Shabbos!!

Imagine that you walk one morning to your favorite candy store only to find, to your chagrin, that it is closed. There’s nothing you can do, so you simply hope they will be open tomorrow, and perhaps you’ll go somewhere else for today.

But when you return the next day, it’s still closed. “Oh, well,” you think, “the owner must be on vacation. I hope he’s not sick or anything like that.”

This could go on for a while, without you ever knowing for certain what has happened. As far as you know, the store is only temporarily closed and will reopen as soon as the owner either gets back from vacation or gets better or whatever the case may be.

But once the sign above the store is removed, the sign that says CANDY STORE, the sign you’ve looked for in delightful anticipation every day as you walked towards the store -- once that sign is taken down, you know that the store is closed, and that it will never reopen.

Shabbos is the sign of a Jew. A Jew might at times falter, he might slip and slide and sin from time to time, but as long as he’s keeping Shabbos, you know that person is still attached to Judaism. Once a Jew stops keeping Shabbos, the Torah says that he has, Heaven forbid, officially severed ties with true Judaism. He has removed the sign that identifies the store. He has closed the shop.

Shabbos is a sign between Hashem and His people. It is part of our special and personal relationship with Hashem. It is part of our “contract” with Him.

And Shabbos is indeed so much like a candy store.

When someone keeps Shabbos properly, his face shines on Shabbos in a way that it doesn’t shine during the week. The delight that Jews experience on Shabbos is incomparable. It begins when we hurry to complete our preparations on Erev Shabbos (the day before Shabbos, i.e., Friday), steadily increases as we near Shabbos, reaches its peak on Shabbos itself, and remains in full force until Motza Shabbos (when Shabbos departs). And when we fully immerse ourselves in the experience of Shabbos, we feel this delight and holiness to a smaller degree throughout the week as well.

Like in the story above, we look forward to Shabbos all week. We long for it, and can hardly wait for it. Whatever we buy, we buy for the honor of Shabbos. We plan our entire week around Shabbos.

So lets all have a wonderful spiritual shabbos!!

The leaf

A tree stands, tall and high,
Branches reaching for the sky;
A little leaf, without a sound
A tzaddik who is passing by
Stops and asks the little leaf, Why?
What made you drop from your abode
And lie here in the road?
Says little leaf, Don’t ask me,
I am not the authority
The twig I was on gave a sudden shake
It was more than I could take.
Twig, twig, O authority,
Perhaps you can explain to me
Why you gave a sudden shake,
More than the leaf could take?
Says the twig, Don’t ask me,
I am not the authority;
The wind gave a sudden whoosh
And blew the little leaf loose.
Wind, wind, O authority,
Perhaps you can explain to me,
Why you gave a sudden whoosh
And blew the little leaf loose?
Says the wind, Don’t ask me,
I am not the authority;
My angel told me what to do,
So with all my might I blew.
Angel, angel, O authority,
Perhaps you an explain to me,
Why you told the wind what to do,
And mightily it blew?
Says the angel, Don’t ask me,
I am not the authority;
The Creator of me and you
Told me what to do.
Creator, Creator, O Authority,
Perhaps you can explain to me,
Why the little leaf is shaken free
And falls down from its tree?
The Creator reveals His inner plan
And makes it known to man;
Take the little leaf in your hand,
And you will understand.
See the worm lying there,
He was suffering and in despair,
He was up there on the tree
Breathing heavily,
The rays of the sun were so intense
His discomfort was immense.
“Creator, mercy!” was his plea,
The sun is roasting me!
So I commanded the angel right away
To send the wind along its way
And the twig began to sway
And the little leaf was torn away,
And so the sequence was complete,
Shielding the worm from burning heat,
And from the tiny worm,
sleep was never so sweet….

The rock

An old farmer had plowed around a large rock in one of his fields for years. He had broken several plowshares and a cultivator on it and had grown rather morbid about the rock.

After breaking another plowshare one day, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally decided to do something about it.

When he put the crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily with a sledgehammer. As he was carting the pieces away he had to smile, remembering all the trouble that the rock had caused him over the years and how easy it would have been to ged rid of it sooner.

Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high;
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are;
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.

How rich are we??

One day a father and his rich family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good Dad!" "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?"

The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard; they have a whole horizon." When the little boy was finished, his father was speechless. His son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how 'poor' we are!"

Isn't it true that it all depends on the way you look at things? If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life -- you've got everything! You can't buy any of these things. You may have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, etc.; but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing!

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.

Just one

One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true,
One life can make a difference,
You see, it's up to you!