#6: Machshavah

Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik writes in his “On Repentance” about the importance of being an “Erev Shabbat” Jew in addition to a “shomer Shabbat” (Shabbat observing) Jew:

"True, there are Jews in America who observe Shabbat... But it is not for Shabbat that my heart aches; it is for the forgotten 'erev Shabbat' (eve of the Sabbath). There are Shabbat-observing Jews in America, but there are no 'erev Shabbat' Jews who go out to greet Shabbat with beating hearts and pulsating souls. There are many who observe the precepts with their hands, with their feet, and/or with their mouths - but there are few indeed who truly know the meaning of the service of the heart!"

U.S. Jewry has come a long way in this regard since Rav Soloveitchik wrote this, but there is still space to grow our “Erev Shabbat” experience. May we merit to properly observe not only Shabbat, but Erev Shabbat as well.

Rav Hillel Goldberg in his book "Countdown to Shabbos" writes that Rav Soloveitchik gave the following example to reinforce the point he was trying to make concerning Erev Shabbat.

"I remember Rabbi Soloveitchik saying in one of his Saturday night lectures at Maimonides School in Boston more than forty years ago, words to this effect: A person works on Friday until the last moment. He speeds home, arriving fifteen minutes before candle lighting time, then jumps into the shower, then back into the car, then speeds to shul just in time for the beginning of Minchah. This is not Shabbos. Holiness requires preparation.”

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.