Recently the JCC stated its recommendation to the Board of the
Associated Jewish Charities of Greater Baltimore: that they indeed
open at that time.
In response, the (Orthodox) Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore,
the Vaad HaRabonim, hastily called for a rally in support of
Baltimore's current policy, which is to close all Jewish communal
buildings on the Sabbath. Despite the short notice, over 3500 people
attended according to news media estimates, with an overflow crowd
watching on video screens in rooms adjacent to the main auditorium.
Why is the Shabbos so special? Why would Orthodox Jews care if others
wanted to open the JCC on the Sabbath?
We are pleased to offer you this special edition of "RavFrand" - the
opportunity to read an edited version of Rabbi Frand's address. You
may also see and hear Rabbi Frand, as well as the Rosh HaYeshiva,
Rabbi Yaakov S. Weinberg at http://www.torah.org/shabbos/.
We realize that some may not understand his position, or even regard
it as "evangelism for Shabbos". But there is an underlying message of
care, concern, and willingness to share, which we feel is too
important not to be offered.
And in conjunction with this message, anyone who would like the
opportunity to experience Shabbos in an observant community is invited
to send e-mail to rabbi@torah.org.
There is a famous story about the Chofetz Chaim. Actually, it is a
story about a Rabbi who came to Maimi Beach, Florida, on the Chofetz
Chaim's Yahrtzeit, to say divrei [words of] Torah from, and stories
about, the Chofetz Chaim. The Rabbi was hesitant whether to offer one
of the stories, since he did not really know how it ended.
Nevertheless, he decided to tell the story.
This story was about a young man who was a student in the Chofetz
Chaim's Yeshiva [Rabbinic School] in Radin. The young man was caught
smoking on Shabbos. The other students reported the incident to the
staff of the Yeshiva, and they decided to expel the student.
When the Chofetz Chaim learned what had happened, he asked to see the
student before he was expelled. The student came in to the Chofetz
Chaim, only to emerge after a short while - not only to remain in the
yeshiva, but to remain a shomer shabbos, a Sabbath observant Jew, for
the rest of his life.
The Rabbi stopped the story at that point, since that was all he knew.
The Rabbi lamented, if only he knew what the Chofetz Chaim told the
student about Shabbos. If only he knew, then we would know how the
Chofetz Chaim convinced that boy to remain a Shomer Shabbos, and we
could do the same.
The Rabbi finished his talk, and the lecture hall emptied out, leaving
no one - except for one old man who remained in his seat. He was
crying - literally shaking from crying. The Rabbi went over to the man
and asked what was bothering him. The man asked the Rabbi, "How do you
know that story?" The Rabbi replied that he had heard it from others,
that was all. The old man continued, "I have something to tell you. I
was that bachor [student]. This is a story that goes back many many
years, and I was that bachor."
So the Rabbi asked his burning question: "What did the Chofetz Chaim
tell you, that made you into a Shomer Shabbos?" The old man responded,
remembering the incident as if it had happened the day before.
He walked into the Chafetz Chaim's house, which was sparsely
furnished; the great scholar lived in what many people would consider
abject poverty. He remembered that the Chafetz Chaim was very short,
barely coming up to his shoulders, and was a very old man at that
time. "The Chafetz Chaim took my hand in his hand, and he closed his
eyes; when he opened his eyes again, the Chafetz Chaim was crying."
The man said that he remembered, until that very day, the hot tears
falling on his hand. The Chafetz Chaim said three words, "Shabbos,
Heiligah Shabbos [Shabbos, holy Shabbos]." That was all he said. But
from then on, the student remained a shomer shabbos.
What has happened in the almost seventy years since that story? Why
can't we do that anymore? Why can't we merely take someone by the hand
and say "Shabbos, Heiligah Shabbos - Shabbos, holy Shabbos" and have
that suffice?
There are perhaps two reasons why we cannot do that anymore. Number
one: We do not have Chofetz Chaims anymore. We do not have many people
who will literally cry over another person's chillul Shabbos [Sabbath
desecration]. But secondly, we don't have people anymore who know what
those three words really mean. Who knows what it really means,
"Shabbos, Heiligah Shabbos?" We do not have people anymore, who at the
mere mention of the word Shabbos will have enough of an appreciation
of it to instantly become Shomrei Shabbos and change their entire
lives.
That student, in the story with the Chofetz Chaim, knew what Shabbos
is. That student knew that Shabbos is not just another Mitzvah. That
student knew that Shabbos is central to the existence of a Jew. That
student knew, as the Rosh Yeshiva pointed out earlier, that Shabbos is
one of the very few Mitzvos in the Torah that is referred to as an
Ose, a sign, a symbol, an emblem. And moreover, it is not just merely
a sign. It is a special kind of sign. "Ose hi bayni uvaynaychem." It
is the special sign that signifies the special relationship between
the Ribono Shel Olam and his people - between G-d and his nation. It
is a sign for all to see the special bond that we have with the Ribono
Shel Olam.
Perhaps that student heard the Chofetz Chaim himself use the following
parable to explain this special bond of "Ohs he bani uvenaychem." The
Chofetz Chaim once explained the Talmud in Maseches [Tractate]
Shabbos, where the Talmud says "matanah tovah he yesh li bebais
ginazi." G-d declares, "I have this special gift in my treasure
house," "V'ani mivakesh letnah l'yisroel," "I want to give this
special gift to Israel," to my people.
The Chofetz Chaim explained that that gift, that matanah tovah, is
like a ring - a ring that a husband gives a wife to symbolize their
special relationship, their love, their devotion. That is the "ose
bayni oveynaychem," that is our wedding band that the Ribono Shel
Olam, G-d, has given us.
Sometimes husbands and wives have arguments and fights, and things are
not perfect, but the wife never removes that ring as long as they
remain married. No matter what happens, she wears that ring. But if
the marriage is over, G-d forbid, then the wife removes it. And that,
the Chofetz Chaim said, is what Shabbos is. Shabbos is the ring. And
when Shmiras [observance of] Shabbos ceases, the ring has been
removed. The relationship, G-d forbid, is over.
That student understood this. Maybe he had heard it from the Chofetz
Chaim himself, and all the Chofetz Chaim had to do was say "Shabbos,
Heiligah Shabbos" and it changed his life. But, B'avonosanu harabim
[because of our many sins], today that is not the case.
Acheinu Bnei Yisrael, our own brothers and sisters, have no idea that
Shabbos is the ring. Nor do they even begin to realize that breaking
the Shabbos means anything about taking off the ring. And what is so
sad, is that in their minds, playing tennis together on Shabbos, or
working out together as a family on Shabbos, with the wife on the
treadmill and the husband on the Stairmaster - that is Shabbos.
And that is pathetic. That is our "nebach" [pitiful situation] - that
they have no idea about a ring and a relationship, and what a Shabbos
is and what a Shabbos could be: a family Shabbos. That is the
nebach. That is the tragedy.
And there is something else that is very sad. Because not only do we
look back to those seventy years when that story happened with the
Chofetz Chaim, and realize how far we have drifted as a people, but
all we have to do is look back twenty years to see what has happened
to us as a community.
Many of us here were at a similar gathering in the winter of 1979, a
few blocks down the street, when we came together the last time this
issue came up. We came together as a community, to voice our concern
that a communal institution would adopt a policy that runs counter to
the deeply held beliefs of such a significant part of this community.
And they listened. They listened to us, because they did not want
to offend us, because they realize that keeping the community together
and bishalom [in peace] means too much. And what is so, so, so sad, is
that now, apparently, that has changed as well.
So what must we do? Besides coming here, what must we, as a Tzibor -
as a community, do? We cannot let this moment pass. We cannot let the
inspiration of this beautiful gathering dissipate. We are all here for
Shabbos. We must use this occasion as a chizuk [source of
strengthening] for our Shmiras Shabbos. Yes, in our Shabbos
observance. Because Shabbos is such an important Mitzvah, so vast and
so complex that it always can stand chizuk and improvement, both in
the shamor [the Commandmant to avoid violation of the negative
precepts] of our Shabbos and in the zachor [the Commandment to observe
the positive precepts] of our Shabbos. Let us all accept upon
ourselves - each and every one of us - to be especially careful in one
area of the laws of Shabbos, beyond what we have been keeping until
now.
And what better time than now? So many people are learning Daf Yomi
[studying the Talmud on a one-folio-per-day schedule]. We are in the
midst of Tractate Shabbos. "V'hashone halachos muvtoch lo she hu ben
olam haba [And one who learns Jewish Law can be assured that he will
merit the World to Come]" - and we are learning about the halachos of
Shabbos. Now is the time. Everyone's Shabbos can stand improvement.
There are times when we rely on a second, lenient opinion in the
Shulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law]. Everyone should be mekabel,
should accept upon themselves, one thing in shmiras Shabbos, in
zehirus of [caution about] Shabbos. Don't let the moment pass. Don't
let the inspiration go... in the shamor of Shabbos... and in the
zachor of Shabbos. Because we, who are shomeri Shabbos and take
Shabbos for granted, sometimes forget what a matanah tova, what a
precious gift we have.
There is a program called "Let's Turn Friday Night Into Shabbos," [run
by the National Jewish Outreach Program, www.njop.org] for people who
are not yet Shomrei Shabbos, who don't observe the Shabbos. Someone
once pointed out that shomrei Shabbos sometimes need a program called
"Let's Turn Shabbos into Shabbos" - to make our Shabbos more
"Shabbosdik," our Shabbos tables more meaningful. We must have more
zmiros [Sabbath songs] and less sports, more talking with our children
and less sleeping.
There are events that happen in the world that affect us as Jews, that
affect our community. How is a child supposed to learn how to react to
news, how to understand what's happening around us? We need to give
them a chinuch [an education] in that! If they need a chinuh in how to
shake a luluv, and how to bentch [say Grace After Meals], they also
need a chinuch concerning how we react as Jews. When do you sit down
with your children and do that? Shabbos. The Shabbos table. The
Shabbos table is not only for the weekly parsha and the divrei Torah;
it is for learning what it means to be a Jew, understanding what is
happening in Eretz Yisroel [Israel], and in the world around us.
What does this mean? Our Shabbos table has to be more "Shabbosdik."
Shabbos is more than just a time to catch up on our sleep and to renew
ourselves physically - it is a day to renew ourselves spiritually as
well.
But there is something else that we can do besides the zihirus
[carefulness] in Shabbos and the shamor of Shabbos and the zachor of
Shabbos. We must extend an invitation to acheinu bnei yisroel - to our
Jewish brothers and sisters - to experience our Shabbos. Because they
may know what swimming is about and they may know what racquetball is
and they may know what volleyball is, but they don't know what our
Shabbos is. And this is more than just a mere rhetorical invitation.
You work out in the world, you work out in the community in the
offices, in the associations, in the buildings. You see Jews all the
time who are not shomrei Shabbos, that don't have a clue what Shabbos
can be. Invite them for one Shabbos. Let them experience twenty-five
hours of Shabbos, and they will never be the same.
A non-observant Jew in the diamond business went to a show for dealers
in Los Vegas, Nevada. The show was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. At
a convention of diamond dealers you can expect to find a lot of
Shomrei Shabbos. This man noticed that on Friday afternoon, all the
observant Jews packed up their stuff, left the convention hall, and
went to a different hotel so they could observe Shabbos.
So he approached one of the Shomrei Shabbos Jews and asked, "I don't
understand you guys. You are here for three days, you pay a lot of
money to be here, the convention isn't even half over, and you are
walking away from it?"
The Shabbos-observant Jew responded, "Shabbos is Shabbos!"
The non-observant Jew thought to himself, "If these guys are leaving
the convention a day and a half early, after all the money they paid
and all the money they could make, I must see for myself what these
guys are into."
So he packed up his own stuff, went with them to the hotel, and spent
his first heiligah [Holy] Shabbos in Las Vegas, Nevada. And he did so,
only to remain a shomer Shabbos yid ad hayom hazeh [Sabbath observant
Jew "until this very day"].
Invite them. For the price of a chicken you can inspire someone to
appreciate Shabbos - to become a shomer Shabbos. Give them twenty-five
hours and you'll give them a new world.
And finally, one last point. One last point, and hear this well.
Why are we here? Why are 3000 people gathered here, in a high school
auditorium, on a Sunday morning?
We are here, because we care about you! Do you hear that? We care
about all of you! Don't believe what you read, and what you hear.
Don't let them tell you that we don't believe you are Jews. We hold
you to be Jews, and we care about you. We're not here for our
Shabbos, we're here for your Shabbos. Because if we didn't care
about you, then why on earth would we be here?!
We are delighted to add that the board of the Associated Jewish
Charities of Baltimore voted Tuesday to keep the current policy - the
JCC will remain closed on Shabbos. This was in good part an effort to
maintain the extraordinary level of Jewish unity in Baltimore, and at
least in part a response to the same concerns as those expressed at
the rally.
Once again, anyone who would like the opportunity to experience
Shabbos in an observant community is invited to send e-mail to
rabbi@torah.org.
Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
