The holy Shabbos, the most longed for day, is the day which gives us the strength to begin again. Three things are called chemda, which means longing and wanting in an absolute, crazy way (holy craziness): Shabbos, the Torah, and Israel. A true Jew is possessed by this holy, incurable craziness.

A Shabbos Test. If you want to know how much you like a person, see if you can sit with the person without doing anything. Shabbos is therefore given to you. Do nothing and show your love for Hashem.

The Mitzvah of Shabbos is Shabbos: When Shabbos comes I am yearning to serve G-d in the most infinite way. During the week, my finite and infinite self are apart. On Shabbos my finite and infinite self are brought together by Shabbos — the Mitzvah of Shabbos is Shabbos itself. The Yid HaKodesh said: “Some people eat fish on Shabbos and some eat Shabbos on Shabbos”.

The Preciousness of Shabbos: The Socheshever Rebbe, the son-in-law of the Kotzker Rebbe, said: “Imagine if I stop keeping Shabbos; I stop not because I don’t like the value Shabbos has, but because it is no longer precious to me. So, when I do tshuvah I am to learn the preciousness of Judaism.” Anything that is given to you by G-d you don’t receive, unless you know how precious it is. I can be married, but if I don’t know how precious it is, it will be nothing.

“You can keep every Shabbos to the letter of the law, but unless Shabbos reaches the deepest and highest place in your heart. you haven’t kept Shabbos.”

Shabbos Shalom: There are some moments when I have to feel perfect, complete (shaleim). Six days a week I work like a dog and can’t have that feeling. On Shabbos I receive a divinely inspired feeling of serenity, peacefulness, completeness — Shabbos Shalom — because of its holiness one feels perfection. This day will give you the strength to ‘fix’ yourself during the week. You will know what to ‘fix’ because you will have just experienced a period of time when you had a complete soul.

Shabbos is back in Paradise. Paradise is a place where everything is good, everything is holy, everything is beautiful. Paradise is a place where suddenly it’s clear to me that I can fix all my mistakes. And even more so, everything I thought was a mistake, every street I thought was the wrong street was the only way to get there.

When G-d drove Adam from Paradise, he retained part of his soul to remain there. On Shabbos, G-d releases that part and gives it back to man. This is our extra soul of Shabbos. On this day we are given the opportunity to return to Paradise. The question is asked, where would Adam have gone on Shabbos if he had not been driven out of Paradise? G-d would have taken him to Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of High, which has not yet been revealed to us. Paradise is a place I know from before; Jerusalem above, I have never experienced. Now, I must be satisfied with Paradise on Shabbos; in the future we hope to be brought to Jerusalem of High.

According to our holy tradition, on the Sabbath you have to be in a higher place than during the week. Everybody knows that G-d created Adam and Eve on Friday, before the Sabbath, on the sixth day of creation. And according to our tradition, on that very same day they ate of the forbidden fruit. and in just one second before sunset they were driven out from Paradise.

But then, on the Sabbath, G-d took them back into Paradise. So even if the world is driven out from Paradise during the other six days of the week, on Shabbos the whole world has a chance to go back to Paradise.

Shabbos has two faces. There is keeping the Shabbos holy, the thirty-nine laws of Shabbos, the withdrawing from the world, a non-power kind of like. But then there is the bliss of Shabbos, the inside of Shabbos, which is a gift from Heaven. The bliss of Shabbos is even deeper than Paradise. It’s a secret between G-d and me, between me and the people I love so much. Shabbos is peace because peace is secrets, secrets of the depths, of the deepest depths. Secrets are the deepest G-d revelation. A true Shabbos person is someone who walks the streets of the world and every human being he sees, he shares a secret with. But with those he loves it’s the secret of all secrets.

On Shabbos we say, “Shabbos hi milzok, refuah krovah livoh.” Shabbos is the deepest healing in the world. Our holy rabbis teach us that a doctor can only heal a foot or hand; they cannot replace it with a new one. But Shabbos, on a spiritual level, gives us back our hands and feet. Not only this, Shabbos gives us new minds, new eyes and new ears, gevalt!

Shabbos is the strongest vitamin because its nutrients are those which can heal the soul. On Shabbos, new energy is coming down from Heaven. But the energy and its spiritual nutrients refuses to be received in dirty vessels. There are many ways we can do the cleansing and purification on our own. But for those of us who can’t do even that, so for one second before Shabbos purity and holiness also descend into the world. Happy are those who can receive it and fill their heart with it.

Shabbos is the highest energy center in the world. It’s not a day when you’re not doing anything. Shabbos is the day when your soul is at the most, most high. What’s the most precious possession of a human being? According to Rebbe Nachman, it’s our thoughts, what we can imagine with our minds and hearts.

On Shabbos our thoughts have to be so high, so heavenly that we can talk to G-d. And not only to G-d, but people, too! Because if you can’t feel close to someone standing next to you, to someone you can see with your eyes, then how can you feel close to someone you can’t see? And the more you look at people with great love, the more you can see G-d in everyone. But whether we look at people with great love or not, whether our thoughts are heavenly or not, on Shabbos something happens to the world — the world becomes infinite again.

Shabbos is different from all other holidays. The Gemara explains that if there were no Jews in the world, there would be no Jewish holidays. But Shabbos will always exist, even if there be no Jew to observe it, because on Shabbos something happens to the world, G-d opens the gates, and something so holy comes from heaven down to us, and all we have to do is pick it up.

The Zohar HaQodesh asks, how did Noah have the strength to resist a world that was rotten to the core? When everyone around him seemed perverted and crazy, Noah and his family held out alone, right? Where did he get the strength from?

Well, the name “Noah” is the same as the Hebrew word for “rest”. The Zohar HaQodesh says that Noah wanted to serve G- d, Noah wanted to keep Shabbos. Since nobody else picked up the power that came down from heaven, Noah and his family could take it all! And that’s how he had the strength to resist the world. He had the power of the world in his bones.

So, every Shabbos, imagine if you would pick up from the world the power of heaven. Imagine how much strength you would get, how much holiness you could put in your bones.

According to the great Kabbalists, water was never created; it always was just there. In the Book of Genesis it never says that G-d created water. Water has the power of “Beyond Creation”, the power to wash you clean and make everything grow. Our rabbis teach us that in order to really feel the blessing of Shabbos you have first to immerse in the mikveh.

The Lights of Shabbos: The lights that our Mother Sarah lit were burning from Friday to Friday. When I kindle a light in the week, anyone can blow it out. However, Friday night, the lighting of the candles is performed with such spiritual strength, that their glow lasts from Friday to Friday. According to our logic, the light of Shabbos, G-d’s light, is so infinitely powerful what can the candle add? But this is one of the fixings of Eve’s eating of the tree of Knowledge. Because it isn’t true that the candle is insignificant. According to the Tree of Life every candle makes the light more infinite and more deep. G-d’s light is like a Picasso, it is so beyond beautiful that it can’t reach inside my soul. But a painting of my own sweetest Dari has the light of the little candle of Shabbos that mamash tears my heart apart.

Shabbos comes and Shabbos is everywhere. You can’t walk out on Shabbos. But this is only on the Outside. Kabbalos Shabbos, we are making ourselves into vessels to receive Shabbos into the deepest most Inside depths of our soul.

Friday night is the fixing of jealousy. Jealousy comes from thinking that someone can take your place or your portion. And in the deepest depths it’s my own emptiness, my own incapability to retain what G-d is giving me. But Friday night, when my heart becomes so full, so overflowing full, like the wine from the Kiddush, jealousy is wiped out from my heart, and hopefully, eventually, from the heart of mankind.

The feast of Friday night is the ultimate fixing of the Tree of Knowledge. We are mamash transforming it into the Tree of Life. The Holy Ba’al Shem says that whoever is up Friday night celebrating Shabbos will not leave this world without completing the fixing which he came down in this for.

Shabbos morning is the fixing of grabbing. Because what G-d gives me I don’t have to steal and I don’t even have to take; it’s given to me. A slave takes, a king receives.

The third meal of Shabbos is the fixing of self-esteem, of honor, of giving up hope. The third meal is like the World to Come, when the world will be filled with G-d’s glory, with the glory of every human being, when the honor of a child is enough to fill the whole universe with the deepest of G-d’s honor.

Shalos Seudos, the Third Meal before you say goodbye to Shabbos, is the deepest of all. It’s when you say goodbye to the One you love that it’s clear to you how much He means to you, Our holy rabbis teach us that all day Shabbos is just Shabbos. The Third Meal is Shabbos and Yom Kippur. It’s a must for everyone to spend the last hour of Shabbos in the deepest emotion.

After saying goodbye to Shabbos, we make ourselves a little concert and partake in the Feast of King David who lives forever. The Feast of King David gives us the strength to keep Shabbos alive until the next Shabbos comes.

Shabbos is the deepest healing in the world. Our holy rabbis teach us that a doctor can only heal a foot or a hand; he cannot give you a new one. But Shabbos, on the spiritual level, gives you back your hands and your feet. It gives you new brains, new eyes, new ears — what a gevalt, Shabbos.

Friday night is the time of seeing, of discovering the unbelievable beauty and sweetness of the world of the Torah, of people, and above all, those I love the most. Shabbos morning is a time of tasting. It’s even deeper than seeing. Most people love each other. But tasting each other’s soul, each other’s depths — that is Shabbos morning. The third meal, and, finally, Havdalah, is smelling, inhaling the fragrance, the beauty which is beyond seeing and tasting, the kind of depth which only my soul can fathom. Happy are those who walk the streets of the world with the fragrance of Shabbos.

G-d created the world in six days and on Shabbos He rested. What a sad translation! On Shabbos G-d gave the world a soul. On Shabbos G-d created a world of souls, of depth, of tasting that which is most real.

Shabbos invites all those who need new energy, all those who have been broken by the world of the six days, who need the world of Shabbos to make their brokenness whole again.

Shabbos invites all those who have so far only felt the pain of life and are crying for the joy, the bliss, the unbelievable heavenliness of being alive in a world created by G-d.

Shabbos invites all those who are tired of walking slowly, who only cover a spiritual inch per lifetime on their journeys. Shabbos invites all those who have traveled through the valleys of sadness, of waiting and waiting all the time. Shabbos is to get to the top of the mountain in one second, and there discover even higher mountains that we may have never ever seen before.

Shabbos invites all those who know, who experienced so much sweetness, so much holiness in life, but it’s clear to them this cannot be all G-d wants to give them. Isn’t G-d infinite? Isn’t life infinite? Shabbos is the name of G-d.

Will you accept the invitation of Shabbos?

Selections prepared for Connections in 5749 and for Congregation Kehillat Jacob, in 5751.

Not for commercial redistribution without consent of copyright holder and the Estate of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

Let me tell you one more story right now. The heilege (holy) Zeditchover had so many grandchildren. But, one particular year, he said, “My grandson Bereshel should ask Mah Nishtana.” Bereshel was then five years old; later on he became Rav Bereshel of Donina, a very great Rabbi. Comes time for Mah Nishtana and Bereshel isn’t there. They started looking for him high and low. He’s not there. Here, I interrupt myself with another story about Bereshel.

Bereshel was the favorite of his grandfather, because in that year one of the other grandchildren got very sick. Very, very sick. The mother of the child was begging the Zeditshuver to please pray for him. Nothing happened. One night, the boy’s condition worsened. It seemed he was going to leave the world. The Zeditshuver, from 12:30 A.M. until three in the morning, did not want to be disturbed. He was writing his commentaries on the Zohar and did not want to be disturbed. But, someone had to tell him. They decided to wake up Bereshel and he will tell the zaide. Bereshel was five years old. They tell him, tell zaide that if he doesn’t pray now, it will be too late.

Bereshel walks up to the higher floor, to his grandfather. He knocks on the door. His grandfather asks, “Who’s there?” “Bereshel.” “Why aren’t you asleep?” Bereshel said, “Zaide, I came to bring you the most unbelievable good news. I want you to know that Moishele is getting better every second. But, zaide, please pray for him. Please, zaide, pray for him.”

The holy Zeditshuver prayed for him. He got well. The Zeditshuver called in all his children and grandchildren. He said, “Do you know why I couldn’t pray for Moishele the whole time? Because the way you asked me to pray for him was with so much sadness, so much brokenness. I felt so broken. I douldn’t pray. But, you know who is a Rebbe? Bereshel. Did you hear how he asked me to pray? He said, ‘I bring you good news, Moishele is getting better, but I want you to pray.’ Didn’t I understand what was going on? When Bereshel is sent up in the middle of the night to tell me. But, the way he said it, with so much hope. I want you to know, Bereshel is a Rebbe.” And, the truth is, Bereshel really became the successor of his grandfather later on.

Back to Seder night. Everyone is looking for Bereshel and, suddenly, he comes in. Water is running down from his payos (sidecurls). He just came from the mikva. Before asking his grandfather Mah Nishtana, he wanted to go to the mikva. His mother yelled at him, “What chutzpahl” But his grandfather said, “Let him alone. Bereshel is a Rebbe.”

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. Sometimes our children ask us, and we can take our time in answering. Sometimes if we take our time, we will lose them. Rav Nachman says, if our children ask us, is there one G-d and we say, let’s talk it over – we’ve lost them. If they ask for advice, what should they do, what career they should have, we can say, let’s talk about it. If they ask, are you a Jew, if you have to think about it, that’s not good. He said, Seder night is when our children ask, is there one G-d? And, our answer has to be right away. Don’t take any time.

I remember once reading a book written by one of the outstanding Jewish leaders of the other religions. This outstanding leader writes in the forward to his book that when he was a little boy he once asked a rabbi if there is one G-d. The rabbi said, let’s discuss it. Come to my house and we’ll discuss it. He quoted from here, he quoted from there. The boy said, I’m just asking one question, is there one G-d or not? He couldn’t get an answer out of him. The next week, he met a swami and asked him, is there one G-d? The swami said, yes, there is.

Seder night is when I tell my children, there is one G-d. There is one Torah. There is Eretz Yisroel. I have no time. It has to be fast.

When somebody is drowning, imagine if I would say, let me call a Rabbi and ask if I should save this person, because I heard that last year this person ate ham on Yom Kippur. I call one rabbi, the line is busy, so I call somebody else. All these things are cute. In the meantime, the person is drowning.

You know the problem with us Yidden, you know why Mashiach didn’t come yet? Because we waited, wegaited so long. How did Moshe Rabbenu get us out of Egypt? Right now is the time – “Bachatzot halayla” in the middle of the night – right now, don’t think. This is “mochin megadlus” a high mind. It is not, not, thinking. It is clearer than thinking. It is clear to me. It is on such a high consciousness level, a deep level.

When I see somebody drowning, where do they grasp me? Do they reach for my head? They reach for somewhere else; they have to touch the deepest depths of my understanding, that triggers something so holy.

So, Seder night, everything is fast, but it’s so clear, and it’s so good. “This I do not say other than when matza and maror are placed in front of me.” Everything is clear. I can tell my child this ismatza, this is maror, I am a Jew, there is one G-d.

You know friends, we are living in a world where the devil would like so much to take advantage of the great moments which we have. Seder night, every Jew wants to have a Seder. So, what does the devil do – brings chicken soup, and kneidlach. Sometimes I ask people, how was the Seder? They say, Oh, the food was unbelievable. When you ask about the Seder, they are not thinking about the Hgggadah, they are thinking about the food.

I was in India three years ago. I asked one boy, he was a yogi who didn’t want to come back. I asked him what he knew about Yiddishkeit. He said, “Once a year my family got together for a Seder. The spokesman of the Seder was my uncle who told over all the dirty jokes he heard all year. One night, I got up and said, I don’t think this is what the Seder is all about. My uncle said to me, ‘Look who’s talking. You haven’t even finished Hebrew school yet. What do you know?’ So, I thought that if all Yiddishkeit can offer me is a night with dirty jokes and chicken soup, who needs it, who wants it?”

When my daughters’ teeth hurt, I send for the best dentist. When my children are sick, I call for the best doctor. When it comes to Yiddishkeit, the soul of the soul, the eternity of all eternities of my children, would I subject them to the lowest people in the world, who don’t know anything?

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. He says that, basically, the downfall and the ultimate slavery in Egypt were brought about because we ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge causes you to eat your bread with sadness. The beginning of the Seder is that we eat karpas, we eat a little vegetable and, a few moments later, we are on the level of eating bread with simcha, with joy. Matza is on the level of eating bread with joy. From the beginning of the Seder, to the matza, we are fixing everything from the Tree of Knowledge. And, it goes so fast, so fast.

Chametz is that everything takes a long time. This is the downfall of mankind. The world says, we have to wait for peace. It takes time until it comes. Always waiting, waiting. Matza is the first admission in the service of G-d; today is a great moment – don’t wait.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

The word for “man” in Hebrew is “Adam” — aleph, dalet, mem. Now “mo’od” in Hebrew — mem, aleph, dalet means “very”. Everything that comes from the same letters comes from the same root. So before Moshiach comes, a good man will be very good and an evil man will become very evil.

When we open the door for Elijah the Prophet during the second part of the Seder we say words which sound horrible. First we say holy words of love and peace, and then we say, “Pour out your anger at the world.” The world needs a little cleaning out. We are begging G-d, “Would you please do the cleaning?”

When we open the door for Elijah, who will come to announce the Messiah, we are on the level of saying we don’t want to do the cleaning. There are a lot of people who are so eager in fighting evil; it’s the greatest thing in their lives. At the Seder we say to “If there has to be some wiping of evil, please, You do it.”

House of Love and Prayer San Francisco, 5733

G-d gives us signs all the time. We just don’t want them. Remember the story? Someone came to the holy Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov told him that divine providence is so strong, whenever a wind blows, divine providence knows exactly where every leaf has to fall. Divine providence is on every leaf, knows exactly where this leaf has to fall. And this leaf has to fall there. So someone says to him, I can’t believe that! Divine providence? G-d in heaven has plans for every little leaf? After a hurricane, where every leaf should fall? I can’t believe that. The Baal Shem Tov says, you can’t believe it? You don’t want to believe it. So he keeps on saying.- no, I can’t believe it. The Baal Shem Tov says, “You can’t? You don’t want to.” That was it. So he walked away. He walks on the highway and there is a little peasant sitting on top of the hay on his wagon, There he has to make a little U-turn, he doesn’t make it so good, the whole wagon tips over, the hay falls down, the horse falls over the wagon, and he is all alone on the highway. So he sees this man walking and he asks him, will you please help me turn my wagon over and help my horse up? This great rabbi thinks, I can not stoop that low to help a little peasant. He says: “No, I can’t. So the peasant got very angry; he had a whip in his hand. He gave him a strong whip over his face, and he said: “You can’t? You don’t want to!”

San Francisco, Iyar 5732

Transcribed by Steven Maimes