The Story Goes Like This there was a king the king had a song bird that the king captured the song BG sang beautiful songs the king put the song BG in a cage a golden cage and the golden cage was placed right by the window where the sunlight would shine in and the King was so happy with this bird and the bird would sing and the veterinarians would come in and they would change the water and give the bird food and everything would be just perfect and fine and the birds sang beautifully and all the other birds were tremendously jeal of the song bird because look the song bird has everything the song bird is being taken care of fed everything perfect and the song bird says to the other birds don't be so jealous of me what I have is no good at all you know what I have a golden cage it's gold but it's a cage I'm imprisoned I'd rather be out in the mountains I'd rather be out in the cold and the rain Taking My Chances with the elements and be free rather than be here in the cage and the other birds hear it and they say well how can we help you and the song bird says you know how you can help me my sister lives out in the forest go out to the forest find my sister tell my sister my problem and ask my sister what to do and come back and tell me the birds fly away we'll come back we'll let you know they fly off they find the sister bird out there they tell the sister bird and as soon as the sister bird hears this the sister bird closes her eyes falls down apparently the shock and Trauma of hearing that her sister the song bird was captured was you know that was it what are the birds going to do now they promis to fly back they fly back they come into the song Bird's room song birds in the cage they say to the song bird o what we tell you we found your sister we told her your predicament and your sister just closed her eyes and shuddered and fell on the floor on the ground apparently dead sorry that night the song bird didn't sing the song bird didn't eat the song bird literally just sat on her stoop on in the cage listlessly veterinarians changed the water they examined the bird nothing next morning the Servants of the king come in the bird is lying dead at the bottom of the cage what do you do with a dead bird they pick up the cage they go over to the window open up the cage shake out the bird the bird starts dropping left lifelessly from the third floor window down toward the ground and just before the bird hits the ground the bird opens her eyes flaps her wings and flies off singing the Beautiful song The Best Song of her life you know what happened the song bird understood that her sister's giving her a nonverbal communication what's your problem play Dead the song bird sister showed her just dropped down on the floor the song bird understood what the sister was telling her play dead they'll kick you out of the cage and that's what she did that's what the first step in chabas is we are all in the cage we have time frames we have to get up at a certain time go to work this chore that chore this responsibility that responsibility it's gold sometimes we earn a lot of money but sometimes it's restrictive like a cage how do you get out of the cage comes Shabbat you're out play dead no cell phone no black no strawberry no email no nothing it's all finished goodbye the dead people don't answer the cell phones finished in fact that's why they call it a cell phone you're in a Cell all week with your phone the phone rings you answer who's boss you are the phone phone's the boss even if you're standing talking to somebody the phone rings oh just a minute I I got to answer what you're talking to them no the cell I'm in the cell shabas no cell goodbye that's why the says the T says somebody dies on Friday it's a good sign can you control when you die it means if you play dead if when it comes Friday afternoon before shabas now is finished the bank the business the mail the phones the emails my jobs all these things that it'll all be there after shabas and now is chabas people sometimes want to find a vacation destination they'll pay who knows how much to get there where they'll be away from their office and their chores and their cell and their emails and their same times and whatever else Lotus and Microsoft and whatever else they're into and you all you have to do is tell them there's no problem there's a place you can go and it won't cost any air shabas that's it now I'm pretty sure that everyone here knows this already maybe I brought it out in a way that helps us focus on it but we all know this shabas it's a day of rest it's just great can't be better but there's a higher level in Shabbat also a higher level for People Like Us B we should be able to understand a drop higher and that is a different section in the talwood the talwood says an interesting thing if a person takes wide steps they lose some of the illumination of their eye I guess their eyesight if you want to translate it the exact words ISO wide steps why wide steps fast steps take away 1500th of anov of the Loosely translated illumination of the eye or the eyesight of a person anybody here an optometrist opthalmologist no okay so no problem that's what it is right even more odd is the talmud's cure for the eyesight loss The tet's Cure is that you get it back shim you get it back when you make kiddish Friday night on your cup of wine how's that when I look at the cup of wine it somehow returns my eyesight what's going on this talwood must have something behind it more than what meets the eye no pun intended what's going on I think that what the talmud means is the following it's not you lose your eyesight wide steps that means I'm really moving I'm striding I'm kicking up a storm I'm doing I'm creating I'm takes away one 1500th of your focus you start thinking that it's me doing things and you stop stop thinking it's doing it sometimes in my spare time my regular job Monday through Friday 9 to 5 I do interviews and I get a resume and the resume is going to say um engineer implemented designed created built oh what did they really do they built a su in Russia put up a suer but this these words the resume words created implemented conceived designed sometimes it goes to a person's head I'm doing I'm accomplishing I'm striding ahead I'm kicking up a storm I'm I'm I'm oh you're losing your whole Focus you forgot hashem's running the world without Hashem giving you the brains the energy the understanding the stamina you'd be nothing you'd be nothing zero piece of meat literally Friday Night comes and you're holding that be that cup of wine and now there's no striding no creating no conceiving no designing no developing no fast steps oh it's a refocus when I'm looking at that be that cup of wine and I'm there by the K Friday night I'm realizing ah that was a six day illusion this is reality this is bringing me back to the reality that Hashem is giving me the feeling during the six days and the ability to have the impression that I'm doing something but when I get back to refocus then I see there's really not me it's really Hashem that's already a higher level in chabas that's the higher first level is yeah oh I'm going to rest why arrest no cell phone no communication no Bank no work no mail no email wow great rest terrific that itself is worth everything but here it's a level higher here it's a a spiritual chiro Chiropractic experience of a realignment and a refocus without this I'm just a a human doing this brings me back to be a human being doing is I'm doing I'm doing I'm doing being is I'm a state of existence being in a state of being a whole week I'm a human doing comes chabas I'm a human being guess what there's a higher level in chabas even than that and the next level in shab is so much higher than the first two that it doesn't even compare to it and and I'm saying it to you and I've said it to other audiences of a similar stature it's not something I would say to an entrylevel audience because they're not up to hearing this yet but you know audiences of this nature I know I'm okay with the third level and it's something to know for yourself and you never know when you do some k or something when it'll come useful for others to and that level is shown to us in the gamar in a few places one of the places is in tractate Shabbat I think it's about D lamid giml or so with a story that most people know part of the story the story in the gamar is there were three rabbis walking in the land of Israel in Roman times during the Roman occupation rabi Yosi rabi Yehuda rabi Shimon they were discussing the occupation of the Romans of the land of Israel one said nice things about them one was quiet and rabie Shimon said negative about them they're in it for themselves they're building bridges to collect tolls they're making marketplaces for their taxes they're doing it's not for us it's all for them somebody overheard the conversation went and told the government rabi shim is talking bad about you well maybe in the United States you can get away with that but you couldn't get away right with it in Roman occupied a Israel and there was a warrant issued for the arrest of rabi Shimon this is rabi Shimon Bay the famous rabi Shimon Bayo and they wanted to execute him there's no you know you say the wrong thing you're executed he ran away with his son razar they hid in a synagogue after a while they thought it wasn't safe they went up north and they hid in a cave near Maron and pan and and they lived in the cave hiding for 12 years existing subsisting on on the buer tree and water that was there and living a spiritual life and spending their time studying Torah studying various aspects of the Torah whatever they were learning and they were in this spiritual cocoon for 12 years what happened after 12 years they heard a Bas call a Heavenly voice said you can come out of the cave now they forgot about you they're not looking for you anymore the Roman government is not concerned with you anymore 12 years they walk out they're so spiritually elevated wow and they see Jewish people plowing planting harvesting you know and they're looking look at these people instead of being busy with Hab instead of being busy with spiritual things they're busy with planting and plowing temporary existence instead of a permanent existence they couldn't understand it they're staring at this and they can't believe it and the Tet says their holy eyes looked at the crops that were growing and they burned them up with their holy eyes I don't know if burned it up means they actually physically burned them or they put in some type of like a iron which caused a negative effect on these crops either way they're destroying everything botco and a Heavenly voice comes thundering down back to the cave rabotai gentlemen back to the cave decompress you know despir eyesee come back down you you know you can't do this you're destroying the world they go back into the cave they spend another 12 months one year in the cave at this point they've already gotten back to the idea you know there's this world that have to you know live in a normal existence and they come out of the cave rabi Shimon he understands people plow people harvest it's all normal fine and good his son Rabel loar is still all cooked up and everywhere rabaza looks he burns up the crop crops and when rabish Shimon sees that he extinguishes the crops with his holy eyes Rabel Loza with his eyes he burns the crops he ignites them and rabish shim with his eyes extinguishes the fire arsonist fireman arsonist fireman till when till Friday afternoon Friday afternoon right before chabas the T says they're walking in the fields and an old man runs by holding two Myrtle branches to hadasim and it's right before Shabbat and RAB shim stops him and he says to him uh Mis you're running a old man like you running you know what you running it's almost Shabbat and what are you doing with the two Myrtle branches what do you mean the two Myrtle branches Shabbat in honor of chabas rabish shim looks at him and he says you know for you wouldn't One Myrtle Branch be enough what do you need two for wouldn't one be enough and the old man says to rabish shim no no no no no one is for Z and one is for sh The Ten Commandments is written twice in the Torah once in and once in one place it says remember the shabas one place it says shabas Safeguard the shabas Hashem God said them simultaneously in honor of these two words describing shabus Z and Sham remember and S and and Safeguard I have two Myrtle branches rabi shim hears that he turns to his son rabar and he says to him elar look what the Jews are doing with the things you're burning up the crops look what this man is doing with those had those mtle branches that are growing that you're burning Abazar calmed down he understood look at that no more problem end of the story in the talud nice story wonderful uplifting very good the Ben the asks two questions number one why does the talud mention that it's an old man who cares thas says an old man ran by it's the difference what his ages second question rabi shim says to him what do you need them for he says in honor of Shabbat why didn't rabi shiman at that point turn to his son and say look what they're doing in honor of Shabbat he didn't he asked the second question what did he two wouldn't one be enough for you and when the man answered oh I need two one is for zahar one is for Shamar because that's a different kind of thing then he turned to his son why says the Ben that when rabi shim first saw him going he thought the following everyone knows that lighting the shabas candles is meritorious to have good children another somebody who is careful and regular to light their shabas candles they will Merit having good children I hold it even is more than that because they're also somebody's child they Merit Merit to be good themselves too it's a good thing whatever it is it's good candle lighting that's right in the talud the cabala says also that Myrtle branches are also meritorious for Good Children rabi Shimon sees this man and he sees him running with the Myrtle branches and he's looking he's an old man his children they must be 50 years old already whatever they are they are he can run all he wants home with all the Myrtle branches he wants it's not going to change his children anymore you know he should have ran with the Myrtle branches when his kids were five what's he going to do now his kids he's looks like he's about 90 his kids must be 60 already it's too late no so he says to him listen wouldn't one be enough for you and the man understood what rabish shiman means and the man said this isn't about me this isn't about my children this isn't so I should have good children this is above that this is in honor of chabas Z SH safe guard and remember the shabas this isn't for my personal benefit this is for aem's Shabbat basically what was going on here is rabi Shimon thought this man is doing Shabbat on level one or level two level one is I relax on chabas oh wonderful I'm all relaxed level two is I have chance to refocus the common thing of those two levels are it's for me my rest my refocus my refreshment my Rejuvenation my spiritual Improvement the third level is not for me it's for Hashem it's purely for Hashem that's what this man was telling rabish shim I'm doing it for Hashem I'm doing it just in honor of Hashem level three that's when rabi shiman turns to his son and he says look look how they're celebrating the shabas I'll give you one more example there there's a bunch more but I'll just give you one more example pick one here the says Lio anybody who Delights in the shabas all the wishes of his his or her heart are granted Delights in the chabas doesn't mean Delights in their stomach and their gastronomical enjoy ment of shabas it's Delights in the chabas itself and the Talman actually has a story and the story is the following the to asks how do you become rich T answers become rich give if you give one tenth of your produce you'll become rich the tal says that's fine if I have a farm if I have a you know Fields if I'm a farmer I can give oneth of my produce what happens if I'm not a farmer I don't live even in the land of Israel I'm outside I'm in B Babylonia in those times to says well you still a way to get rich if you honor Torah Scholars fine that's if I live in Bell or in Forest Hills or in C Gardens Hills or in M or bar park or Lakewood or some place like that I'm not trying to leave anybody out but what happens if I live in who knows where in Middle America somewhere in a real you know far out place and there just aren't any tamic scholars in this you know small town and who knows where what do you do so the T says even there there's a way to get rid if you're shabas if you make the shabas a delight and the Tam tells a story of such a person the tud says once was a guest in ludia and he came for shabas and he stayed in a certain house and Friday night they came after the daving after the the house and they came into a room maybe as big as this room and there were chairs all over but there was no table and all of a sudden as everybody's sitting on the chairs 16 big strong men open the kitchen door and carry out this huge gantic table full of shabas delights and all kinds of Delicacies with the design more than any viones table in the biggest wedding anywhere and they put it down in the middle little room and the host the owner of the house says everything belongs to Hashem and R who was there the guest says to him evidently you're very very wealthy how did you become so wealthy what's your profession he says I'm a butcher you can still change careers I'm a butcher and when I see a good cut of meat I put it away for shabas I don't know if he meant he puts it away to sell to somebody specifically for shabas or he means that he puts it away for himself to have for chabas either way that's designated for shabas end of story in the talmud the mar said there's more to the story nobody ate from that table they brought out that huge table in tamic times they didn't eat from a big table everybody had their own trade tables small trade tables that's why on P it says before man it says remove the table because they used to have the Mato on a little tiny table what we do is we can't remove our tables because we have huge tables we cover the matah before the Manana so it's not there it's covered but in the old times they would pick up the little tray table with the matzas because all they're eating was on tray tables when they brought out that big table the 16 big giant guys carrying the table and the host said everything belongs to hasem they picked up the table brought it back into the kitchen and served on small tray tables from the table that was in the kitchen so what was the point of bringing it out all together the point of bringing it out all together was that higher level in chabas in honor of chabas nothing to do with anybody's gastronomical enjoyment because nobody touched the table that's the highest level that's shabas because I'm connected to chabas oh by the way I get refocused on chabus wonderful oh by the way I rest on chabis wonderful I'm refreshed wonderful I have a wonderful relaxing experience great but if I have that higher thing that's even a higher connection to Hashem the Tet actually debates for the ultimate Redemption of the Jewish people how many shabos do we need do we need one do we need two there's a t Yushi there's a t one says if the Jews would observe one chabas they'd be redeemed the other talmud says if the Jews would observe to shabos they'd be redeemed what what is it one is it two you know the says the concept of one chabas means if I would observe one chabas meaning if I would observe this chabas as if it is the one and only chabas that ever existed in creation from the beginning to the end then mashia would come what does that mean when you get a Mitzvah that comes once in a while you get all excited about it rashash they're going to blow the chaur oh everybody's standing there whoa if they blow the chauffeur every day we'd get used to it the blessing on the sun if you remembered a few years ago it occurs once in 28 years nobody missed it oh 28 years something comes so rarely you get all excited Shabbat comes every week so no excitement if the Jews would observe the chabas as if this is the one and only chabas how would you observe that chabas whoa I'd be in the synagogue in time I would sing all the mirrors the candle lighting would be beautiful wonderful we would dance we would learn we would say to Lim we would oh it would be oh that's the kind of chabas but what do we do anyway about this one chabas and two shabas and so there's a lot of answers some answer it really means one chabas but it means the two parts of the chabas one t says one 24 hour chabas the other talud means the two pieces of chabas the Friday night section of the chabas and the chabas day section of the shabas so b shabos means the Friday night part and the shabas Day part so they're both saying the same thing they're just using different terminology for 24 hours okay others say that Shabbat can be translated as the seventh day or it can be translated as a 7day period this right now we're very very familiar with because when we count the counting of the OM which we're up to tonight already 48 we're holding right right right by sh we say the based on the on the verse in the Torah seven complete weeks look at the word or inab what do you mean shabat seven chabes no seven weeks the word Shabbat can mean the seventh day or it can mean a full seven day period sh shabat if that's the case then the translation of the Jews observing to shabos means the weekday and the shabas because if you rob the bank on Friday morning while eating a cheeseburger and then you want to come to sh Friday night and feel very holy it's not going to happen if you mess up the week and a whole week you're you know you're not not anywhere close to any kind of observance and to and everything so you can't just dance into the Shabbat if the Jews would observe two shabas their week days would be a week days worthy and then comes the Shabbat oh now we're talking and the most important day of the weekday Friday itself Shabbat and I mentioned once I think maybe even right here in in inak maybe even here inel that in America we have thank God been fairly successful in uplifting the Shabbat Big Time believe me right here in Queens in the 1950s which I remember and I lived in Queens in the 1950s I just didn't have a white beard yet or any beard in fact Shabbat was very weak and it has picked up and it's more and more and more and more people are closer and more and better in observance but Shabbat the Friday we're still not really there if you're in is hours before chabas you can feel already the quietness settling in and the Shabbat is coming here we're still you know running from the Subway at 10 minutes before the candle lighting and in the house and putting up and doing and and and it's sometimes we haven't yet gotten there are some who do but a lot of people haven't got Shabbat that Friday that preparation time that's very important that does it they say that there was a famous Rabbi whose name was Rabbi Kim of chernovitz he lived 200 250 years ago chenitz is in a place in Europe called bavina I think it is I don't know exactly where that is but Putin knows where it is he knows where everything is it's somewhere near Ukraine I'm not sure exactly and R chenitz lived 200 years ago and he was known as a very holy Rabbi and he was especially known that on Shabbat he was just was a special day the story goes as follows there was a horse fair in lepik Germany leick is some city in Germany and a horse fair is what they used to have in those days I guess the closest thing we have to it is like the auto show in the javet center you know or the boat show in the javet center they would have the Horse Fair in the lipic marketplace and all the horse dealers would get together and sell horses and buy horses and this and there was a famous Jewish horse dealer there will call him Moshe Moshe was all day busy selling his horses and doing and buying and then training horses and he's one time during the fair Rabbi of chernovitz came to the horse fair and mosha the horse dealer sees him and looks at him and he's sizing him up and he says he can't be a horse dealer look at him he looks like a holy Rabbi and he says to his friend who is he and his friend said that's that's Rabbi Kim of chenitz he's here for horses nah no n he's probably here to collect money for a poor bride he's always busy collecting money for a poor bride who can't get married yeah he looks so holy his friend says to him you think he looks holy now you should see him on Shabbat he's he's a different person really I got to get to know him Moshe the horse dealer goes up to Rabbi of chenitz and he says to him Rabbi what are you doing here can I help you and rabim of chanov says to him well I'm here to collect money for a poor bride how much do you need I need I need 100 about 1,500 rubles you need 1,500 rubles how much have you collected so far 46 rubles oh you got a long way to go Rabbi tell you what I'll give you the whole 1,500 rubles if you grant me my wish what's your wish no no no first we make the deal that I'll give you the money and you'll tell me you'll grant me my wish and then I'll tell you what it is says I mean I can't make such a deal what if you say I should make you fly to the moon I mean I understand if you can't do it you can but if you can doesn't like this kind of deal but what can he do he needs the money for the poor bride he has to do something so he says okay Shake deal absolute yes here's the 1500 rubles now my wish my wish is that I should feel the holy shabas the way you feel it Rabbi Kim and chenit turns and looks at him and says this it's not for you it's not for you it's not good for you you you Rabbi we have a deal no okay okay but be aware that on Thursday at noon you close your business and go home why Rabbi you'll see comes Thursday mosha tells his horse workers there put away the horses in the stall in the barns I got to go home for Shabbat you got to go home for Shabbat what are you talking about it's Thursday yeah Thursday but you know I got to get a little ready they couldn't understand understand it this is a guy who used to be his his horse business was open till 5 minutes before candle lighting time all of a sudden he's closing on Thursday all right what got into him who knows he comes home his wife says moocha what are you doing home what am I doing home um I came home to get ready for Shabbat what it's Thursday yeah but Thursday's right before Friday and Friday is the day before Shabbat right well you feel okay yeah I feel fine yeah and um well yeah he doesn't know what to do he takes out of T Lim he starts saying T Lim he starts getting excited about t Lim he starts getting excited you know he's thinking it's going to be Shabbat he should really get ready and he starts feeling that oh this Shabbat is coming and he's starting to get happy about thinking about Shabbat Thursday night he couldn't sleep because he was getting all excited Shabbat Friday morning he went to the Sho he was screaming the daving he was all excited he was giving a lot of he was saying the Pasha he was he was doing everything he could toim he was studying he was dancing he Friday afternoon time he came make a long story short Friday night he couldn't even hold a cup of wine he was just just shaking in fact his son who was a nice religious Shiva boy kept seeing the wine spilling out and he kept on adding more wine you know he should have the she or you know have enough wine in his cup and and he couldn't sleep a whole Friday night a whole shabas he was to make a long story short he couldn't even sleep M shabas after shabas finally Monday afternoon it wore off and this great giant adrenaline high that he had for the whole weekend from Thursday to Monday wore off and when that happens oh boy did he deflate and he fell into bed and he couldn't wake up Tuesday morning he was like a drunk his wife gave him black coffee nothing help finally Wednesday morning he slept himself out of bed he went to his business and now by now he already has all kinds of customers waiting for him and it's late and he tries to fill the orders and before he knows it it's Thursday afternoon again it's time to close on Thursday again again the same kind of thing and he closes up and he goes home and it's a rerun this goes on for a few weeks his business is ruined his customers are going elsewhere he doesn't doesn't know what to do what's the end here's the problem I used to know the end of the story but a few years ago I heard a new end of the story so I'm not sure which one is accurate so I don't know what to tell you you know what I'll tell you both endings cuz I don't know really what happened one ending that I heard years ago was he went back to rim from chenitz and he told Rim rebi you all right this is not for me I can't handle this and he went back to being what he always was m a horse dealer closed his business Friday afternoon at 5 minutes before candl lighting time came home sat at his shabas table thinking and talking about horses instead of reading the Kish he went back to reading horse Illustrated and he just was back what he was before and that was the end and happy The New Ending that I heard a few years ago was he said you know what if I have this tremendous blessing of having the Shabbat in such a holy way maybe if I lift up my week days to a higher level and I make myself different and I pick up my actions in the weekdays then maybe I can match the Shabbat and I'll be really like rabi and he did it and he became a holy sadic now I have news for you you're thinking it's a nice story but it has nothing to do with us with me good what's with us we can be so different on Shabbat we can make Shabbat so high impossible I will prove to you that it's not so prove it from a not from a story from a a Jewish law the Jewish law is if you have a a bride and a groom and they get married for one week they make seven blessings every night when they have a minion every meal you know the at the wedding itself the next night the next night including Friday night and shabas whenever there's a minion a whole minion at the meal they say the special seven blessings after the the Bening only one thing you need you always need what's called a a new face that means somebody who wasn't there at any previous CH the people who were there at the wedding and they participated in the CH at the wedding that's fine they can participate again but you can't have only them you have to have some new person it's called p a new face every night Monday night Tuesday whatever it is except Friday night except Shabbat Shabbat you don't need P so everybody says why not people say you well shabas itself is the p shabas is a face shabas is a person the answer is we have every single person has a different face is a new face is a brighter face on Friday night than they were on Thursday night it's not we don't need we have it automatically it's a different person sitting there Friday night and Thursday night and if you think I'm joking you I'm not and you even say it yourself everybody takes the S Friday night and they sing and they sayem pat translate those words P the face of shabas our shabas face give us it's fully within everybody's capability to have that chabas face and to elevate ourselves each one according to our level now this isn't elementary level this isn't just oh I'm relaxed I'm playing dead that's great this isn't just refocusing this is Shabbat on our level that we're capable of reaching I'm going to conclude with one more story and it's a personal story those of you who know me from Past Times know that besides speaking with regular audiences I also do a lot of speaking for kiru organizations for organizations that do K that try to bring not from not religious Jews back to Torah and mitv and very often I'm asked by people what should they start with and I'll always say generally why don't you start with Shabbat oh we're going to observe Shabbat I didn't say you should observe Shabbat I said start with chabbat that means why don't we start with the woman of the house lighting the shabas candles candle lighting time is published whenever it is it's 4:15 it's 5:15 it's 8:15 whatever it is come home light the candles and then we'll add on to that we'll add on to that a Friday night meal with a kidush we'll start with well you know what don't answer the phone and don't go shopping Friday night then we'll add on a little bit for Shabbat morning and eventually you know build slowly into a very nice observance and and a real shabas and somebody tells me okay that's fine now this time of the year I could do it candle liting time is ready after 8:00 p.m. daylight savings time no problem but in the winter what am I going to do in the winter in the eastern time in November and December candle liting time in New York is going to be you know 4:12 or or something 4:15 how's that going to work I can't I work till 5: so you know what I usually tell them listen there's usually a way speak to your boss you can make up the time maybe Friday morning instead of coming in at 9:00 you can come in at 7:30 maybe you could work an extra hour on Thursday evening or Wednesday evening you know you you maybe you you don't arrange the time so instead of so you'll be able to leave on Friday a little bit earlier 2 3 hours earlier by putting in the timer earlier in the week a lot of jobs are pretty flexible with that you should be able to do it and if they tell me it's hard I say you know I encourage them oh you could you could you could that's the background now this is what happened to me I mentioned in my spare time Monday through Friday 9: to 5:00 I have a regular job in computer programming the company moved not too long ago from Manhattan to Jersey City and everything fine I'm in the same job for many years and uh my boss always has a group meeting every week Thursday afternoon at 300 p.m. fine one day I got an email the group meeting has now been moved no longer Thursday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. the group meeting is now Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. I look at this email and in Yiddish it's called is vet I don't feel so good what am I going to do Friday 2 p.m. now it happened to have been about this time of the year so the candle lighting the LI Pion is not till 8 o' even if I make an early shabas it's 7 o'clock 2: p.m. I'm figuring out 2: p.m. means I can't go home anymore on the 12:43 train I was going home every Friday from Hoboken to Muny Hoboken to Spring Valley actually on the 12:43 train leaves Hoboken 1243 gets to Spring Valley at 5 to2 I have my car parked there and I'm going to go home now the meeting is at 2:00 what's what am I going to do I look up the train schedule oh boy the meeting is going to end at 3: I'll get to the train station at 3 is this it's only locals at that time I'm going to get to dmy at 5:00 how's this going to work I mean this time of the year maybe I can at five it's early shabas is 7 what's going to be in the winter this this this what am I going to do here I I I I I email my boss and I say you know it's very hard uh 2:00 p.m. on Friday he says what's the problem you know Sunset is uh 8:00 or something I say to him uh you know Raco that's his name and you understand he's not in the bharian or the ashkanazi sh I say to rco you know it's very I can't oh come on it's you shouldn't have any problem with this I go back I'm sitting there what am I going to do and I say to myself what are you going to do you eloho berkstein tell all the potential balas all the potential people that you're trying to convince to become religious you can do it you can do it you can do it you can go home early you can make shabas early what about you yourself and I decided you know what I'm going home on my regular train 12:43 and I'll call in the meeting because the meeting also has a conference room conference dial in number you're not in the conference room if you're home for whatever reason or work remote you you know call in to the conference line it's not Hightech today everybody has it I go I pck my things I go to the station I get on 12:43 I show up in Spring Valley at 1:55 I get in my car I take out my cell phone I call into the meeting and Roco says to me where are you and I say uh I'm in Spring Valley I had to go home Friday he doesn't say anything there's a whole group there of people and people on the line and people in person doesn't say anything you know everybody's listening any doesn't pursue this okay goes by chabas I listened on the meeting everything I went home goes by Monday morning I get a call Roco come into my office oh I'm thinking to myself I'm in the company already over 20 years maybe they'll have to give me a pension or a severance even if they fire me right this is bad I go in and Raco says to me you know I see that you're having a hard time with Friday I think from now on you should work from home on Fridays now this isn't Den kind of great cabalistic miracle story but this has really happened and this is real and I work from home on Fridays this isn't about me this is about chabas this is about Hashem this is about us this is about where we are this is about where we're going and shabas is the key to the Judaism and shabas is something that not only can be observed D but it can be developed and enriched and made Higher and Higher and Higher and Higher and the hab the future world of unimaginable wonderfulness is called y shakul shabas a day that is fully chabas so when we want to talk about the absolute ultimate that's beyond our current imagination we use that word shabas as much as we can get out of it that's our privilege it's not a Cove it's not a burden it's a it's a merit and if we develop this the way it's supposed to be it can take us to such high places that it's unimaginable since we're here for kazak we can end with those words Kakak we should strengthen ourselves higher and higher in chabas Hashem will help us and it'll be with Sim and enjoyment until the ultimate ultimate chabas thanks everybody for coming and mem it's going to be on kazak radio M we see each other at other kazak events and to kazak I say thank you for inviting me and thank you for giving me the privilege to be here and kazak should keep on expanding and become stronger and stronger all the time in all their programs and Endeavors C to thank you