Welcoming Shabbos to our Home...........

בס''ד

Erev Shabbos! For me this is the most beautiful night of the entire week, the time for the four r’s …. reflect, relax, read and rest. I love to watch the flames of my shabbos candles gently flicker, as I wait for Avraham to come home from shul.

The lighting of shabbos candles is of rabbinic origin. [Maimonidies, Hilchot Shabbat 5:1] and it is traditional to light two candles, zohar to remember the Shabbos and shamor to observe the Shabbos.

Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it-Exodus 20:8

In our family, we have a tradition to light one candle for each member of the family. Baruch Hashem, I light twenty candles.

May we always have bright light!

 

Sitting around the shabbos table singing and welcoming the shabbos and knowing that we are not going to have to gulp down food because there are so many other things to do, is a welcome relief.  No phone, computer, television to disturb the next twenty-five hours. 

We 'welcome' the angels who accompanied Avraham home from shul by singing Sholom Aleichem, (May peace be upon you).

We learn from the Talmud that when you come home from shul [synagogue] on Friday night, you are accompanied by two angels -- a good angel and a bad angel. If the table is beautifully set and there is a peaceful atmosphere in the home, then the good angel says, So may it be next week, and the bad angel is forced to say, Amen -- so may it be! But if the house is a mess (both physically and emotionally), then the bad angel says, So may it be next week, and the good angel is forced to say, Amen!

The song praising the Eishes Chayil of the home is alphabetical, with lines beginning with all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a special tribute to the Jewish woman. This song, written by King Solomon, sings the praises of the “woman of valor,” extolling her for her love, work and the light she brings to the Jewish home.

Eishes Chayil is part of Sefer Mishlei, a Sefer of great wisdom. The Rabbis say that the “Eishes Chayil” in its deeper meaning, is speaking about the Torah. 

After standing for kiddush, washing and making hamotsi, our Shabbat meal begins. The food that we have prepared L’kavod Shabbos has a sweet special taste, the taste of Shabbos.

Shabbat Shalom to everyone! May your Shabbos be restful, meaningful and quiet!

Until next time..feel free to comment and pass around.

Miriam  

בס''ד

The Day of Rest...........

For my family, Shabbos is a restful, peaceful day. It is the day when I’m not yapping on the telephone, I’m not on the computer checking my e-mail, surfing, blogging, looking at my Facebook page or finding worksheets for my students.

It is the day when I relax. I can daven, say Tehillim or just read the Hamodia [newpaper] without having to get up a hundred times. My husband and I go for a long walk almost everyday, but on Shabbos, when we are not rushed, the walk is so much more enjoyable.

The Shabbos food is all prepared. The mouth watering aroma of the cholent warming on the plata [Shabbos hotplate] permeates the entire house.

The table is set with a beautiful white tablecloth, our once a week dishes and cutlery that belonged to my mother-in-law a"h. The Kiddish cup is shining, but the most beautiful and meaningful item on the table is the little ‘yellow pepper salt shaker’ that my granddaughters, Adi and Talia bought for me.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When the Shabbos day comes to an end and before Havdalah, I say a very beautiful Tefillah [prayer] three times, that my Mother a”h and Bubby a”h use to say. “Gott Fun Avroham” [G-D of Avroham]. This Tefillah, written by Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, known as the Defender of the Jewish people, asks Hashem to grant us a good week filled with good health, children, kindness...........
 
Several years ago, I wrote a poem about this Tefillah.

Gott Fun Avroham

This beautiful Tefillah

my Mother a"h would say
at the end of Shabbos
so many years ago.

Composed by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev
in Mama Loshen
a language
many Jewish children today do not know.


Several years ago
while buying a new Siddur
I came upon my Mother’s Tefillah.

Reading its powerful words,
immediately I knew,
these were the words I wanted to say
at the end of Shabbos
and to start the new week.


G-D of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov
protect your people Israel……..
is the first sentence of this Tefillah.

The Tefillah continues to ask
Ha Kodesh Baruch Hu
that the coming week bring
perfect faith, love and attachment
to the Creator, friends and scholars.


We request at the end of the Tefillah
that the coming week should bring
kindness, good fortune, success,
good health, wealth, honor,
children, life and sustenance
for us and all Israel.


So ladies don’t delay
when the Shabbos ends
and just before Havdalah
take a few minutes
and recite this Tefillah three times.

You will see,
you will feel
a special warmth
and a new meaning
to the start of a new week.

This Tefillah can be found in the English / Hebrew The Complete ArtScroll Siddur both Nusach Sefard and Ashkenaz.

Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev


1740-1809, Chassidic leader, one of the foremost disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch; renowned for his all-encompassing love and compassion for the Jewish people and for every individual Jew.

For more information about Rav Levi Yitzchak:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1007604/jewish/A-Brief-Biography.htm

http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/berditchev.htm

This past October was 200 years since his passing and on the Arutz Sheva site there was a very inspiring article.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133822

Until next time......

Feel free to pass my blog around.

Miriam