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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Bereishis

The posuk says ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי ויקדש אתו. Hashem blessed the seventh day & sanctified it.
According to the Zohar, Shabbos is the source of all blessing, both physical & spiritual. As the midrash explains ברכת ה' היא תעשיר the blessing of Hashem grants wealth, is a reference to Shabbos.

That it's the source of spiritual blessing we can understand. However, asks the Ben Ish Chai, it would seem that the blessing of wealth is the antithesis of keeping Shabbos. Shabbos is the day when we have to put aside all of our material pursuits not to do even the slightest bit of business. Since that is the case how is it specifically on Shabbos when we are commanded not to do any work that that's the day that gives us the blessing of wealth?

He continues by saying that of course the bracha that we get is from the work that we do all week however this bracha that encompasses us during the week stems from the holiness of Shabbos & its blessings. As the Zohar says all blessings come from the seventh day.

Where do we see that Shabbos causes material wealth? Continues the Ben Ish Chai, when the Torah tells us about material wealth it uses three main terms to define wealth. דגן , תירוש, ויצהר when a person is blessed with these three things one is blessed with all encompassing blessing.

If one will notice immediately at the onset of shabbos we sanctify the Shabbos with these three things. First we make kiddush on wine , תירוש & on the table at the time is the lechem mishne , דגן & all the while the table is lit up by the Shabbos candles preferably from oil , יצהר.
So we see that the Shabbos & its Mitzvos send us the all encompassing bracha of דגן , תירוש, ויצהר.
How do we merit this bracha?

There's a story told over about a young man in Lithuania who bought a car & would shuttle people from the town to the train station on the outskirts of town. Slowly he started working later on friday & starting earlier after Shabbos until he was actually desecrating Shabbos publicly. All the admonishments didn't help & even the Rav tried to stop him but to no avail. His father was a sickly man who turned a blind eye to what was going on.

One day ר זלמן סורוצקין who was the Rav of this town was in Vilna for a gathering of all the rabbi's that was headed by the Chofetz Chaim. On his way home he was on the same train as the Chofetz Chaim who was on his way home to Radin. At a stopover The גרז was looking out the window & saw the sickly father hobbling toward the train. He went over to him to ask how he was & the man said he was going to get on a train to Radin to get a bracha from the Chafetz Chaim. His grandmother had come to him in a dream & told him to ask the Chofetz Chaim for a Bracha. The גרז told him that he was in luck & wouldn't have to make the trip to Radin because the Chafetz Chaim was right there in the train station!

The sickly man told the Chafetz Chaim his story & asked him for a bracha. The Chafetz Chaim was shaking & said to him " can I give a bracha? Do you think my bracha will help? Only shabbos can give you a bracha , shabbos is the source of all blessing. If you observe shabbos you will get its bracha & then mine could help. If you think that by you alone keeping shabbos you will get the bracha look at the posuk it says לא תעשה כל מלאכה אתה ובנך ובתך you, your sons & your daughters. It's the only Mitzva that the Torah says is the parents' obligation to make sure they keep it too. The man was sobbing & promised to make sure his children also kept shabbos & the Chafetz Chaim gave him his bracha.

The way we can get our bracha for the week & have all our material needs taken care of & merit true wealth from Hashem is by us & our families observing the shabbos to its fullest!

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