This Week’s Energy of the Week is sponsored in the loving memory of:

Moshe David ben Yaakov Isser Flamhaf, z”l

For his first Yartzeit

With Love

 Jonathan Flamhaft

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B”H

Week’s Energy for Parshas Behar

Rest and Re-Focus

Rav DovBer Pinson

The Torah reading this week begins with the verse “And Hashem spoke to Moshe… Speak to the children of Israel…When you come to the land that I am giving you, it shall be a Shabbat for the land…You shall sow your field for six years…But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest, this is a Shabbat for Hashem… (25:1-4)

This is the six year work cycle which mirrors the six day cycle. The seventh year is like the seventh day, a Shabbat, or time of rest.

Upon closer inspection of the passage however, it appears that there is a concept of Shabbat that precedes the six work years, and then a Shabbat that follows the six work years.

The Torah begins the passage by saying, “When you come to the land….shall rest” this is a rest before work, and then the verse continues “You shall sow…six years….the seventh year…rest”, which is a rest that comes after work.

So Shabbat is both a place to come from, and a place to go to.

When the land lays fallow for a year it accomplishes two things.

The first is that the land itself will rest and rejuvenate and produce a better quality, and higher quantity of produce in the years to come.
The second is that the person who farms the land will receive a year to study and reflect on his or her purpose in life, re-centering as it were.

 This is the Rest/Work/Rest Paradigm:

The verse in the reading does not merely say when, or if you will work, rather, “you shall work the fields . . .” implying that work is not a suggestion, it is a directive – a given.

“Adam l’amal yivalad” – “man is born to toil.” Work is the place of our distinction, where we can express our individual talents and genius. Work is how we make a difference in this world. It is the place wherein we contribute and hopefully assist in the Tikkun / perfecting of the world.

Yet, a life without the idea of Shabbat, whether it is once a week or, in the case of one who works the land, once every seven years is a life of ceaseless toil.

Ultimately, work without rest creates a situation in which we are enslaved to our work and by extension, to our possessions.

Shabbat, as it comes at the end of a work cycle, allows a respite from our materialistic involvement, a break from activity, and an allowance to just be. It is a much needed invitation to enter an oasis of time where we can be introspective, alone with G-d, ourselves and family. It is a time in which we can express ourselves as we really are, and not by what we “do.”

Shabbat is a time to be, without an expectation of a particular outcome.

Shabbat, as a day that precedes the work cycle, gives us something else entirely. Not only does it complete the past, allowing us to rest from our week of work, but it renews the week ahead. This is the Shabbat that precedes work. This Shabbat gives us a center, allowing for greater focus for the work that follows it, and giving us a glimpse into an inner freedom that is “above” and beyond, work.

The creation of the world occurred through Divine Speech – an outer expression of an inner reality.

Such is the world, with its outer layer of action and inner core of purpose.

The paradigm of 6 (days, years) reflects the six outer directions, up-down, front-back and right-left, that emanate from the center point, the inner world which is 7, Shabbat.

Thus, Shabbat, being the center point of the universe is both a place to come from and a place to go towards.

THE WEEK’S ENERGY

Rest & Re-Focus

This week’s energy is the energy of Shabbat in the cycle of time.

It is a time of rest that both allows us to take a break and simultaneously renew – centering us and refocusing us to our purpose on this earth, and allowing for a glimpse into a self that is not ‘owned’ or enslaved by the work that we do.

From this perfect place of being, we can re-energize to continue our life’s work, with renewed purpose and focus.

Shabbat comes once a week, but there are other cycles of time, such as the sabbatical year of ‘Shemita’ that reflect this rest, work, rest paradigm as well.

This week imbues us with the energy to carve out a Shabbat space for ourselves in our lives. This applies to Shabbat as it manifests on a weekly basis, and as it manifests on a personal level – whether it is taking a ‘sabbatical’ from your job, or just taking the time each day to pray and introspect.

Take the time this week to ensure that you are structuring your life around Shabbat. Be sure that you are allowing for a time of perfect rest – a space in which the work you do is irrelevant, and who you are at your core is expressed in its entirety.