An Addition for Life

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.

When the doctor told him that his days were numbered, his heart missed a beat. And yes, his heart had told him that his situation was critical. His severe illness had put him out of commission, and his strength had left him. He well understood that his situation was grave, so the doctor’s announcement did not surprise him.  

And yet, to hear from an official authority that he was dying – shocked him deeply and broke his heart. The minute the doctor left the room, he asked to be left alone and began to pray brokenheartedly to Hashem, pouring his heart out. 

The patient was the Ridvaz, known as the Rabbi of Slutzk, one of the more special luminaries of more than one hundred years ago. He headed a yeshiva and wrote very important books. At the end of his days, he lived in Tzfat and established a yeshiva there. 

His pain was not only his own personal pain about his life ending so early; he felt pain for his great endeavors that would be left without anyone to manage them.  

In those days he was at the height of his life’s project: a commentary on the Talmud Yerushalmi, which until then had been like a sealed book. He dreamed of making it accessible to the public – and toiled away at his commentary. If he were to leave the world before the book was printed, the Yerushalmi would remain unexplained. 

In addition to that, the Ridvaz, like all Jewish leaders, was like a father to the poor and the destitute. He organized extensive chessed (lovingkindness) projects in his town for the benefit of widows and orphans, who after his death would remain without any support. 

He prayed for a long time, crying bitterly and pleading and begging for mercy, until the little strength that he had was gone, and he fell asleep. He dreamed he was standing before the Heavenly Court and was told that he had died. 

The Claim That Saved Him 

The Ridvaz cried and asked the Heavenly Court: What will be with the Yerushalmi? And he begged that he be allowed to stay in this world to complete his commentary on it. The court was not impressed with this request, and they said to him: “Don’t be worried about this, because another scholar in this generation will write a commentary that will make the Yerushalmi understandable to Torah learners.”  

The Ridvaz didn’t give up and persisted: “And what about all those widows and orphans and other unfortunates who depend on me? Leave me in this world for them.” The judges rejected this claim as well and said to him: “Don’t be afraid, because after you die, two wealthy ba’alei chessed in the community will take over the management of the tzedakah fund and will care for all the needs of the poor devotedly and generously.” 

And then the Ridvaz said: “I want you to know, Rabbotai (my teachers), that in my house, already on Thursday evening, the house is in order and ready to welcome in Shabbat – the tablecloth is spread and the table is set! And early on Friday, my family and I sit ready and yearning to welcome the Shabbat, and we start observing it as early as possible, long before one has to halachically.” 

This claim was accepted immediately, and the Heavenly Court ruled that he should continue to live for many more years.  

There is another version of the story, heard from the granddaughter of the wife of Rabbi Avramsky, that the Ridvaz wanted to take upon himself a good deed, and in its merit he would live a long life, and they said to him in Heaven that he should take upon himself to be ready for Shabbat on Friday morning already, and he indeed took upon himself to do that and recovered from his illness.  

The very next day, when the Ridbaz woke up, there was a significant improvement in his condition, and within a few days he recovered completely. His family described it as a true Techiyat Hameitim (revival of the dead). Needless to say, from that Shabbat onward, the Shabbat table was ready on Thursday night already, so that on Friday morning the house was all ready for Shabbat. 

Shabbat Gives Life 

From this story we can learn that accepting Shabbat early and going into Shabbat in a calm and composed state, looking forward to it, and not being ready only at the last minute, flustered and exhausted – is a segula (auspicious act) for being healed and living a long life! 

Rabbeinu Hakadosh says in his Sefer Hamiddot: “Torah and maaser (tithing) and Shabbat give one earthly life as well.”¹ In other words, Chazal tell us regarding all mitzvot that “There is no reward for  mitzvot in this world”.² In this world one doesn’t see the reward for one’s mitzvot; but Shabbat influences our life in this world as well, as the Pri Megadim, who was one of the most important poskim (halachic rulers) and commentators on the Shulchan Aruch, writes: “Whoever adds some time from the profane [days] to the holy [day], receives more life.”³ 

And as we know that the maaser gives a person blessing and wealth in this world already, as the prophet promises explicitly: “Bring the entire tithe to the treasury and it will be food for My house, and put Me to the test, please, in this, says Hashem the Lord of Hosts. See if I do not open up the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out blessings for you endlessly.”⁴  So too is Shabbat, from which a person’s material blessing comes and flows. “Because it [Shabbat] is the source of blessing”.⁵ 

Shabbat is the Root of the Torah 

In our parasha [Beshalach] we learn about the man, a heavenly blessing that came down to the Jewish people and taught them a big lesson in trusting Hashem. This is such an important lesson; only the reciting of the Parashat Haman (the paragraphs in the Torah which tell of it)⁶ is mesugal (an auspicious act) to ensure one’s livelihood, and we have a mitzvah to remember the miracle of the man appearing every day, and Moshe was commanded to keep some man in a jar in the Kodesh Hakodeshim (Holy of Holies) forever! 

The man came down to the Jewish people without any exertion on their part. But there were two mitzvot connected to it: Not to leave any leftovers of it and not to go out and look for it on Shabbat. There is much discussion about Shabbat in the section of the Torah that deals with the man, and it is central and dealt with extensively, encompassing many psukim. 

When a few of the people transgressed the first mitzvah and left over some man – Moshe was angry but Hashem was not. But when they transgressed the second mitzvah and went out to pick some man on Shabbat, Hashem was the One Who was angry: “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and laws?”⁷  Hashem gave them the man to “test them whether they will follow My law or not”⁸ – and here they were not keeping these mitzvot; from this it can be inferred that the main test of the man was mainly on Shabbat. 

This is very interesting: Even before the Jewish People received the Torah, they received the Shabbat. Almost the only Torah that they had at that time was the Shabbat, which they already received in Mara and now, in Parshat Haman, because Shabbat is the root of the entire Torah. For “one does not live by bread alone, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of Hashem”⁹– which is the Torah, and Shabbat, which is the root of the Torah. 

Every Shabbat – Doubled 

When speaking about Shabbat, one speaks not only about not doing melachah (work) on Shabbat, but also about honoring the Shabbat. And the main way to honor Shabbat is to welcome it like one welcomes a queen – in a calm and composed state, with much preparations beforehand, as was ruled by the Rambam: “What is honor? That is what Chachamim said – that it is a mitzvah to wash one’s face, hands, and feet in hot water before Shabbat, because of [the importance of] honoring Shabbat. And one enwraps oneself in tzitzit and sits solemnly and yearns to welcome the Shabbat, just like he is going out to greet the king!”¹⁰ 

That is the honor of Shabbat – when one is ready early and sits solemnly and yearns for the Shabbat! And he who honors Shabbat, Shabbat honors him, “I shall honor those who honor Me.”¹¹ 

This is true for great talmidei chachamim as well, and all the more so is it necessary for Ba’alei Teshuva, who failed to keep many Shabbatot due to lack of knowledge, and now they want to repair the damage and fill in what they failed to do. Welcoming in Shabbat early – known as tosefet Shabbat – is a very great rectification, as one of the disciples of the Ari Hakadosh wrote, that welcoming Shabbat and adding to it is considered like keeping two Shabbatot, and about this it is written that if Yisrael will observe two Shabbatot – meaning that they will keep Shabbat and add to it – they will be redeemed immediately. 

So one does teshuva out of love for all past Shabbat desecrations, and the intentional transgressions become virtues, but how can we make up all those precious Shabbatot that we have missed? And for that reason one must make a big effort and do everything possible to organize things ahead of time and get the timing right. The house needs to be clean and ready long before Shabbat comes, for this is a very great segula for all salvations, as we brought in the booklet, The Source of Salvation. One finds time after time more and more wonderful sources about this from tzaddikim of earlier times and later times, and it is a great mitzvah to publicize this segula. 

My recommendation regarding every problem is to be more particular about tosefet Shabbat. And may we merit the light of Shabbat and the light of tosefet Shabbat and all salvations. 

Editor’s Notes: 

¹ Sefer HaMiddot, Part Two, topic “Limud”, letter “B”

² Tractate Kiddushin, 39b 

³ Pri Megadim by Rabbi Yosef Te’omim, section Orach Chaim in his commentary “Eshel Avraham” at the end of siman 256 

⁴ Malachi 3:10 

⁵ A line in the piyyut “Lecha Dodi” by Rabbi Shlomo Elkabetz in 16th century 

⁶ Shemot (Exodus) 16:4-36 

⁷ Shemot 16:28 

⁸ Shemot 16:4 

⁹ Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8: 3 

¹⁰ Mishnah Torah, Section Shabbat, Chapter 30, Halachah 2 

¹¹ Shmuel (Samuel) I, 2:30