The Havdalah, the separation "between the sacred and the profane"
" The Havdalah"
On Shabbat night, we again experience several of the reasons that we had found with the arrival of Shabbat, when we received the Queen of Shabbat we recited blessings on candles, on perfumes and in Kiddush, on a glass of wine.
Now we bid him farewell in a very similar way, reciting the blessings of the Havdala ceremony over the wine, over the perfume, and over the light of a multiple candle.
Not only the themes but also the liturgy of each of these two ceremonies are parallel. In Kiddush we testify about the higher Holiness of Shabbat by reciting the passage from "Vaiejulu" proclaiming that the Creator made the world exist during the six days of creation, but that on the seventh day His task ceased and of course Holy to Shabbat.
In the blessing of the Havdala, we proclaim that the Creator "separated the sacred from the profane, the light from the darkness, the seventh day of the six days of the week"
These parallels in practice and in the liturgy they reveal the main purpose they have in common to receive Shabbat when it arrives and to dismiss it when it departs:
"To infuse the days of the week with the sanctity of the Seventh Day."
We can sharply discern their relationship if, instead of thinking of Shabbat as the end of the week, we consider its central place in creation as reflected in its position in the order of days.
In fact, Shabbat is the middle of the week, located after the fourth, fifth and sixth days and preceding the first, the second and the third.
The precepts of the arrival of the kid are retroactive, illuminating the 3 days of the week that have already passed. The parallel precepts that we fulfill immediately after the departure of Shabbat are anticipatory, illuminating the 3 days of the week that lie ahead. Its purpose is the same to bring spiritual rectification to the days of the week ...
(Exact from The Seventh Heaven, Rabbi Najman)
We will continue next week, explaining the meaning of wine, species aromatic and fire.
The Garden of Breslev recommends you: