#262: Machshavah

Rav Moshe Feinstein in his sefer Kol Ram explains that the purpose of not performing melacha on Shabbat is not only to enjoy physical rest and relaxation from labor performed on the other days of the week. Rather, we refrain from melacha in order to free ourselves from our regular responsibilities and allow for time to serve Hashem.

“Shabbat is the basis of our faith and is testimony to the renewal of the world, and labor is forbidden only because it is the holy day, so that we should be free to serve Hashem and cling to Him. As Shabbat is like the World to Come (Berachot 57b), and the idea of the World to Come is that everyone is free to serve Hashem, as they sit and their crowns are on their heads, and they derive pleasure from the aura of the Divine Presence.”

This is an important response to those who have difficulty with the restrictions of Shabbat. Although it is sometimes difficult to figure out what to do on Shabbat when many of one’s regular activities are “off limits,” if we focus our energies on trying to connect to Hashem and figure out what our real goals are in life, we can find the experience very rewarding.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.