I’m amazed to watch young children who seem oblivious to conversations around them suddenly chime in right on queue. My son-in-law, Chaim, was singing a Shabbos morning song, “Yom Shabboson ein Lishkoach.” Meanwhile, my four-year-old twin grandsons were playing in the living room in their own little play world. Still, whenever we reached the appropriate pause in the song, they added—precisely on queue—the refrain of the tune!
This song is very connected to parshas Ki Sisa and will give us new insight into the enigmatic song, “The Day of Shabbos We Can’t Forget.” Why would one think the day of Shabbos could be forgotten?
In Parshas Ki Sisa, klal Yisrael sinned by making the Golden Calf. Upon seeing the Jewish nation dancing around the Golden Calf, Moshe smashed the luchos (tablets containing the 10 commandments). The Gemara says that the spiritual level of the first luchos was such that whatever Torah Bnei Yisrael would learn from it would never be forgotten. However, once the luchos were smashed, the possibility of forgetting the Torah they had learned was introduced.
The Sfas Emes says that this principle is true for the Torah one learns during the week, but not for Torah learned on Shabbos. Therefore, the novel possibility that klal Yisrael could forget their Torah study after they received the second luchos only applied to weekday learning. On Shabbos, however, klal Yisrael is elevated back to the spiritual level that applied to the first luchos, and any Torah they learn on Shabbos is not forgotten. Note that even though one might feel they do not remember the Torah they learned on Shabbos, it makes a deeper impression on their neshama and remains to a greater extent in their subconscious. This is the meaning of the song Yom Shabboson—The Day of Shabbos We Can’t Forget.” The day of Shabbos is when we cannot forget—the Torah we learn on that day.
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, one of the previous Gerrer rebbes, says this gives us new insight into the words we say during the Shabbos Shacharis Shemoneh Esrei, “Yismach Moshe b’matnas chelko,”“Moshe rejoices with the portion he is given,” i.e., the two luchos that Moshe brought down, which include the mitzvah of Shabbos that is written on them. Yes, the luchos were smashed, but the spiritual level of the first luchos still remains on Shabbos.
Rabbi Alter quotes his great great grandfather, the Chidushei Harim, who says that although the Gemara says the letters of the first luchos flew off the tablets upon seeing the Golden Calf, nonetheless, the letters of the mitzvah of Shabbos remained in place.
When a baby boy is born, there is a minhag among Ashkenazi Jews to make a Shalom Zachor celebration (welcoming the birth of a male child) on Friday night. There are different reasons brought down for the source of this minhag. One reason is that a baby is taught the entire Torah by an angel when he is inside his mother’s womb, but before the baby is born, the angel taps the top of the baby’s lip, causing him to forget all the Torah he had learned. The Shalom Zachor comforts the baby for the loss of the Torah he was taught. But why is this comfort offered specifically on Shabbos? I believe it is derived from the insight of the Sfas Emes—that one does not forget the Torah they learn on Shabbos. Shabbos is therefore the day that provides comfort to the baby. In some way, the baby is made to be aware that on Shabbos, whatever Torah he learns, he will not forget. Perhaps even the Torah the baby learned in the womb is remembered in some measure on Shabbos.
The Gemara tells us that klal Yisrael purified themselves before they received the Torah, so they attained the level of Adam Harishon before he sinned in Gan Eden. Rav Chaim Shmulevitz notes that Shabbos remained impervious to the sin of Adam. Hashem punished Adam for his sin, so that “by the sweat of his brow he will eat bread.” However the daily munn—the food that fell each weekday while B’nei Yisrael wandered in the desert after escaping from Egypt—fell in a double portion on Friday to be available for Shabbos. From this we learn that no extra effort is needed to pay for Shabbos expenses. The Gemara says that the expense of Shabbos food is taken care of indirectly by Hashem.
Each Shabbos, Hashem brings us back to the purified state of Adam before his sin, and klal Yisrael when they received the Torah. Let us take advantage of the opportunities Hashem gives to us on Shabbos. In the time we don’t need to work, let us savor Shabbos by making an extra effort to study the words of Torah—which we will not easily forget.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
