Shabbos: Spreading the Light
Understanding Shabbos through the lens of Parashas Vayera
Starting 2013, the Shabbos Project is marked on Parashas Vayeira. It began with Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in South Africa and grew into a global kiruv movement. Families across every sector of Judaism join Orthodox communities to bake challah and rediscover the gift of Shabbos. Rabbi Goldstein explains the connection to Vayeira through Avraham and Sarah’s tent, open on all four sides, a vision of hospitality and relief from the heat.
This is a beautiful idea, and I believe we can understand this on a much deeper level. Before the light of Shabbos reaches the guests, it must envelop the host. Parashas Vayeira shows how light moves from inside a person into the world through simple acts of chesed.
As I’ve been tracing the past few weeks: Adam struggled to live with the Ohr Ein Sof, the light of Shabbos. Noach lived with it but could not hold or translate it. Avraham discovered that real understanding begins within and then carries the light into ordinary days. That is the turn from a…
