Creating a Multi-story Building

Vaad 12 – Creating a multistoried building

Introduction

As part of trying to find an entry into the world of Shabbos [1] I decided that I would not enter the kitchen during Seudas Shabbos. The reasoning behind this kabbolo was that if I am in the presence of the King on Shabbos – and to some extent while I am in His world, I am royalty, I should not be in the kitchen –  a king is never found wandering around in the royal kitchens. It turned out to be a very positive experience, a feeling that I was present in the world of the Borei Olam, and not that the Borei Olam had come to visit my world. 

Obviously for a father with small children this would be inappropriate. One cannot refuse to prepare a bottle for your child because of a kabbolo you have taken on. A kabbolo has to be appropriate for one’s family setup. But perhaps we can take this idea a bit further. 

קדשנו במצותיך

There is an interesting phrase in our davening on Shabbos. We request of the Borei Olam – קדשנו במצותיך. What is strange about this request, is that the Borei Olam has done it already. We say 100 brochos every day – and many of them have the words אשר קדשנו במצותיו. That means that the Borei Olam has already sanctified us with his mitzvos. So what is it that we are asking for on Shabbos?

The answer is that by doing the same mitzvos on Shabbos as we do on a daily basis, a new depth of kedusha can be revealed because it is Shabbos. Shabbos brings with it more pnimiyus. Even the most mundane actions like eating, express something much more meaningful on Shabbos, how much more so our mitzvos on Shabbos. On Shabbos we make a request, that a more profound aspect of kedusha should be revealed through our mitzvos – קדשנו במצותיך. 

The meaning of pnimiyus

One might have thought then when we say the word pnimiyus we are speaking of a reality which is completely divorced from the world we live in. But that is a mistake. Pnimiyus cannot exist without there being the same concept on a more superficial level –  a chitzoni level. Pnimiyus is concealed within the world of chitzonius. You cannot have one without the other. So when we experience pnimiyus we are actually living the external reality on a deeper level. That is why on Shabbos there are two Korbanos [2] – representing the external reality, and the deeper reality. 

Similarly, the Ramban writes that when we learn about Gan Eden – there is the simple understanding – the physical reality, and there is the deeper reality [3]. Thus Gan Eden is also a “double reality”. We live in a world where we must reveal pnimiyus by experiencing chitzonius. 

What is the meaning of a “Ben Aliya”?

On Shabbos we want to be Bnei Aliya. But what does this phrase actually mean? The word “Aliya” is the second level of a house as in the phrase בית ועליה. An Aliya is a place which is on another level to the rest of the house. It is certainly part of the house – but it is different. The ground floor of the house is open to all, but the Aliya is separate from the rest of the house. Bnei Aliya are people who live in the physical world, but it is clear that there is depth to all they do. They reveal meaning in the physical reality within which they live. They show us that there is something to look for under the surface. They manage to live among us on one level, whiles being separate from us on another level. 

Reb Aaron Leib was in America for the first time and was shown one of the tallest buildings in the world at the time – perhaps the Empire State building. So he commented that it’s actually a small building – it’s just a lot of small buildings one on top of the other. What we mean when we say that a person is really big – is that there is one level of looking at something, and then there is a deeper way of looking at the same thing. Not a repetition of exactly the same idea again and again, like the floors of the Empire State building. 

That means that many of the people that we would think that they are considered Bnei Aliya are really not Bnei Aliya at all. They never look to experience anything deeper than the superficial reality they live in. That is what Reb Shimon Bar Yochai meant when he said “ראיתי בני עלייה והן מועטין” [4] –there really are not many Bnei Aliya at all. 

On Shabbos we are all meant to be Bnei Aliya. We are meant to experience our world on a different level. The issur of doing Melochos on Shabbos is to ensure that we don’t experience the world of the Borei Olam, the world of Shabbos, on our terms. That is our avoda on Shabbos – to find a way to experience the world in which we live, on the Borei Olams terms. 

However, not doing melochos on Shabbos may not have the same effect on us as not going into the kitchen during the seuda. We are used to not doing melochos on Shabbos – so it may not affect us in the same way. We have no urge to switch on the light on a Friday night, but not going into the kitchen – one starts to pay more attention to what one is doing, and how one is experiencing Shabbos.  

What we have to understand is that often it is not enough for us to not do melochos on Shabbos. We have to realise that being a human being is to be active – to make a choice. A human being makes a difference to creation. And the reason why he makes a difference is because he has בחירה. An animal reacts automatically a human being can make a choice.  

Menuchas Shabbos 

Menuchas Shabbos as we have said before is not doing nothing at all. The Egyptians in מכת חושך simply sat in a frozen state – living statues. During מכת חושך they were no longer able to do anything. They had lost that special ingredient which makes us Human Beings. 

On Shabbos we must be active. We cannot do melochos – because those are the activities of our world, and on Shabbos we are in the world of the Borei Olam. By not doing melochos we have to realise that our actions have to be appropriate for another reality. We still have to be active but in a different way. 

Perhaps we can understand this point by looking at tfila on Shabbos. In truth we should daven the same Shmona Esrei on Shabbos as we do the rest of the week. Only Chazal did not want us to make such an effort of Shabbos [5] –  so we say ברכה מעין שבע. Chazal did not tell us to stop davening on Shabbos. They showed us that our tfila needs to be focused on a deeper perception of the world around us. We know how we feel when we say אתה חונן on Shabbos – it’s almost like being mechalel Shabbos! But that is only because it is so difficult for us to do exactly the same action as we do on a weekday with conations of Shabbos. 

One might say that by learning on Shabbos we achieve our goal of revealing pnimiyus on Shabbos. But my feeling is that learning on Shabbos usually does not reveal something more than it does on a weekday. I am not saying that learning on Shabbos is not important – of course it is, but it does not necessarily reveal something deeper about Shabbos. Because one usually learns in the same way as the rest of the week. It is difficult to experience a deeper level of existence by learning on Shabbos. 

A kabbolo to enable us to experience pnimiyus

There is a kabbolo which we could take on, which might take some courage, because it goes a little bit against social norms. But as with so many things in life, we have a fear that things are not going to work out and then we find that actually things go smoothly. 

Many people say “לכבוד שבת קודש” before eating on Shabbos. For many it has become an automatic reaction to eating on Shabbos. So we do not necessarily feel how the food comes to reveal more pnimiyus – especially because we are also so involved with enjoying the Shabbos food. So perhaps we can offer food to someone else and say לכבוד שבת קודש? Many peoples reaction may well be – that they would rather go to the Beis Hamedrash and learn parshas hashavua, however there is something here which really might help. Because we will be using an action of בין אדם לחבירו which we might do during the week as well – and find there hidden depths of Shabbos. We will actually be revealing within a simple everyday action –  pnimiyus. The physical world has now become more meaningful. 

It is a simple activity – and that may put us off, but it really shouldn’t. Because as we have said we have to be active in our work on Shabbos. And we have to be active in the same sphere as the one in which we live our everyday lives. It cannot be that when we live in our “weekday world” we are active but on Shabbos we are revealing pnimiyus so we have to sit and meditate, contemplating the works of the Borei Olam, that is not a Ben Aliya. That’s a person with two different buildings which are not connected to each other. On Shabbos we have to be active – but on a higher level. Through Chitzonius one reveals pnimiyus. 

This might work – but then again it might not. Usually, we hear Drashos, which the speaker is 100% sure of – that is less interesting.  That makes people imitate the majority – and they stop thinking for themselves. They stop trying to find something which really works for them.

So let’s see if this idea works for us. As mentioned previously, not going into the kitchen may have sounded strange, but unexpectedly it really had an effect. So perhaps this will work as well. 

When the Mashgiach gave out wine on Purim, it was clear that it was not to get me shiker – it was part of the moed, so let’s try and make the simple things we do on Shabbos – part of Shabbos. Let’s try and find depth where we usually see a superficial reality. 

This is a small tentative step, because pnimiyus really is something delicate – not something which can be rushed. But unlike other kabbolas we have spoken of –  feeling Shabbos through a single action like opening the door when returning from shul, or lighting the candles, this action of saying לכבוד שבת קודש   when giving food to someone else lingers on. It is repeated throughout Shabbos – it’s not a single action which is later forgotten. It’s similar to not going into the kitchen and having a look in the fridge – it has an effect on the entire Shabbos. 

We have to look for ideas that will affect how we experience our world – on an entirely different level. On Shabbos it is time for us to enter into the Aliya. To live our lives, with an emphasis on pnimiyus. 

 

[1] See vaad 11

[2] “וביום השבת שני כבשים וכו'” [במדבר כ”ח ט] 

[3] ע’ רמב”ן על התורה בראשית ג כ”ב לגבי גן עדן “…אבל כל אלה דברים כפולים הגלוי והחתום בהם אמת”. 

וע”ע שער הגמול “אבל סוד הענין הזה שהדברים כפולים כי גן עדן…כולם כפשוטם וכמשמעם, אמת הדבר ויציב הענין, ולסוד מופלא כי הם כציורי דבר להבין עוד ענין עמוק במשל”

[4] סוכה מ”ה:

[5] ע’ ברכות כ”א., ולשונו של המ”ב בסימן רס”ח ס”ק ב “ורק משום כבוד השבת לא אטרחוהו רבנן ותקנו ברכה אחת אמצעית לשבת”. 

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Written by Rabbi Mordechai Mays