Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos #60 - Fridays Are For Smiling

welcome back it's friday turn friday into arab shabbos [Music] want to thank our dear friends menden seaport of fishman who sponsor turn friday into arab shadows is in memory of rabbi lord jonathan sacks foreign thank you so much for your generosity and your sponsorship shabbos is coming it's time to get ready it's time to be prepared it's time to get excited the covered shabbos kaidesh hashem this week in yerushalayim era kurdish the only siren they heard was the sound of the siren getting ready for shabbos we daven we pray we continue to think and to uh so much have on our minds our brothers and sisters in the holy land of israel thank you for joining me for a brief thought as we get ready an air of shabbos party to turn friday into erev shabbas we have been studying rebecca meyer morgenstern has been reminding us that friday the busiest day the most chaotic day what feels always no matter how much time like the shortest day the day in which we are counting down to the most intensive kedusha the greatest sanctity in our lives the atahara the evil inclination is in overdrive it's trying to get us to lose our cool and get angry it's trying to get us to be sad it's trying to get us to be negative we have to overcome we have to be happy we have to be filled with faith and optimism and hope we have to persevere no matter what struggle no matter what there is to do no matter how people have failed us nevertheless we have to be focused on what matters to feel incredibly blessed in our lives and to endure nonetheless we last left off which amaya was reminding us we have to be stubborn to remember that the more we prepare and the more we are ready the more success the more holiness the more happiness we will have shallow feta near vanilla know and remember shazarachni sciential air of shabbos that whatever you're running into you're running racing that clock you're frustrated by whatever it may be it's part of the test of heir of shabbos every week be prepared and know that friday will be filled with tests test to overcome patience test to overcome failure test to overcome frustration and we have to be prepared to be able to overcome those tests i mentioned every friday we send out a whatsapp to turn friday into our shop as i mentioned in today's message that because we need to have our guard up today we need to know that the danger of falling prey to sadness and to anger is greater than any other day we have to overcome what we have to fight even harder so instead of just listening to the radio or music or islam a podcast listen to advartota listen to a sheer listen to something that will move you have a special say to learn from a safer with a harusa read a book every friday morning a few minutes right before shabbas so a person has to know bethlehem how much and how deep is that faith instilled within our heart we have to strengthen ourselves i want to be stubborn and abstinent to continue and the more that we break the more that we break that hiddenness of god the more that we are dedicated and devoted the more that we are eager to be able to prepare to come to our shabbos table happy and and and prepared with advaitora a song a game a message a story a question the more we invest the more we prepare the greater the payoff the greater the kickback the greater the return on that investment has to know who does everything hashem is always found he's found in the potato google or that's a flop he's found in the challenge that's a success he's found the torah that didn't exactly work out he's found in the story that made everybody cry there is no giving up there is no despair there is no despondency person can find happiness simply in the existence with hashem you know sometimes the vacation the trip didn't live up to your dreams the room doesn't look like the way it was advertised in the brochure but sometimes you're just happy to be with the people in your life your spouse your children your parents you're just grateful for the opportunity to be so shabbos doesn't live up to the way we hope to dreamt the things didn't turn out the way we wanted but we are with hashem we're disconnected from the world we're disconnected from the challenges and the responsibilities and the obligations the tasks the to-do list the chaos and we're reconnected with our core with our root with hashem and simply being present being together even if shabbos didn't live up to the brochure it didn't live up to what i read in the book the way the others kept shabbos simply being mathias simply being with hashem that in itself is a source of simcha that is joy that is success that is the maintain faith that we maintain faith whatever hardships we have often pale in comparison to hardships of others but there are hardships and they shouldn't be minimized or neglected but when we have them in context and we focus on the good we realize that happiness is not an emotion happiness is a choice happiness is a decision on heir of shabbos choose to be happy we turn friday from a friday from tgif thank god it's friday to thank god it's heir of shabbos where i'm able to say for the next 25 hours i'm gonna remember what's most important i'm gonna recalibrate i'm gonna return i'm gonna refresh i'm gonna restart i'm gonna restore my soul for 25 hours we can come back and we can live with that faith we can see things in perspective and in context we can recognize and appreciate the brachas the most basic of which is that we're alive and that we're well and that we have the opportunity to be with hashem and this focus this mindfulness this conscientiousness that there's a creator of the universe he's involved and invested in my life he loves me everything that happened the past week he was there everything i hope for the coming week i need him to be there and shabbos is that intense time even the people that we unfortunately both the physical people and krish barhu even all those that we aren't able to spend the time we wished or hoped for during the week shabbos there's no excuse unless you're a rabbi but shabbos there's no excuse shabbos we have those meals and those chavrusas and those conversations that laughter sometimes you just sit on the couch everybody's reading their own book their own magazine learning from their own safer nobody's talking to one another but the mathias the simple reality of coexisting of being in the same space of having the same time that nobody is distracted they're distracted by what they're reading nobody's distracted by what they have to do where they have to go the technology they have to keep up with that mathias just that experience of being together in itself it's so enriching it's so uplifting and that is what we tap into each and every shabbos we begin to transition from friday into the experience of being with hashem don't look at bills that are going to frustrate you don't check news that's going to aggravate you don't return emails that are going to make you so frustrated shabbos is a day arab shabbos we prepare we transition with serenity with peace with hope with calm that we want to experience for those 25 hours it is a taste of the world to come so the most important the icker the most important thing if you say on friday what's the most important thing the right amount of salt and pepper and the chicken soup and the green cone soup and the yucca's out there and the germans and the challenge is that the most important thing that the table set up exactly right the forks are on the correct side the knives on the correct side what's the most important thing about friday and says richard the most important thing is simcha to be basimha to never lose your cool to never give up your hope to never become sad certainly with what was going on is going on in israel what's going on all over america the rise of anti-semitism there's a lot of reasons to be concerned and pour that concern into phila into prayer and into good deeds into merits but don't let it get you sad don't give up and forfeit our happiness our joy our air of shabbos and our shabbos so the main avodah the main job the main responsibility of the main work we have smile friday is a day for smiling every day but friday put a smile on your face i've shared many times that psychologists have proven we often think that if you're happy then you'll smile but it's the opposite when you smile you engage micro muscles in your brain that release endorphins and the act of smiling makes you happy so maybe on friday you're not so happy you have good reason to not be happy smile nonetheless it's the act of smiling that makes you happy not being happy that makes you smile simha simcha that's our mission that's our job that's our responsibility when our spouse comes home do they find us with a smile when our kids come in do they find us with a smile are they coming in from their hectic day with very little time left with a smile do we gather to light candles or are we off to shul with a smile are we setting the table with a smile do we characterize our air of shabbos with a big and a bright and a happy smile that's our mission that's our responsibility that's our job because the more you smile on air of shabbos the happier of a shabbos that you're going to have wishing everyone the happiest the most joyous the most peaceful the most healthiest the most simhadika shabbas until next week stay happy stay healthy and stay holy [Music] smile and be happy shabbos is coming be happy put on a smile have a great shabbos everybody to all