Entering a New Realm of Existence Parashat Toledot concludes with Rivkah instructing Yaakov Avinu to flee to her brother’s home and to remain there ימים אחדים , which literally means, “several days.” As we know, however, Yaakov remained with Lavan for twenty years – far more than a period of time we would describe as “a few days”! This phrase appears again later in the story, in Parashat Vayetze, where we read of Yaakov’s arrangement with Lavan that he would work for seven years in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. The Torah says, ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אותה – Yaakov regarded these seven years as ימים אחדים – just a few days – because of his great love for her. Seemingly, the precise opposite should be true – if he truly loved Rachel and wished to marry her, then the seven years should have felt like an eternity, and not just several days. Rashi comments that indeed, the phrase ימים אחדים means seven years, and Rivkah’s intent was that Yaakov should live with Lavan for seven years. Thus, the seven years Yaakov worked to marry Rachel should have been the period of ימים אחדים that he was to spend with Lavan. The question remains, however, how could the term ימים אחדים be understood to mean seven years? The Beneh Yissaschar explains that the Biblical word ימים can indeed be used in reference to a year. For example, in Sefer Vayikra, the Torah tells that if a person sells a home in a walled city, ימים תהיה גאולתו – he has the option of buying it back for one year, a period referred to with the term ימים . And the word אחדים , the Beneh Yissaschar asserts, refers to Shabbat. Shabbat is אחד – one, or alone, as it has no “partner” among the other days of the week. As the Midrash comments, every two days of the week form a pair, but Shabbat stands alone, and its “partner” is the Jewish Nation. The phrase ימים אחדים , then, means “a year of Shabbatot” – a period which includes the same number of Shabbatot as the number of days in a year. This period, of course, is a period of seven years. And thus ימים אחדים means seven years, because it refers to an entire year of Shabbatot. Why did Yaakov need to work for this amount of time – for a year of Shabbatot? Rav Shalom Loewy of Lakewood explained based on the Mishnah’s ruling in Masechet Ketubot that when a couple decides to marry, the couple is given one year to prepare themselves for the wedding. Yaakov and Rachel were getting married on a higher spiritual plane; they were entering a special, spiritual marriage characterized by kedushah . As such, they needed to prepare for not just an ordinary year, but a year of Shabbatot. They needed an entire year of the spiritual power of Shabbat to elevate them to the level of kedushah they needed to reach in order to enter this very special marriage. Shabbat is called יומא דנשמתא – “the day of the soul”; it is the day of holiness and spirituality, when we live on a different plane. Therefore, as Yaakov and Rachel were planning to build a home on the foundations of kedushah , they needed not a regular year of preparation, but rather a year of Shabbatot, a year of living on the special, elevated standard of kedushah that Shabbat allows one to attain. This insight teaches us that Shabbat marks an entirely different realm of existence. Life on Shabbat is fundamentally different from life during the week. Life of Shabbat is sacred and spiritual, and occurs on a fundamentally different plane than our existence on weekdays. This concept has expression in practical halachah and custom. There is a widespread practice to recite kaddish for a departed family member from the Shabbat before the yahrtzeit until the yahrtzeit . For example, if the yahrtzeit falls on Tuesday, one recites kaddish from the Shabbat before (either from Friday night, or from Motza’eh Shabbat, depending on one’s custom) through Tuesday. The Hatam Sofer offered a fascinating explanation for this custom. He said that every person who passes on, Heaven forbid, actually has two yahrtzeit s – the more familiar yahrtzeit , which is observed on the calendar date of the person’s passing, and also the preceding Shabbat. On the Shabbat before a person dies, his נשמה יתירה , the extra soul with which he was endowed every Shabbat of his life, departed for the final time. Thus, the Shabbat marks the first yahrtzeit , in that it is the day when the person lost his נשמה יתירה for the final time. And for this reason, the Hatam Sofer suggests, the surviving family members begin reciting kaddish on the Shabbat before the yahrtzeit , commemorating the permanent loss of the deceased’s special soul of Shabbat. On Shabbat we live a completely different life, to the extent that when a person completes the final Shabbat of his life, the end of Shabbat marks the first stage of his “death,” as it is the end of his “Shabbat life,” if you will. The other halachic expression of this concept is a far more festive one – relating to the laws of a bride and groom. As we know, it is customary to celebrate a special Shabbat on the first Shabbat after a couple’s wedding, a Shabbat which is called either the “ Shabbat Hatan ” or the “ Shabbat Sheva Berachot .” Rabbi Loewy offered a beautiful explanation for this custom. He said that as every person receives a new, special soul on Shabbat, the first Shabbat after a couple’s wedding marks the “wedding” of these souls. It is the first time these souls are together as a married couple, and thus Shabbat is their second wedding day, the time when their extra souls are bound together. Since we enter a new realm of existence on Shabbat, a newly married couple gets married anew on Shabbat, as they wed on the lofty realm of Shabbat, which is separate and apart from our usual realm of existence. This insight sheds light on the halachah concerning the requirement of פנים חדשות (literally, “a new face”) at a sheva berachot celebration. The special blessings of sheva berachot are recited only if somebody attends who had not attended the wedding or a precious sheva berachot celebration. On Shabbat, however, this requirement is waived. Even if nobody new attends a sheva berachot celebration on the Shabbat after a couple’s wedding, the special blessings are recited, because Shabbat itself constitutes פנים חדשות – something new. In light of what we have seen, we understand this halachah more clearly. On the Shabbat after the wedding, the bride and groom themselves are different people, and they are getting married for the first time on the special plane of Shabbat. Everything is new and different on Shabbat, because Shabbat is a fundamentally different realm of existence, and thus פנים חדשות is not required for the recitation of the special blessings. Rabbenu Yonah writes (citing the verse in Mishleh, לתאווה יבקש נפרד ) that a relationship based solely on desire and physical drives will not endure. This is true not only of a married couple, but of all familial relationships. The strongest bonds between people are formed through a spiritual connection, through a connection of Torah, mitzvot and holiness. And therefore on Shabbat, when we live a spiritual existence, we are capable of creating especially strong bonds with our family members. The bonds created when a family goes to a restaurant on Sunday are not the same as the bonds created when a family spends time together around the Shabbat table. On Shabbat, we live in a spiritual realm, and so we are capable of creating particularly strong, meaningful and long-lasting bonds with one another. Let us try to appreciate this special realm of existence that we enter each week with the onset of Shabbat, and utilize this opportunity to elevate ourselves to higher levels of kedushah and to enhance our relationships with our family members, with our friends, and with Hashem.