Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

By Rabbi Tuvia Bolton

Download as PDF

The highlights of this week are Pesech Sheni, Sfirat HaOmer and Lag B’Omer. Here is a story that connects them:

The Yom Kippur war in 1973 left Israel with thousands of war casualties, and one of them was a soldier called Mr. Sadon.

He had been lying for weeks in critical condition in Tzrifim Hospital and the doctors weren’t optimistic. But his wife, sitting by his bedside, knew better, she was sure that against all odds everything would be all right.

Our story begins as she was writing a letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe about him.

He had never been an observant Jew, but she had been; her grandparents had been Chabad Chassidim and her parents religious Jews but she left it all when she was just fourteen, to be like her friends. That’s the way things went in Israel.

But writing to the Rebbe in the time of need was not strange to her.

In the hospital bed next to Mr. Sadon lay a Moroccan Jew called Shapir who also had been severely wounded and when he saw that Mrs. Sadon was writing to the Rebbe his eyes lit up. He motioned her to come close and handed her a small book of Psalms (3 sq. cm.), a family heirloom given to him by his grandfather. He begged her to send it to the Rebbe with her letter and request that he sign it. So Mrs. Sadon added the T’hillim to her letter and mailed them off.

After sending the letter things began to improve for her husband to the degree that two weeks later the hospital informed him that they needed the bed for more serious cases and he was well enough to leave.

They said farewell to Shapir, wished him well and after a few months at home things began to return to normal, until one day Mrs. Sadon received a small envelope in the mail from the office of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

She opened it to discover the tiny book of Psalms that Shapir had given her, inscribed with a short blessing and signed by the Rebbe in extremely small print, and a letter addressed to her.

The Rebbe repeated the blessings he wrote in the small book, added a few more, and explained that although it was not his custom to sign holy books he had made an exception. But at the bottom of his letter to her the Rebbe had written a footnote:

“P.S. Apparently you already light Shabbat Candles like every Kosher Jewish woman.”

The next morning Mrs. Sadon called the hospital, only to discover that Mr. Shapir had recovered and left weeks earlier. She got his number from the phonebook, but there was no answer at his house. So she mailed him a letter telling him about his T’hillim, and waited for a response.

Sure enough two weeks later she heard a knock at her door and it was none other than a beaming Mr. Shapir. He hadn’t been home. He had been in a recuperation center for the last few weeks, and as soon as he arrived home and saw her letter, he took a taxi to her house. It wasn’t long before he was joyously reporting the stages of his miraculous recovery, and marveling over the Rebbe’s inscription in his little book.

But the Rebbe’s footnote in her letter still burned in her mind. She had left Jewish observance years ago for very good reasons; it was old-fashioned, closed minded, unpopular, impractical, she didn’t like the religious way of life or religious people, none of her friends were religious ect. Why should she start now?

But the Rebbe’s words kept repeating: “Light candles like every Jewish woman”.

Little by little she warmed up to the idea. After all, the Rebbe did write it to her, and the Rebbe just helped her and so many others … so it can’t be THAT bad.

So after a few weeks of this she decided to just do it! This Friday she would light Shabbos candles!

She even went to the store and bought candles and two small candleholders. But when she arrived home, she realized that she didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t know when to light them, or where to put them. She didn’t even known the blessing, and most embarrassing of all; she didn’t even know whom to ask!

She stood there confused for several minutes and she felt a tremendous urge to just put it off for another week, when suddenly the phone rang.

It was her oldest son calling from the army; his weekend leave had been cancelled, and before he could continue, she said, “Oh that’s too bad, I was looking forward to seeing you. Tell me son, is the Army Rabbi there? I want to ask him something.”

A few minutes later the Rabbi was on the phone and answering her questions. He dictated the blessing, and even promised that he would send her a “Kitzur Shulchan Aruch” (Jewish Law book) with her son on his next leave. Mrs. Sadon hung up the phone and did what he said.

She lit the candles, put her hands over her eyes, slowly said the blessing and just stood there.

When she uncovered her eyes suddenly everything was different. Suddenly everything was so pure and quiet.

She was so happy… She cried.

Of course, it didn’t stop there; little by little the Shabbat candles began changing their lives.

The next Friday, after lighting the candles she felt that some of the pictures and statues in the room sort-of “clashed” with the light from the flames. So she moved the offenders to a different room altogether.

Then they bought a few Torah books for their bookcase, and the T.V. became silent on Shabbos.

Finally, she decided to contact the local Chabad House to make her Kitchen Kosher.

Then things really began to move. It wasn’t long before there were Mezuzas on all the doors. Mr. Sadon bought himself his first pair of T’fillin, and even began attending Torah classes a few times a week. Their Jewish souls had been activated by the Rebbe and the Shabbos candles.

This is the message of “Pesach Sheni”, “Counting the Omer”, and “Lag B’Omer”:

“Pesach Sheni” teaches, “IT’S NEVER TOO LATE”.

In the time of the Holy Temple one who missed the most important sacrifice of the year; the Pesach Offering, could make it up a month later on Pesach Sheni. As the Sadons learned in our story it’s never too late to begin something good; begin NOW.

The second lesson they learned is the message of “Counting the Omer”. To improve constantly. This Namely to increase and always add holiness and light. (The word for ‘Counting’ (Safar) is the same as “Shining”; to illuminate our lives with more meaning and responsibility. “)

And finally they learned the message of “Lag B’Omer” (the day Rashb’y passed away). Namely the importance of Tzadikim. Just as the Rebbe saved all those in our story so to the entire world depends on Tzadikim.

That’s one reason the holiday of Lag B’Omer is celebrated with huge bonfires. Rabbi Shimon illuminated the world with the Zohar, just as the Rebbe illuminated the Sadon’s lives, and continues to illuminate the entire world today with the light of Moshiach.

All this is in this week’s Torah reading, Emor, besides containing the commandment of the Omer (22:15) and counting the Omer puts special emphasis on Shabbos calling it “All the holidays of G-d.” (23: 2,3).

As Mrs. Sadon learned when she began with Shabbos lights, all holiness begins with the Shabbos.

That is why the coming of Moshiach is also called the “Day that is totally Shabbos”. Because from it, the entire world will be illuminated with ever increasing holiness.

And not much is missing: After thousands of years of Jewish suffering and praying it could be just one more good deed, word or even THOUGHT will bring ….

Moshiach NOW!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

21