NEWS
Bekoach HaNeshama Yeseira - What We Can do for Shabbos
by Yated Ne'eman
It is with no thanks to a municipal initiative that, as part of its ongoing goal to change the character of the Holy Land and degrade it to abysmal depths, the recent scheme of extending public transportation to Shabbos is in effect crushing with its wheels that covenant between Hashem and His people. In many places throughout the country, the extirpators of religion have reared their heads and united to trample the banner of the Jewish people — our sacred Shabbos. They have decided to flout Heaven with murky intentions and squash the unholy status quo. They have, with great `sacrifice' for evil, as it were, to raise an arm against what is sacred and revered to our people, causing harm and destruction, intentionally and wickedly.
The outcry of Shabbos is reverberating in shock.
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky and the Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Eidelstein, are constantly reminding us of our duty at such a time. Our Torah leadership cries out to us to reinforce ourselves, measure for measure, and upgrade within us the sanctity of Shabbos.
In their incisive and painful letter regarding the significance and value of Shabbos which is being publicly and wantonly desecrated, they stated: "This constitutes chillul Hashem, which demands of us to strengthen ourselves in observance of Shabbos and the study of its laws, and certainly this reinforcement will have an impact also on those who are distant to increase their proper Shabbos observance."
Our community has indeed sensed a wonderful arousal, and in many places, shiurim have been established for the study of Shabbos laws through utilizing the long winter Friday nights, and in other places, study sessions of Shabbos laws have also been instituted immediately after Shacharis.
In an additional letter to the rabbonim of Torah communities everywhere, our Torah leaders stated vehemently that, "when, to our dismay, the public Shabbos violations continue here in our Holy Land, we must realize that we are at fault. Therefore, we call out to all the rabbonim who have the power to arouse the public, each and everyone in his area, to strengthen themselves in the study of Shabbos laws, and the heart knows the bitter pain so as to amend and improve his own Shabbos observance and preserve its sanctity."
The fact that our leaders presented us with a mea culpa, placing the blame of Shabbos desecration upon us, declaring that `this terrible spiritual storm is our own doing,' dictates to us the ways through which we must react during these trying times.
In his time, HaRav Yisroel Salanter shook up Torah-true Jews by determining that when there is laxity of the study of a yeshiva student in Lithuania, a corresponding student in Paris will become assimilated. How much more so does this apply to us when we witness Shabbos violation wantonly enacted in the very heart of our sacred Land?
Let us examine our ways and see how we can improve our own Shabbos observance. If there are Jews who are prepared to plunge down to the lowest depths, perhaps the light of Shabbos did not illuminate strongly enough from our centers? If there are people who wantonly bow to the incitement of the sacrilegious prophets of the Baal, it is possible that our own faces were not sufficiently illuminated by the aura of Shabbos. Even as moths are drawn to the light, how much more so are Jewish souls which stood at the foot of Har Sinai and heard `zachor-shamor" declared simultaneously [should be drawn to the Shabbos light]. And if we have not succeeded in conveying how dear is this marvelous gift which Hashem bestowed upon us from His own treasure vault, then we are to blame and we must consequently bolster ourselves.
The fact that our gedolei hador insist that we fortify ourselves in Shabbos observance and study of his laws is a sign that this is precisely our way of fighting this evil phenomenon which is threatening to spread like fire in a field of thorns. If they repeatedly urge us to implant in ourselves the value of Shabbos, it is a sign that only this way can we change this distressing reality.
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