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2 shabosim

Rabbi Lipszycs story of the week, Special Yom Kippur edition. Although I am trying to keep the stories in chronological order, there are times when for various reasons I throw in a story out of the chronological order. In honor of Yom Kippur I am putting in this story for reasons that will be obvious. Enjoy, and be inspired.

WHEN YISROEL WILL KEEP TWO SHABBOSIM

As official Contract Rabbi of Maxwell Federal Prison Camp, in Montgomery, Alabama, my whole family would spend the High Holy Days, two days of Rosh Hashanah and the third day Yom Kippur, on prison grounds. For the duration of the holidays, the prisoners were left under our jurisdiction. We prayed together, learned together, rapped together, walked together and ate together. The effect was three days of pure holiness, felt by prisoners and visitors alike. Towards the end of Yom Kippur of 1988, as we were about to begin the Ne'ilah (closing) services, I turned around to face the worshippers, and said: "We are now about to begin the closing prayers of Yom Kippur. This is our last ditch effort to ask G-d to forgive our past sins, before the gates of mercy close. With what justification, are we requesting G-d to forgive our past? I have a Proposal. Let us all take just two minutes, before we begin Ne'ilah, and choose one Mitzvah, (of the 613 commandments in the Torah,) that each one of us will undertake to keep for the coming year. Let that Mitzvah be our defense argument, so that G-d forgives our past and seals the verdict for a good year." I saw that my proposal was accepted. I turned back to the Amud, spent the next two minutes thinking about my personal commitment, and without further hesitation, began Ne'ilah. After services were over, one inmate, a newcomer, approached me and asked if he can speak to me. Upon answering in the affirmative, he introduced himself and requested my help in fulfilling the commitment he undertook before Ne'ilah. "Which Mitzvah did you undertake," I asked? "To keep the Sabbath," he replied. "If you don't mind my asking," I further asked, what made you choose that particular Mitzvah?" "To be quite honest," he explained, "I didn't know any other of the Commandments and I remembered once hearing that G-d set up Shabbos as a day of rest." I then went on to explain that Shabbos was quite a difficult Mitzvah to begin with, and that if he wished I could list for him other Mitzvos which would be much easier to do. His response was, "no thanks Rabbi, I committed myself to Shabbos and I plan to stick with it." Far be it for me to discourage a Jew from keeping Shabbos, so I simply asked "and how can I help?" "Well you see," he explained "I don't know the laws of Shabbos and I can't read Hebrew, so I need a list of the do's and the don'ts of Shabbos, in English." I told him that if he will come the next Tuesday, to my weekly class, I would bring him the necessary books. The next Tuesday I brought him a two volume set titled "The Laws of Shabbos" by Rabbi Shimon Eider. Every Tuesday he came to my class and would tell me of his progress in regards to his Shabbos observance. About six weeks later, I noticed that he was absent from the Tuesday class, so I asked one of the other inmates, "why didn't he come?" "Rabbi, You're not going to believe this," he said, "you know those two books you gave him to study? Well he read in one of them that if the Jews keep just two Shabbosim, G-d would immediately set them free from exile. He then came to the conclusion that if that is really true for all Jews, surely it must be true for the individual Jew who keeps Shabbos. 'So If I,' this young man deduced, 'will be careful to keep all the laws of Shabbos for just two weeks, then G-d will send me home!'" With this thought in mind, this young man finished learning the rest of the two books, in order for him to know what to do, and the next two Shabbosim he was very careful to follow the laws of Shabbos to a tee. And right after the second Shabbos, the prison authorities sent him home! [I kept in touch with him for several years. He is married and has children. He keeps Shabbos and puts on Tefillin daily. Every year on Yom Kippur he takes upon himself an additional Mitzvah.] To receive Rabbi Lipszyc's story of the week via Whatsapp, add 513-456-7595 to your contacts, and then send whatsapp message "Join" to 513-456-7595 Support Rabbi Lipszyc's work by donating at https://chabadcrimeaorg.clhosting.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/2511804/jewish/Donate-Now/lang/en or sending checks to: Chabad of Crimea World Friends, 1601 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11213 To sponsor the story of the week, Contact Mendy at 513-456-7595

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