{"id":99154,"date":"2022-11-20T05:49:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T03:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=99154"},"modified":"2022-11-24T23:34:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T21:34:04","slug":"the-magnetic-force-of-shabbat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/the-magnetic-force-of-shabbat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magnetic Force of Shabbat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Magnetic Force of Shabbat<\/strong><\/p>\n

A disciple whom I merited to bring to teshuvah became engaged, but his fianc\u00e9e was on a much lower level of mitzvah observance than he was. I remarked to him that I did not think they were suitable for each other. His fianc\u00e9e was not observant and seemingly lacked yirat Shamayim<\/em>. I have seen from experience that a huge spiritual disparity in two people is a recipe for a disastrous marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to make a suggestion,\u201d I offered. \u201cSend your fianc\u00e9e to a religious seminary, where she will taste the sweetness of a Torah lifestyle. Afterward, we will see if she is fit for you.\u201d I added that she should eat at my home for two Shabbatot. I would gauge whether she had a true desire to embrace Torah Judaism or not.<\/p>\n

The first Shabbat that she came, we celebrated the Shabbat meals with the usual festivity. We made Kiddush, sang zemirot<\/em>, danced a bit with the children, and said divrei Torah<\/em>. We tried to transmit a pleasant, homey feeling to this girl, while attempting to see what she was all about. During the course of the meal, I noticed tears forming in her eyes, and then coursing down her cheeks. Then I heard her sigh, \u201cHow sweet is a life of Torah.\u201d Her emotions rose until she turned to me in question. \u201cHonored Rav,\u201d she began, \u201cis this what Judaism offers its adherents? Until today, I assumed that a rabbi is a stern-faced man who is strict regarding mitzvah observance. I never knew a rabbi could sing, and always thought one would be mean and domineering with his children. But now I see that I was sorely mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cWhen I leave my house, I behave with the dignity appropriate for a representative of the Torah. But in my home, I am first and foremost a father. A father must be soft-natured and pleasant toward his children. His children must sense his love for Torah and mitzvot. But this, too, must be done in measure. When the need arises, I must behave firmly with my children, as I am also their educator.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the meal\u2019s end, the girl stated that she prayed that Hashem would forgive her for past sins done unknowingly. On Motza\u2019ei Shabbat, she changed into clothes befitting a Jewish daughter.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. At the grave of the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Shammai Zohn, zt\u201dl<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The sanctity and sights of Shabbat, depicting a Jewish home run in peace and joy ignited the spark within her soul, until she merited coming home.<\/p>\n

    My disciple married this wonderful girl, a genuine ba\u2019alat teshuvah, and together they built a true Jewish home.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Magnetic Force of Shabbat A disciple whom I merited to bring to teshuvah became engaged, but his fianc\u00e9e was on a much lower level of mitzvah observance than he was. I remarked to him that I did not think they were suitable for each other. His fianc\u00e9e was not observant and seemingly lacked yirat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":99758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shabbat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}