BS’D
All of our week should serve Shabbat. Shabbat should be an intimate meeting with Hashem, without the distraction of material temptation. If we rearrange the letters of Shabbat, we can spell ‘teshev’ (return). Shabbat represents a return to the perfect state – a unity of spirit that replaces the fragmentation of the workweek.
Shabbat is a day where we sit ‘shev’. Whereas the six days are a state of ‘becoming’, Shabbat is a day of ‘being’. The idea of sitting relates to a state of rest – a break in the constant struggle to balance the spiritual and physical aspects of life.
Some of the many similarities between Shabbat and the World to Come include:
• We prepare our bodies physically in a similar way as we do when we depart from this world – washed, nails trimmed and dressed in white.
• We cease to create, build or prepare on Shabbat. In the World to Come, we enjoy the fruits of the lifetime of work in this world.
• The nature of Shabbat is constant and eternal. The way things are at the onset of Shabbat remains the same throughout Shabbat, reflecting the elevated spiritual status of the soul when it has transitioned from this world to the next.
There are also many similarities between erev Shabbat preparations and the preparations here for the World to Come:
• working within a limited time frame to avoid wasting time,
• constantly building and planning and preparing,
• focusing our activities and attention towards a future-oriented-goal
Shabbat enables our Divine soul to be freed from its exile to live in total connection to Hashem. The Arizal teaches that on Shabbat we gain a sense of unity from receiving our additional soul. Though Adam HaRishon was driven out of Gan Eden, a part of his soul remained there. On Shabbat, Hashem releases that part of his neshama and gives it back to man. Thus, on Shabbat we are essentially given the opportunity to return to Gan Eden.
