"Six days mayest thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Shabbos of Hashem thy G-d."
Parshat Yitro comes down to earth amid heavenly lights and the sound of thunder to introduce the ten principles of reality that elevated Klal Yisrael to an eternal people and changed the world forever. Among these principles is a cyclic resting and bonding practice known as Shabbat. As a dependable and unchanging rhythm, Shabbat promises the secret to enjoying life, by accustoming us to a certain Shabbat state of mind.
Shabbat is a limiting power. Although we draw satisfaction from the work of our hands - feeling ourselves a partner in creation, taking His raw materials and reorganizing them to bless His creatures - we nonetheless take the time to hold back this aspect of ourselves to allow our hearts to flow. Shabbat is the flame: of relationship, inspiration, and family. Perhaps this is represented by the two candles - one the flame of our constant soul, the other our Shabbat soul, which allows us to savor the goodness of creation and the unexpected blessings we receive every day.
This past Thursday, Israel's first astronaut, Israel Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Elan Ramon, went into space aboard a US space shuttle.
A shuttle flight can remind us of Shabbat. Money and time are invested. We need extra provisions because we won't be shopping for a while. Toward sunset, all the ritual details are in order. With an anxious awareness of the clock, someone finally announces the benediction that signals the kindling of two tall lights. They continue to burn until we escape from the earthly gravity that holds us back. Even under ideal conditions, great energy is required for this (in the case of a shuttle, perhaps 200,000 tons of thrust).
The lamps burn out and fall away as our self -contained flame carries us through the new realm. The world is left behind for a period timed according to the positioning of the heavenly bodies. We set meals specially prepared for this time, and we eat them with conscious awareness of the special atmosphere we are in. (You can't eat or drink the usual way; everything floats in zero gravity.)
Millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours go into each shuttle flight. Should we not invest something significant into Shabbat, which is infinitely more relevant? Am Yisrael has a mission. Each of us is a member of the crew, but it takes lots of training: training of the heart. Just as an astronaut spends hundreds of hours in a flight simulator, we stand every day in simulation of a meticulously maintained platform of fire kindled to connect us to the heavens.
After expending this initial energy and arriving at the correct altitude, the craft reaches orbit and remains there, balanced between the pull of the earth's gravity and the centripetal force pushing it outward as it careens around the earth. Just a bit of booster rocket is required now and then to adjust for stray atmospheric friction that wears down the craft's altitude.
So it is with us: after the struggle to attain proper kavannah, our hearts flow forward, balanced between the loftiness of word and feeling and pulled down by our material existence. We only need to stop, breathe, and re-center now and then when stray thoughts of the week peek in.
Lt. Col. Ramon's mother survived Auschwitz, but a 14-year-old artist never made it out of Teriesenstadt. Ramon brought the boy's moonscape painting, as well as a small Tanach, with him into space. This first Israeli astronaut (and seventh member of the shuttle crew) took off last Thursday and should again be with his family on Sunday. How fitting that the two parshiot during his flight, Beshallach and Yitro, are of cosmic significance.
Parshat Beshallach describes the splitting of the Sea of Reeds - the release of tremendous energy required for aliyah (going up) -from a low place (Egypt). Here appear for the first time the "… column of cloud, to guide them in the way, and a column of fire…" (After escaping the atmosphere, the shuttle jettisons two immense "columns" [rocket shells] that glow in flames as they fall to earth.)
Our parasha, Yitro, details our journey to an unknown, barren place to receive, amid smoke and fire, information of a valuable and compelling nature: as echoed by the nature of this shuttle mission. (A NASA official described this flight as containing a wealth of important and varied scientific experiments, more than have been performed in years.)
Last week, Lt. Gen. Elan Ramon witnessed, in one sweeping view, what Hashem took six days to create. Let us bless him to share with us a peaceful Shabbat in space and the hope that his safe return will herald the return of all Am Yisrael to our native soil.