Part II

In the first part of the essay about the unique qualities of Shabbos, HaRav Shapira stressed how Shabbos and the Jewish People enjoy a unique relationship. He explained that the rest we have on Shabbos is a special, positive experience that brings brocho and kedusha.

Spiritual Levels on Shabbos

The Rishonim write at length about the special qualities of Shabbos. Rabbenu Avrohom the son of the Rambam, in Maspik Le'Ovdei Hashem (introduction), while presenting the first rule in avodas Hashem, writes that every mitzvas aseih and lo sa'aseh is identical for every Jew. No difference exists between Moshe Rabbenu, Yehoshua bin Nun, and the most ordinary person in Am Yisroel. Either a person fulfills or annuls the mitzvah. No differences in the general fulfillment or annulment of mitzvos exists.

Every mitzvah, however, has endless levels according to its inner meaning. Rabbenu Avrohom describes three levels in the mitzvah of Shabbos. The first level is that after a person has observed Shabbos correctly and has not profaned it, he reflects on the reason for Shabbos -- that the heavens and earth and all their hosts were created only during the Six Days of Creation -- and its aim. Through this reflection he strengthens his emunah that the world was created ex nihilo, that absolutely nothing existed beforehand, and that nothing came before HaKodosh Boruch Hu, Who brings the entire Creation into existence and Who renews it constantly. This is the first level of reflecting on the reason of Shabbos, a general reflection about Hashem's creation of the world.

The second level is that a person also reflects about the many details of the Creation. He enumerates every detail in the Creation in which the Creator's wisdom is revealed. In addition, he thinks about what was created on each day of the Six Days of the Creation until he realizes through these details that Hashem created the whole world. This level is higher than the first.

The third level -- which is the highest -- is that after one reflects about all the above he also searches further until he reaches true kedusha. He is so content with his spiritual attainments that he thanks Hashem and realizes that only Hashem gave him the intelligence he has used to see His greatness through His creation.

This is the highest level, and it is an altogether different level. It connects between man and Hashem. When a person attains this level he grasps the intellectual and concrete connection of what lies "between Me and bnei Yisroel." He realizes that Shabbos bonds HaKodosh Boruch Hu and Am Yisroel, just like the ties that bond a man to his wife, as in the above example of Chazal's. Although there are endless levels within each mitzvah, in general each Jew must attain these three levels described by Rabbenu Avrohom. This is the Shabbos of Rabbenu Avrohom the son of the Rambam.

The portion in the Torah dealing with the counting of the Omer is read on Shabbos (parshas Emor) in the very midst of the period of counting, a topical issue, and all the more reason for us to delve into its significance and to derive lessons from the Master Design in this exalted command. As the Sefer Hachinuch notes, the essence of the counting process expresses an avid anticipation, a self- triggering, a count-up towards the hoped for climax of the giving of the Torah.

This yearning, which took place at a historic point in time, did not reflect upon that occasion alone, but on all time, and upon the general aspect of this anticipation for all of us.

If we examine the routine of our daily lives, we will realize that most periods and events are governed by prior expectation and anticipation towards a particular future occasion. We fail to focus on the present with the proper appreciation, with the spectrum of pleasures inherent in it. Rather, we use the present as a springboard to leap to the next stage in life for which we are waiting.

During the years of education, we strain to prepare a proper foundation for our future success, step by step, but always look forward to the succeeding stage. Our adolescent youth is geared to preparation for marriage, while marriage and establishing the long-awaited home of our own, is again fraught with plans for what-will-be, construction, promotion, progress, in short, laying the groundwork for the next step in our lives.

On the spiritual plane, however, we see no feverish activity of this kind at all. Our spirituality is stagnant, routine, complacent, dormant, and rarely do we strive very actively to construct, improve, or grow on a steady basis according to a definite progressive plan.

In last week's issue, we discussed the gifted child in an article by Rochel Gill. Our translator, an expert in education, and specifically in speech, has these insights to offer on the subject.

In her article about gifted childen, Rochel Gill first discussed the genius, and then continued the discussion about a gifted child. The two are as different from each other as a slightly learning-disabled child, and a very retarded one. There is no comparison and they need completely different treatment.

Firstly, the rare genius. The child who speaks at six months and reads before the age of two. These can be as difficult to cope with in the confines of a family as, for example, a severely autistic child. It is useless to send them out to play with their friends. They have no friends. Childish pursuits bore them. Parents of most of these children need support and advice as much as any parents who have an out-of- the-ordinary child.