Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk

The famous holy Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, the נועם אלימלך, was renowned for his piety. It is related that on Friday afternoon, the non Jewish workers in his household begged forgiveness from one another if they had fallen out and virtually did teshuva. Furthermore, they were not able to physically carry out any מלאכות of the 39 מלאכות which are ossur on Shabbos. So great was the keddusha in the household.

Based on the understanding that I have projected, namely that Shabbos Beraishis remained in the original pristine condition of holiness and that this continues to have a direct effect on every Shabbos that is kept by Yidden since Matan Torah which was also given on Shabbos, on the basis of the Yidden keeping it properly, we could perhaps understand the events that took place in the household of the נועם אלימלך.

He achieved such a high level of tzidkus that not only did he reach the level of a tzaddik who is on the level, the מדרגה of Shabbos all week but this atmosphere spread to his whole household. This had the effect precisely at the time of Mincha Erev Shabbos where it is a time of hagboras hadinim normally, that is, a surge of strict judgements in the world. In order to counteract that, people working for him had to ask forgiveness from one another and do teshuva, as Odom Harishon did. In addition, the holiness of the time of Shabbos spread backwards into Friday afternoon.

Not for nothing, was Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk known as the Rebbe of all the Rebbes of Poland, Galicia, etc. who followed in the path of the Ball Shem-Tov and his successor, Reb Dov Ber of Mezeritch of whom the נועם אלימלך was one of greatest talmidim.

זכותם יגן עלינו ועל כל ישראל אמן

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ברשות מרנן ורבנן ורבותי

Based on Dvrei Torah given at dinner in honour of 30th Anniversary of the Yeshivas Lev Simcha Gur, London

The Gemora in Shabbos פ'ו says
דכולי עלמא בשבת ניתנה תורה,

All agree that the Torah was given on Shabbos.

The Gemora carries on for one and a half blatt to try to reconcile all the dates but is insistent that the Torah must have been given on Shabbos. I wonder why this is so important?

I would like to suggest the following:-

If we go back to מעשה בראשית Hashem created the world and obviously it was a perfect world. The high point was on the sixth day when Hashem created Odom Harishon, בצלמו, בצלם האלקים ברא אותו.

The Gemora in Sanhedrin ל'ח tells us that each hour of the sixth day of מעשה בראשית Hashem created Odom Harishon and then various things happened.

At six o’clock in the morning הוצבר עפרה, the earth utilised to create Odom Harishon was gathered together from the four corners of the world. An hour later, נעשה גולם it was made into a shape. By the fourth hour, נזרקה בו נשמה, a soul had been added to the body. In the fifth hour, העמידו על רגליו Odom Harishon was able to stand on his two feet. The Gemora carries on stating what happened each hour of the day. During the ninth hour, that is 2pm to 3pm in the afternoon, נצטווה, Odom Harishon was commanded not to eat from the עץ הדעת. In the tenth hour, סרח, he disobeyed this commandment and ate. In the eleventh hour he was judged and then finally he was exiled from Gan Eden in the twelfth hour, after 5pm. Before Shabbos came in, Odom Harishon did Teshuva and this was accepted by Hashem just before Shabbos commenced.

If we think about the whole situation, when Odom Harishon ate the עץ הדעת he spoiled all the creation up to that date but as he did teshuva a few hours later, this stopped the problem from continuing.

Accordingly, the Shabbos of מעשה בראשית was not spoiled, it was perfect, not נתקלקל, notנפגם .

The mekubolim tell us that the next time that there was עולם התקון was at the time of Matan Torah. At that time the Bnei Yisroel camped around Mount Sinai כאיש אחד בלב אחד, in complete harmony.

Based on what I have said regarding Shabbos Beraishis, we can begin to understand why it was so important that the Torah should be given specifically on Shabbos which had not been נפגם.

With this we can also explain something else which appears difficult to understand. The Zohar, which some people say before Mincha on Shabbos, states that when the zman of mincha comes דינים קשין מתערין בעולם, it is a time of הגברות הדינים. A surge of strict judgements in the world.

However, the Zohar continues that on Shabbos the time of mincha is רעוא דרעוין, the time of the greatest goodwill and holiness, rotzon, the opposite of דינים.

I think that one can understand this concept with that which I have just suggested. Namely, that because theחטא of Odom Harishon took place in the middle of Friday afternoon, therefore, that is a time of הגברות הדינים each week at Mincha time. In the same way as that caused a קילקול right back to the first day of מעשה בראשית, therefore the דינים are מתגבר every weekday accordingly. However, as Shabbos was not affected, therefore, the opposite is true. The longer Shabbos continues the greater the kedusha and therefore, the time of mincha is the time of the greatest rotzon, the opposite of דינים.

With this, we can also understand why the same Zohar quotes Reb Shimon ben Yochai as saying that the three guests we invite for each of the three סעודות is in the order of Yitzchok, Friday night, Avrohom Shabbos morning and Yaakov at Shalos seudos.

One can understand that Avrohom should be the primary guest on Shabbos morning, because Avrohom תיקן תפילת שחרית, enacted morning prayers. Why should not Yitzchok be invited at the time of mincha? After all, ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה לפנות ערב, he went out to daven in the afternoon. It was in fact the koach of Yitzchok, who had מידת גבורה, which enabled him to fight against the דינים, דינים קשין מתערין בעולם. Why do we invite Yitzchok on Friday night and why is it that Yaakov, who was מתקן מעריב, should be the main guest for Shalos seudos?

I think we can understand it with another maamer chazal, namely שופריה של יעקב מאין שופריה דאדם הראשון, the beauty of Yaakov was similar to that of Odom Harishon. This means that he had reached a spiritual level comparable with Odom Harishon קודם החטא. Therefore, it is only fitting that he should be the special guest at the time of the utmost kedusha on Shabbos, the day that was not spoiled.

I had the honour and pleasure to make a siyum on mesechtas Eruvin Yerushalmi at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Yeshivas Lev Simcha Gur, London.

The last mishna of Eruvin commences as follows:-
שרץ שנמצא במקדש כהן מוציאו בהמיינו שלא לשהות את הטומאה דברי ר' יוחנן בן ברוקה, ר' יהודה אומר בצבת של עץ שלא להרבות את הטומאה

To explain. If something which is tomei is found in the holiest part of the Bais Hamikdosh it must be removed as quickly as possible. The mishna discusses a case where a שרץ, a dead, טמא, namely unclean, creature was found on Shabbos. The problem on Shabbos is that the Bais Hamikdosh was considered a רשות היחיד, a private domain. Whereas Yerushalayim had the status of a כרמלית (that is neither a private nor a public domain, something in between). Nevertheless, the Rabbis enacted a decree that one may not carry from a רשות היחיד to a כרמלית (or for that matter from a כרמלית to a רשות הרבים, a public domain either) or vice versa.

However, because we have a general rule אין שבות במקדש, namely that such Rabbinical decrees do not apply in the Bais Hamikdosh, a Kohen may take out the offending creature, the dead שרץ.

The first tanna says that this has to be done as quickly as possible and the Kohen may use his sash, gartel, to pick up the creature without actually touching it with his hands, and so transport the שרץ out of the holy enclosure. The sash becomes טמא but not the Kohen. R’ Yehuda disagrees and says a wooden tongs must be used because that instrument would not attract tumah to itself. Even though this may take longer until a tongs is discovered and utilised, nevertheless this is the way forward according to Rabbi Yehuda.

The expression used by R’ Yehuda is צבת של עץ a tongs made of wood.

The mishnah then continues with the exact definition of where this extremely holy part of the Bais Hamikdosh is and where, if somebody would deliberately bring tumah into it, that would attract the punishment of כרת, early death or having no offspring etc, virtually equivalent to excommunication. In any event, the most holy parts of the Bais Hamikdosh, the haichol and as far out as the מזבח, the altar, are included and according to Rabbi Akiva, up to and including the Ezras Yisroel.

However, when taking out this שרץ not only had it to be removed from that part of the Bais Hamikdosh, but is also had to be taken out of the whole of the הר הבית, the Temple Mount, because that was also part of the Bais Hamikdosh. Even though the law of כרת did not apply, there was still a prohibition to allowing tumah in that area.

If a שרץ was discovered in the הר הבית (not the holiest area) on Shabbos, a receptacle had to be used to cover it over for the rest of Shabbos and it was then to be removed as quickly as possible afterwards.

The Gemora right at the end of the mesechta poses a question as follows.

The Kohen is proceeding out of the holiest section with the dead שרץ and is in the less holy section of the הר הבית when he spies a second dead שרץ. Is he allowed to pick this one up as well and continue on his way out of the הר הבית?. This will be on the basis of the שבות of טילטול, the Rabbinical decree against carrying, already having been overridden in the Bais Hamikdosh and, therefore, it would follow that it is possible that it should here again be overridden by the same Kohen just picking up the other שרץ, or may he not do so?

If he may not, the שרץ on the less holy section of the Har Habayis has to be covered over and only carried out after Shabbos.

The Gemora, then, seemingly at random, quotes a Tosefta as follows:-

הוא היה אומר, צבת בצבת עבד, צבתא קדמייתא מה הוות, ביריה הוות

The tongs, so Rabbi Yehoshua in the Tosefta states, were made from a previous set of tongs and so go backwards until, as he says, the original, was one that was made by Hashem, Himself. This is in accordance with a mishnah in Pirkei Ovos that just before Shabbos came in at the end of the sixth day of Maasei Bereishis, Hashem created 10 different objects “And some people say that the tongs were also created”.

The final words of the whole mesechta are that ר' חנינא asked ר' מנא. What do you say about the particular law? His retort was “in the same way as from one tongs came other tongs, משביתה אחת למדו כמה שביתות from one שבות, decree of the Rabbis, come other ones.” The commentators explain that this means that the Kohen would be allowed to pick up the second שרץ because he already was doing exactly the same, namely disregarding the שבות of טילטול, of carrying in respect of the first שרץ. With that the mesechta finishes.

I have difficulty with this line of reasoning. What has the creation of a tongs from another tongs got to do with allowing a shevus because the same shevus was allowed in different circumstances.

May I suggest that there is also a remez, a hint in the final words of the mesechta to the whole subject of שבת בראשית discussed above.

What is Mesachtas Eruvin about?

Yidden living in separate houses, all in one courtyard are allowed to make an עירוב חצירות to enable them to act as one person, כאיש אחד בלב אחד, in complete harmony and may carry therein on Shabbos. This echoes the time when the Bnei Yisroel arrived at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah on שבת, כאיש אחד בלב אחד.

I suggest that the שביתה referred to in the final words of the mesechta refers also to the resting of the first Shabbos, Shabbos Beraishis וישבות ביום השביעי. The holiness of that shevisa can create a similar holiness on later Shabbosos משביתה אחת למדו כמה שביתות, as long as Yidden keep the Shabbosos as they should. It is also an echo of the Torah having been given on Shabbos (another שביתה) דכולי עלמא בשבת ניתנה תורה.

It is revealing that the comparison is made to the tongs which were created just before Shabbos Beraishis after Odom Harishon had done teshuva. Furthermore, the removal of the dead שרץ from the Bais Hamikdosh, the holiest place on earth, echoes the holiness of Shabbos in time. In the same way as Shabbos Beraishis was not נפגם, so the קדושה of the Bais Hamikdosh was not allowed to be נפגם.

The Bais Hamikdosh was comparable to Eruvin. In it, all Yidden became as one כאיש אחד בלב אחד, לאבינו שבשמים.

Turning to another part of the Zohar, that is read by some people on Friday night and in certain siddurim is printed with the zemiros on Friday night. The Zohar questions the use of the words ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי, that Hashem blessed the seventh day. The Zohar’s question is, if the מן, the manna, did not come down on Shabbos during the 40 years the Jews were in the wilderness, what was the brocho? The Zohar answers that all the brochos that come during the whole week are dependent on Shabbos.

I believe that this can also be explained with the principles I have outlined above. Originally, each day of the six days of creation would have produced its own brochos, week in, week out for later generations, based on the particular things created on that day. However, due to the fact that Odom Harishon, who was supposed to orchestrate the perfect creation, spoiled it by eating the עץ הדעת, he therefore, caused a problem קילקול, going backwards over the whole six days. This caused a מחיצה, an obstruction, which stops the שפע descending to our mundane world.

However, because Shabbos is in its original pristine condition, and was not affected, all the השפעות, the abundance of holiness and goodness, therefore come down as a brocho on the seventh day, that is Shabbos and especially at the time of Mincha on Shabbos, a time of special goodwill and holiness.

We can see how important it is that we, not only, are careful about not doing any מלאכות, forbidden works, on Shabbos but also that we positively uplift the Shabbos with our tefilos, zemiros and learning without any mundane matters, דברי חול intruding.

Five hundred years ago the mekubolim of Tzfas led by the ארי ז''ל, Rabbi Moshe Cordevero and Rabbi Moshe Alshich instituted the reciting of לכו נרננה as an introduction to Shabbos. Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz composed לכה דודי which is now sung by Yidden worldwide, this is all said and sung at the time that Odom Harishon did teshuva immediately before Shabbos and it was accepted. It is an ideal time for us all to do teshuva reflecting on the previous week and praising Hashem for giving us Shabbos in a pristine condition.

The higher the level of our Shabbos the more rotzon, goodwill, we can bring down from the higher spheres.

We are told that tzaddikim have the בחינה of Shabbos all week, therefore they are able to bring down the abundance of goodness with their tefilos including parnoso, refuas and yeshuas.

We are also told that Shabbos is מאין עולם הבא, comparable to the world to come. We begin to understand that in the same way as Shabbos is completely holy and has always been so, this is what we have to look forward to, we hope in the not too distant future.

במהרה בימינו אמן

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