Commitment to Eternal Values

It was an unusual snowy night in New York in November 2018. The winter came early that year, and the planes in JFK were unexpectedly delayed on a Thursday evening. After considerable delays, El Al Flight 002 took off from JFK en route to its destination in Tel Aviv. The crew and passengers on the flight realized it would be arriving at Ben Gurion airport dangerously close to Shabbos and began to fret about potentially flying on Shabbos. After much discussion, the pilot announced that in consideration of Shabbos, the flight would be diverted to Athens to allow anybody who chose to disembark. Not only that but the worlds only Jewish airline had made arrangements with the local Chabad in Athens to provide Shabbos accommodations. While this incident is an anomaly, El Al's policy for over 40 years has been not to fly on Shabbos or Yom Tov. This voluntary cessation of business amounts to about 60 days a year that the airline chooses not to fly. In the cutthroat environment of each airline trying to outmuscle its competitor for a bigger market share, it is nothing short of astounding that an airline chooses to keep its planes idle due to its religious convictions. Menachem Begin was a newly elected prime minister when he declared his intention to have El Al (a publicly owned airline at the time) essentially become Shomer Shabbos. Begin hailed from the Lithuanian town of Brisk, and it instilled within him a respect for his heritage and a deep appreciation of Shabbos. Begin was challenged about how much financial loss this would incur. He famously responded with these words. "We cannot engage in profit-and-loss calculations when it comes to the eternal heritage of the Jewish people. There is no way of assessing the religious, national, social, historical, and ethical values of the Sabbath day by the yardstick of financial loss or gain. In our revived Jewish State, we simply cannot engage in such calculations. If it were not for the Shabbat that restored the souls and revived the spiritual lives, week by week, of our long-suffering nation, our trials and vicissitudes would have pulled us down to the lowest levels of materialism and moral and intellectual decay." The importance of Shabbos in the life of a Jew cannot be overstated. Understanding why keeping Shabbos is so important and central to our lives is essential. The elementary understanding of Shabbos that G-d created the world in six days and rested on the seventh needs to be understood in a more sophisticated and compelling way. While not incorrect, this understanding is not sufficiently intellectually satisfying when we are well into adulthood. While oceans of ink have been spilled on this topic, and I don't think I can fully unpack it in a few words here, I nonetheless attempt to distill this idea in the best way I can. G-d created space and time for us in this world. Time is an intangible reality that our entire lives revolve around. G-d chose to manifest His presence in a specific time that is not equivalent to any other time. It means that during this time, we can connect to His presence like no other. The manifestation of holiness, spirituality, and Godliness enables a person to connect to G-d and himself during this time. This special time is, of course, the Shabbos. While one can connect to G-d at other times as well, the ease and ability to connect on Shabbos is unparalleled. For this reason, the central identity of the Jewish People for thousands of years has been the Shabbos. It is our honor to once again partner with the Kollel in hosting the Shabbos Project in our community. This incredible program allows us as a community to connect to each other, our inner selves, and, of course, G-d like no other time. In an era when we are once again being targeted because of our conviction in our faith, the Shabbos Project is a reminder of what it actually means to be a connected person of faith. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch