No Holiness Without Preparation | Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos #256

Good Shabbos. Today is not Friday. Today is erev Shabbos. We still can't hear music because we're in that time and period of the year, but we hear the music playing in our head as we are counting up, getting ready and excited for Shabbos. We always need Shabbos. Who doesn't need Shabbos? Turn Friday into erev Shabbos. Today is sponsored by Mendy Spira Fishman. It's sponsored by Alfredo in memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. And it is also sponsored by the P4P team, Professionals for Positions. For inquiries, email Mark with a C, M A R C, at p4p.team, t e a m. Friday, today is not Friday as we say. Today is erev Shabbos. Our parsha Kedoshim, two parshas, Acharei Mos Kedoshim. What does it mean Kedoshim? Kedusha, live a life of holiness. And there are all kinds of answers, the Ramban, Rashi, interpretation, separate, apart, different. But there's another definition of Kedoshim that I think has relevance for us as we're getting ready, as we're getting excited, as we're counting up for Shabbos. And that is the Mesillas Yesharim says, "Be simply Kedoshim ki Kedusha ani." "V'havdal eschem." The Rebbe, the Rebbe of Shmuel Menachem Nickelsburg, understood, he teitch Kedoshim tiyu ki Kedusha ani, Kedoshim milashon hachana. The word holy or sacred comes from readiness, preparation. Holiness and sanctity is not something you stumble upon. You don't simply fall into it. A person has to get ready. A person has to prepare. A person has to adjust. A person has to get in a mindset and put themselves in a space and a place. She'atit tamid muchan umzuman um lashros hakadosha. We have to be a vessel in order to receive that sanctity and that holiness. You know, someone can give you the greatest gift in the world, all this money, all these jewels, but if you have nothing to collect it, nothing to hold it, you walk away empty-handed. Shabbos comes, Hashem, it's his greatest gift he gives us. We're in the middle of this technology challenge. We're 5 days in. And baruch Hashem, close to 2,300 people taking part in it. Every day a little challenge for 30 days, just 30 days. And we're trying to reestablish our relationship with our phones and with our technology. We're trying to step back and stop being addicted so that there's space for all this blessing that there is all around us, including the holy and the sacred Shabbos. Shabbos almost doesn't need a challenge because Shabbos itself for 24, 25 hours, we disconnect from technology and to-dos and tasks, and we reconnect to what matters, ourselves, Hashem, our family, the people around us. But there's this gift, there's this storehouse, there's this treasure. Matana tova yesh li b'veit ginzai, as Yeshayahu says, "I have a gift for you that I'm holding called Shabbos." But if you give me the gift and I have nothing to collect it, nothing to hold it, then I'm not ready for it. A person has to be in a place to get ready. That's the charge of Kedoshim tiyu. You want a Shabbos kodesh? The kedusha, the Shabbos kodesh, the holiness of Shabbos is getting ready. It's today. It's the avoda of today. Turning our Friday into erev Shabbos. We change the clock. Fridays are now longer. There are almost no excuses to get ready, to be ready earlier, to have be waiting for Shabbos instead of Shabbos be waiting for us because we're running late or in the last or our 18 minutes. Ki Kedosh ani Hashem. What's the lommer it says Rebbe Shmuel? Kedosh Baruch muchan umzuman tamid lashros aleichem hakadosha. Hashem is always waiting. He's ready. He wants to shower us with blessing, with bracha. Im tachinu atzmachem yad tishre aleichem. But we have to be that vessel. We have to be prepared. We have to be ready. We have to be able to capture it. Be simply Kedoshim she'atit atem hachana l'kabel hakadosha milmala. Ki Kedosh ani Hashem muchan lashpia aleichem kedusha. So the way he understood it, not connected to Shabbos in particular, but generally speaking, Hashem is always ready and prepared. He wants to bestow upon us. He has gifts he wants to grant us and give us. But we have to be in that place. We have to be able to receive. We have to be open to connecting. That's the avoda of Friday, the hachana, the preparation, because ein kedusha b'li hachana. There is no holiness without preparation. So today is not Friday. Today is erev Shabbos. Get ready and be ready and be excited and joyful and be simcha. Be happy while you're doing it. Setting the table, preparing the food, setting up the lechter, showering, getting dressed, being ready. We don't normally the music that normally accompanies us and gets us ready and in the mood we don't have, so we have to work even harder. But that hachana. You want a beautiful Shabbos? You want a transformative Shabbos? You want a Shabbos that stays with you and lasts forever? It doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't happen if we're casual. It doesn't happen because we didn't prepare. We have to prepare. We have to get ready. So, that's your homework. Some preparations you don't need me to tell you. We all know we have to cook and set the table and get ready. But do you have a dvar Torah? Do you have a great story? Do you have a great question? Do you have great reading material? Do you have great things that you want to learn? Have you set aside which shiur you want to go to? Are you prepared coming into the Shabbos? Is there a plan how it's going to be a sacred one? Don't stumble. Don't trip. But come into Shabbos strong. Come empowered. Come ready. Be that vessel so Hashem can give us that matana tova. He'll give us that sacred and that great gift. We'll be able to receive it. We'll be transformed and changed by it. Ein kedusha b'li hachana. Kedoshim tiyu. If you want a Shabbos that's kodesh, turn Friday into erev Shabbos by going and getting ready.