His Perpetual Presence
I have a neighbor in Lyon who is an unaffiliated Jew. He has made it a steady practice to do his weekly shopping on Shabbat. He knows that he is violating the Shabbat by his transgressions and therefore tries not to meet up with me on his return home. Every Shabbat morning, he delays his return from the supermarket to an hour he is certain that I am home, enjoying the Shabbat meal.
One Shabbat, we celebrated a Shabbat Chatan. Due to the extra aliyot and the festivities in the Beit Hakeneset, the tefillah of Shacharit was extended by an hour. As I made my way home, I was chagrined to find my neighbor driving up in his car, returning from his errands.
Upon seeing me in my Shabbat attire, bedecked with my tallit, enrobed in sanctity and serenity, he sank into shame. He lost control of the vehicle and instead of stopping, his car surged forward. I had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck down.
The next day, the fellow came to me and apologized for insulting my sensitivities by profaning the Shabbat in my presence.
I rebuked him strongly, “You should know that you are acting like a blind man in the dark. Did you never think that anyone is watching you? Hashem’s glory fills the world. He sees all your deeds during any given moment and day of the week. He sees how you consistently desecrate this holy day, but delays punishment, in the hope that you will repent. How can you not fear Him?!”
A similar incident happened, when I was on my way home from a brit milah, one Shabbat. As I was walking home, I noticed a Jew smoking a cigarette. When he noticed me, his face was enflamed in shame. Without waiting another moment, the man fled from me, deeply humiliated by his misdeed.
A few days later, I felt the time was ripe to reprimand him. “What happened to you this past Shabbat?” I demanded. “Why did you run away from me as soon as you saw me?”
“I was so ashamed that you had caught me red-handed,” was his reply.
“You were ashamed of me?” I asked, in wonder. “You ought to be ashamed of the King of the universe, the One Who commanded (Shemot 35:3), ‘You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwellings on the Shabbat day.’ You should fear Him, and not me, an ordinary human being, commanded to keep the Shabbat just like you.
“You felt embarrassed only once you realized I had caught you ‘red-handed,’ as you eloquently put it. How can you not feel shame before Hashem, Who sees you every minute of your life, and from Whom nothing is hidden?!”
I truly hope that my words influenced him to repent his wrongdoing and never repeat it.
