Yosef Mokir Shabbat
(based on tractate Shabbat 119a)
There was once a man called Yosef. Yosef
loved the Sabbath and honored it very much.
Everyone called him, "Yosef Mokir Shabbat,"
for Shabbat was very dear to him.
Near Yosef's house there lived a wealthy Gentile
who owned a lot of property.
One day the non-Jew visited his sages, the
stargazers. They said to him:
"We see in the starts that all of your property
will go to Yosef Mokir Shabbat."
The Gentile was afraid of losing all his wealth.
He went and bought a very precious jewel with
all of his money. He took a fancy hat and
sewed the jewel upon it.
He thought to himself: "Now I am sure that
my wealth will remain in my hands, for it
rests upon my head all the time."
But G-d in heaven decreed differently.
One day the non-Jew went for a walk on a bridge.
Suddenly, a strong wind came and blew the
hat into the water.
A huge fish appeared and swallowed
the jewel from the hat.
On Friday afternoon the fish was caught by
the fishermen. They brought it to market but
they worried: Who would buy such a gigantic
fish - especially since by this time, everyone
had already prepared fish for Shabbat?
One of the fishermen said, "Take the fish to
Yosef Mokir Shabbat. He will surely buy such
a special fish, even if he has already prepared
other fish."
The fishermen went to Yosef Mokir Shabbat
and he bought the fish.
Yosef hurried to prepare the fish in honor of
Shabbat. He took a knife and opened the fish.
And behold! Inside the fish's belly Yosef found
the precious jewel!
After Shabbat Yosef sold the jewel for a lot of
money. An old man met him and said,
"If someone lends to the Sabbath,
the Sabbath will pay him back."
interesting. i find that he was quite the respectful and kind type of person. all in all it was a good story with a strong moral. the moral being: respect hashem and the sabbath and you shall be rewarded.
ReplyDelete-Evan-
Hi! Thank you so much, Evan, for sharing your observation of Yosef's character and the lesson that we can all learn from this story.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you can share something that you do or would like to do, to show respect and honor for the holy day of Shabbat?
Yes. My first thought was giving tzeddekah. I would like to give tzeddekah every shabbas so now that you mention it I might talk to my parents about having a tzeddekah giving every friday night to show some respect for shabbat. It would be great if I could give every night but unfortunatly we don't always eat together and I don't always have spare change. It would be so wonder ful if I could have enough money to give to anybody in need, jew or non-jew. Take Haiti for instance. I keep asking my parents if we are going to give some money to the red cross or some other orginazation that helps those family. All in all though I must say that that donating or giving tzeddekah is one of the many things you could do to honor shabbat. Another thing you could do is light the shabbas candles tough that is a mitzvah for woman. Ah, yes. Doing mitzvahs is something we do every day but we must be extra mindful on shabbat seeing as we are not allowed to do work of any kind or more specifically we should rest. Shabbas is a time to play games and to be able to talk and have fun with your parents. I think these are some pretty good things to do to honor shabbat.
ReplyDelete-Evan-
Sarah says: Shabbat is a special time with my family. I help mom get ready by cleaning and shopping and baking. We give tzedakah before we light Shabbas candles. I light candles too and say the blessing. We have a special meal and learn something from the Torah portion.
ReplyDeleteDear Evan,
ReplyDeleteYou really have a heart of gold. Yes, giving Tzedakah is a wonderful Mitzvah. It actually is a custom to give Tzedakah right before Shabbat because we don't handle money on Shabbat and we don't want to miss a day of giving Tzedakah.
Tzedakah comes from the hebrew word Tzedek which means justice. This implies that the donor gives because it is his duty. Everything in this world belongs to G-d. When a person has money he has to realize that G-d entrusted him with money so that he should be able to give to those in need.
In Haiti, I just read that an Israeli delegation managed to rescue a survivor named Gilles, who was trapped under the rubble for four days after the earthquake. They worked for seven hours and even had to drill through a wall to save him. When he was rescued the residents were shouting, "We love Israel!" The Israeli delegation also set up a field hospital. In the first four hours the team treated 55 people.
Additionally, Rabbi Shimon Pelman, director of Chabad of the Dominican Republic went to Haiti last Friday. Another Chabad Rabbi, Rabbi Shuey Biston, of Parkland, Florida, got his Chabad members to fill two airplanes with provisions for children in Haiti.
I'm sure that there are many other organizations that are doing whatever they can to help.
Although we may not be able to go to Haiti or donate a lot of money, we can still pray for these people and pray that G-d bring Moshiach, the complete and final redemption, when there will be no more pain or suffering and only good will prevail!
We can also try to be thoughtful and caring to the people around us. You can't imagine the power of a kind word or a helping hand!
Thank you again for sharing your great ideas about how we can honor Shabbat!
Chanie
Dear Sara,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your beautiful description of how you and your family honor Shabbat. Your Mom is so lucky to have your help!
Did you know that on Shabbat we receive an extra soul? The soul is compared to a light. When we light our Shabbos candles we are not just lighting up our home, but rather we are receiving an extra special soul that stays with us for the entire Shabbat!
"A little light dispells much darkness!" May all of our candles light up our world!
Chanie
thank you chanie. see you on monday i hope.
ReplyDelete-evan-