| A Message from the Kalever Rebbe | |
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| Keeping Shabbos properly brings Divine protection | |
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 | The Jewish Hospital in Posen - built by Rebbe Akiva Eiger |
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| "When you take the count of the Children of Israel ..." (Shemos 30:12) | |
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| R' Akiva Eiger, zt"l, once visited a sick man in his city, and found him suffering from a very severe illness. He sent for the royal physician to come and try to heal the patient. | |
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| The doctor came and examined the man, and declared that this was an illness for which there was no cure. | |
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| R' Akiva Eiger asked him, "If a member of the royal family were stricken with this very illness, would you also say there is no cure?" | |
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| The doctor replied: "Indeed, a member of the royal family once fell ill with this very disease. Since I knew that the king has extraordinary resources at his disposal, I told him there was one remedy — though exceedingly difficult to obtain — the flesh of a certain bird found only in a dangerous desert in a distant land. The king dispatched entire battalions of soldiers to scour the desert, and after tremendous effort, they managed to capture a single bird. Its flesh was prepared for the patient; he ate it and was healed. But since an ordinary person has no means of obtaining such a bird, I must say that for this patient, there is no cure." | |
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| R' Akiva Eiger returned home, entered his room, and lifted his voice in prayer saying, "Our Father in Heaven, King of Kings! The Jewish people are Your children, and Chazal have said (Shabbos 111a) that 'all of Israel are children of kings.' Now, one of Your children is in need of that rare bird from the distant desert — please, send it to him here!" | |
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| Only minutes passed before that very bird came fluttering against the window of R' Akiva Eiger's home. He immediately ordered that it be caught and its flesh fed to the sick man — and the patient was healed. | |
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| The Royal Scepter of Shabbos | |
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| Based on this story, we can explain what we find in the words of Chazal — and what has been witnessed throughout the generations — that observing Shabbos has the power to bring salvations and healings beyond the laws of nature. | |
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| By keeping Shabbos, we demonstrate that we know and believe we are children of our Father in Heaven, who provides us with all our needs. As a sign of this bond, He gave us the Shabbos, which is like the scepter of the King of Kings — forbidden for others to use. | |
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| And in this merit, Hashem treats us in return as a royal father who does everything for the good of his child. | |
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| A Shield Against Our Enemies | |
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| On this subject, there are many stories of what has been witnessed firsthand throughout the generations: in the merit of keeping Shabbos, Hashem guards the Jewish people from their enemies and those who seek their harm, in extraordinary ways that transcend the natural order. As Chazal have said (Shabbos 118b): when the Jewish people keep Shabbos properly, no other nation can rule over them. | |
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| So too did Dovid HaMelech say in Tehillim (27:3), "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, in this I trust." (Tehillim 27:3) | |
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| The seforim explain that Shabbos is called "zos" ("this"), as it is written (Yeshayahu 56:2): "Fortunate is the man who does 'this,' and the person who holds fast to it — who keeps the Shabbos from desecrating it." This is what Dovid HaMelech meant when he said "in 'this' I trust" — I trust in the merit of Shabbos observance no one can harm me. | |
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| We also find that Chazal say (Shabbos 118b), that Amalek came to wage war against Israel in the desert, only because there were those among the Jewish people who did not keep Shabbos properly. For had they all observed Shabbos, it would have protected them and ensured that the Amalek could never have fought against them. | |
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| And regarding this very war with Amalek, it is written: "And it was, when Moshe raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed." (Shemos 17:11) | |
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| Chazal ask (Rosh Hashanah 3:8): "Could Moshe's hands win a war or lose a war? Rather, this teaches us that whenever the Jewish people looked upward and directed their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they would prevail; and when they did not, they would fall." | |
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| Moshe Rabbeinu raised his hands to inspire them to look upward to Hashem, to strengthen themselves in emunah and draw closer to Him — and then they merited divine protection. | |
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| Similarly, Chazal say (Shabbos 119b): "Yerushalayim was destroyed only because they desecrated the Shabbos." | |
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| The seforim explain that the very existence of the Jewish people upon their land requires miraculous intervention that defies the laws of nature. If the Jewish people were confined by the laws of nature, how could they survive and exist among all the nations — the enemies of Israel — like a single sheep surrounded by seventy wolves? | |
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| Yet when the Jewish people keep the Shabbos — through which they internalize the emunah that Hashem creates and directs the natural world and has the power to alter it — they merit a supernatural divine protection. But when they desecrate the Shabbos, they lose that very protection. | |
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| The Hidden Allusion in "Ki Tisa" | |
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| Perhaps this is what is alluded to in Hashem's words to Moshe Rabbeinu: "Ki tisa es rosh 'Bnei' Yisrael" — when you act to raise the heads of the Jewish people, that they should always remember they are children of the King of Kings; "lifkudeihem" — at a time when there is some deficiency or trouble; the path forward is "v'nasnu ish" — the word איש is an acronym for "יִשְׁמְרוּ אֶת שַׁבְּתוֹתַי" — "They shall keep My Sabbaths" (cf. Yeshayahu 56:4). You should influence them to devote themselves with even greater strength and vigor to Shabbos observance. | |
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| This will be "kofer nafsho l'Hashem bifkod osam" — a ransom for his soul before Hashem — for Shabbos brings atonement for sins. | |
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| And then, "v'lo yihyeh bahem negef bifkod osam" — there will be no plague among them — for in the merit of Shabbos observance, one merits divine protection and long, good lives. | |
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