All Together Now

Tonight we are going to say in Kabbalas Shabbos “Shamor Vzachor Bdibbur Echad.” When G-d commanded us regarding Shabbos, He told us to remember it and keep it at the same time. Now that’s pretty damn hard to do right? I have heard some cool Tibetan monks sing 2 tones at the same time, but to say 2 words at the same time is quite impossible. We obviously have to ask why G-d did this.

So lets look at these 2 words. Shamor means to guard or keep Shabbos and is explained by our holy Rabbis as the obligation to refrain from working (doing Melacha) on Shabbos. Zachor means to remember Shabbos and is a positive commandment, obligating us to remember Shabbos during the week and commanding us to say Kiddush on Shabbos itself.

Now lets get Kabbalisic. According to Kabbalah, Shamor represents the quality (sefirah) of Gevura or withholding. The only way to teach your child to ride a bicycle is by letting go of the bike and allowing him to ride it himself. Sometimes we have a burning desire to do an aveira, and yet we hold ourselves back, sacrificing ourselves to G-d. Gevura means the strength to say no. The opposite of that quality is Zachor or the strength to say yes (chesed). Yes I am going to help this person with his problems and yes I am going to actively serve G-d and do his Mitzvos. We “see” G-d acting with chesed when a great blessing from heaven is bestowed upon us and perceive His Gevura when we are “punished” for our sins. We constantly live our lives going back and forth between these two characteristics and the truth is that it’s so hard to know when to yes and when to say no. This dialectical construct is even found in nature itself, there is day and night, men and women, Yin and Yang, republican and democrat, westerner and easterner, Chasid and Misnagid and the list really goes on forever. Life is so confusing because we see the world as a rolled up ball of Machloket.

Hashem is so great to us. He tells us that Shabbos gives us a chance to realize that that Shamor and Zachor are really 1 and not 2 distinct conflicting worlds. Shabbos comes from a place that existed before there were these differences between people. Chevra, in the higher worlds the Jewish people exist as one unit called Knesset Yisrael. It happens to be that in this lower world we come down as separate physical beings, but on that spiritual plain we are one. If we look with Shabbos eyes we could see that we are all one. Do you remember when you were a child playing with your friend before he/she disappointed you and then went on separate paths? Do you remember when you could talk to G-d so simply before you did that aveira. The Torah calls the Garden of Eden “Gan Eden Mikedem.” The word Mikedem means the east but it also means from before. Before there was 2 there was just this simple place of oneness. Shabbos is Mein Olam Haba, a taste of that world which is the deeper reality. G-d tells us that Shabbos is our chance to see G-d not as Hashem the merciful or as Hashem the strong one but just as Hashem who is one with his people that are one and with a world that is working for one purpose. This why it’s so important to get together with friends and family on Shabbos (Shkoyach to Roz) because it allows us to see and experience each other in a much deeper way.

A few weeks ago the Times published an article stating that people are lonelier now than ever before. It’s hard to believe that with cell phones, AIM and Facebook people still feel lonely. The article didn’t say it but in my perception, it seems that so many more are depressed and have given up hope in themselves, in G-d and in life. We need to fight this darkness with all our strength with simple Simcha. I want to thank Roz for always bringing together Jews and even more so for Shabboses like this one in the Hamptons for no other reason except for us to be together and be Bsimcha. Thank you Roz for bringing more light to the world because when Jews come together, there is more revelation of G-d and when Jews are together on Shabbos, that’s just one big explosion light.

Good Shabbos and lets deeply feel that oneness of Shamor vZachor