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Shabbat Parashat Ki Tavo 5775Ein Ayah: To Have Light or Not to Have at the Time of Exile(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 2:64)Gemara: That which [Yirmiya lamented], “My spirit was deprived of peace” (Eicha 3:17), is referring to [the inability to light] Shabbat candles. Ein Ayah: Daytime is set aside for lively human interaction, whether or not a person tends to enjoy being around other people. However, night is the time when one retreats to his natural surroundings. If he is one whose love of peace is well-entrenched in his soul, because he and others relate to each other properly, then he will benefit from continuing interaction and will want to make night day-like. Such a person will consciously decide to light candles, so that he can enjoy seeing those close to him. During the week, when people are used to working and toiling, a person will not always focus on his internal life. He will be forced into working hard during the day and resting up at night for the next day’s toil. On Shabbat, the feelings of the heart return to act as they naturally do, and one feels the natural enjoyment of life. If he finds at that time that the people who surround him make him feel good and loved, then he will easily appreciate the need to have light even at night so that he can take the choice to pursue the relationships. That is different from the relationships he has during weekdays, because those are relationships of necessity and these are relationships of choice. However, when the world becomes a dark place for the nation and enemies afflict its members, people around a person are often a bitter yoke, as happen to people whose lives are out of order. Then, when he has a desire to cling to his internal life on Shabbat, he will, for the most part, choose isolation, as opposed to the task of interacting well with others. A depressed person will look negatively at relationships and be deprived of peace. This is different from the time of national tranquility, when things around a person were upbeat, as he would feel a desire to have Shabbat candles to broaden the social opportunities by choice. But after the exile, when we are among people who are foreign to us, society is a source of pain and hatred, and a person prefers to avoid the attempt of peaceful interaction but to look within his inner spirit in solitude. It allows him to escape from the society that forces itself upon him during the day. Top of page
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Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of:
for our homeland.
Mrs. Doris Moinester a"h Gital Gila Bat Eliyahu Michael a”h on the occasion of her yahrzeit, Av 21st Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h. who passed away on 10 Tamuz, 5774 R' Meir Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m R ' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha and Chana bat Yaish & Simcha Sebbag, z"l Hemdat Yamim is endowed by Les & Ethel Sutker of Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l |