Calendars often list two zmanim for Shabbos: one, typically unlabeled, and another ending later titled “Rabbeinu Taam.” It’s a misnomer, though. While Rabbeinu Taam’s Shabbos indeed ends later, as listed, it also begins later, and the time listed as the beginning of Shabbos on those calendars can be so early that Rabbeinu Taam would have considered it forbidden to start Shabbos so early! Today, the difference is academic. Every Jewish community starts Shabbos with sundown, but recalling a time when that was not so and how it came to be is important. Shabbos is a day of love. Klal Yisroel demonstrates its love for Hashem through Shabbos observance, and, Shabbos also speaks of Hashem’s love for His world. That’s why, when yom tov coincides with Shabbos, we add the word “b’ahavah” to prayers throughout the day. The word “ahavah” covers all affections, from that which motivates a soldier to sacrifice himself for his country to the one-sided liking a diner has for spaghetti. All of them share a common point: the one loving is happy the loved one exists. He wants the loved one to exist. That being the case, Creation was the greatest act of love ever, and Shabbos commemorates it. In studying the history of opinions regarding the timing of Shabbos, we also uncover a third love to which Shabbos testifies: the love Yidden have for each other. For that reason, those opinions are worth exploring.
The sun descends every Friday whether the kugel is ready, the challah is baked, and even if traffic is stopped. It refuses to give us even a few extra minutes. But it was not always so. Many righteous Yidden of the past never raced against the sun on Friday, and worked even long after it had set. How that could be, and why it is no longer so, requires some explanation. Shabbos begins at night. There was, after all, erev and then boker — evening and then morning. Night, however, is a fluid concept. English labels the degrees of darkness one might
November 25, 2020 / THE MONSEY VIEW / 187 www.themonseyview.com / 845.600.8484