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Am I A Mechalel Shabbos?


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#1 trying4eva

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Posted 26 November 2011 - 06:40 PM

What exactly goes under the title of "breaking shabbos?"
If for example, I put on makeup or bite my nails am I mechalel shabbos?
Obviously, understand that this is something that I am working on. Yet, am I considered a "goy" and am I going to be punished for this?

#2 taon

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Posted 27 November 2011 - 11:37 PM

It can be being mechallel Shabbos. And that's it. Not that you're a Shabbos desecrator, or somehow a goy, or a rasha or anything else. Just someone who has sometimes fallen and keeps trying. That's all any of us can be. And if you can't do it all at once, then you aren't expected to.

#3 smillingirl

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Posted 27 November 2011 - 11:52 PM

Why do I have to keep shabbos anyways?

#4 trying4eva

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Posted 28 November 2011 - 11:18 AM

So am I on the same note as an irreligous jew who can't touch nonmevusal wine?

#5 taon

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Posted 11 December 2011 - 06:15 PM

Why do you have to accept gifts? Take vacation? Eat?

It's hard to feel the enjoyment of Shabos sometimes. It would help to learn the aggadic side of Shabbos, and to find, if possible, a Shabaton program. Do any local Rebbetzins or girl yeshivos have anything? At least a shalosh seudos? With the right connection, you can feel what Shabbos is about. meanwhile, just know you are physicaly, mentally, and spiritually gaining from it. Read this from Rav Shapiro (I believe) from the old site:

SHABBOS & TORAH

In Part II we saw that the world was created through hiding and blocking of Hashem’s light. As each day of creation passed, more and more light was hidden from the universe.

Until Shabbos. Shabbos celebrates the end of the hiding, the end of the darkness. The thing about Shabbos is, that Shabbos should really have been the first day of the next week. If nothing was created on Shabbos, well, nothing was created on ANY day after the first 6. So what’s so great about Shabbos? Why is it different than any day after the 6 up until today?

The answer is that after the 6 days of creation, if there was nothing left to create, the week should have been over. The next day should have begun the first day of the next week, and we would have a 6 day week. But Hashem specifically made another day in the cycle where, even though another day was created, there was no additional physical thing that came into the world. Meaning, a day was CREATED where Hashem’s light was NOT hidden. This was able to happen because the amount of physical things in the world really should have taken 7 whole days to create. Instead, Hashem “rushed” and created them in 6. So the 7th day is the Day of Hashem’s Light, the day when the darkness ended.

Shabbos is a day which, if you are in tune with it, you can experience a bit of what is “behind the cardboard”. It is a day when, just like the first Shabbos, there is newness – an additional day that did not previously exist – but without the darkness of the physical universe. That is why we say Shabbos is “like Olam Habah”, which is the world “behind the cardboard mechitzah”. Shabbos is the day when we can rise above time, space, and physical restrictions.

That’s if you’re on that level. For us, at least if we keep Shabbos, that light effects our souls, it strengthens them, for our souls came from the “other side” of the mechitzah, and they are in a foreign environment here. They came from light, here to live in darkness. Keeping Shabbos imbues our souls with the light they so dearly miss, and strengthens them for the next week or darkenss, and forever.

Torah, too, is from “behind the curtain”. It is that Essence of Hashem, it is what makes Hashem Hashem. When we learn Torah we plug in to the light that this world hides. Torah, too, exhilarates our Neshomas, charging them with a power that comes from Hashem’s world behind the Mechitzah.

Those two entities – Shabbos and Torah – are the highest voltage vitalization possible for our Neshomos. That is why a non-Jew is forbidden to both keep Shabbos or learn Torah. Their Neshomos are from a different place, made from different stuff; it “short circuits” them to plug into the light on the other side of the Mechitzah. The Jewish Neshomah, on the other hand, lives off that light. That is why Shabbos is called Yoma D’Nishmasa, “The Day of the Neshomah”.


Edited by - admindealing on 7/19/2000 10:03:33 PM
MODERATOR Posted - 20 July 2000 16:51 Temima, I hear you. And your’e right – for most people, Shabbos does not feel like that. But please bear in mind that it’s not Shabbos that is your problem – its’ your family. There is no teenager that I have ever met that had a problem with religion. The problem is always something else in their lives – usually family – and religion gets caught in the crossfire. Then things get blurred and they may lose sight of why they are having trouble with religion, and then the not being religious takes on a life of its own. That’s very bad. So please, Temima, never lose perspective of what the real issue is here.

Is there any intervention that you would like for your family situation? I know good people that do good things with messed up families. If you like, just say so and you will be contacted.

Irregardless of whether that is an option, you need to work on your survival skills. You need to keep in mind that you will not be living in your home forever. You will, IY”H have a home of your own where you can have a Shabbos the way you so clearly would love to, and not make the mistakes that have been made in your home in the past.

Also bear in mind that when this happens, you will possess an appreciation for religion that will be unshared by your friends who did not go through what you did. It will help you in bringing up your children, and impacting on the lives of others, who will value your doing Mitzvos because they mean something to you, not merely out of habit.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, Temima. This does not fix your problems, but you will find them, if you focus on that light, a bit more bearable to live with. It is good you are going to Eretz Yisroel next year. Surround yourself with friends and people who care about you. But be careful – teenagers who are hungry for warmth are easy prey for guys who would use them in return for giving them an illusory, counterfeit warmth which, at the end, just makes it worse. Surround yourself with real friends.

One more thing, about Shabbos. Even though you may not feel it, your Neshomah does. Every time a person keeps Shabbos their Neshomah gets stronger. We can’t feel out Neshomos, but they do affect us in many, many ways. And this is true for each and every instance where you could break shabbos, you want to break shabbos, but you don’t. Even if you break Shabbos 10 times but you wanted to break it 11, that one time that you resisted strengthens your Neshomah. No amount of breaking shabbos is good – it’s like smoking cigarettes, whatever amount you cut down helps - but whenever we put an effort into not breaking it, we get reward. Only you know where you holding today, spiritually. Only you know what you can and cannot yet do. But know that each and every small effort does not go unnoticed by Hashem.



#6 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 18 December 2011 - 03:10 PM

What exactly goes under the title of "breaking shabbos?"
If for example, I put on makeup or bite my nails am I mechalel shabbos?
Obviously, understand that this is something that I am working on. Yet, am I considered a "goy" and am I going to be punished for this?

So am I on the same note as an irreligous jew who can't touch nonmevusal wine?

No, you are not. The only time Chilul Shabbos gives you the status of a Goy that cannot touch non-Mevushal wine is the Chilul Shabbos is done (1) brazenly, and in public. "In public" means:

2) If 10 people do not know for sure of your Chilul Shabbos, you are definitely not considered a public desecrator of Shabbos.
Even if 10 people do know, if they did not actually see you violate Shabbos, there are many who hold you are still not a Mechalel Shabbos Befarhesia.

3) Even if 10 people did see you, but they were not males. there are those who hold you are not a MSHB"F.
Even if they were 10 males, but they themselves were also Mechalelei Shabbos Befarhesia, or otherwise disqualified as witnesses, there are those who hold you are not a MSHB"F.

4) Even if the 10 males who witnessed you violating Shabbos were 100% Kosher Jews, there are many who hold that this has to happen regularly in order to qualify you as a Mechalel Shabbos Befarhesia. One time would not be sufficient according to these Poskim.

5) Even if you regularly violate the Shabbos in front of bales of 100% kosher men but would not do so in front of your Rabbi, there are those who hold you would still not be considered a MSHB"F.

So as important as keeping Shabbos is - and it is vital - you are many miles away from making anyone;s wine Nesech.

As far as why you should keep Shabbos, besides it being like the biggest Mitzvah, keeping Shabbos is the cause of Hashem's bracha coming into the entire world, and violating Shabbos causes all good things not to come into the world, and, rachmana latzlan, a lot of bad events to transpire throughout the world. There are many more reasons, but this should suffice for now.

#7 randomhouse

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Posted 02 January 2012 - 07:26 PM

what if you dont notice that your doing something wrong like biting your nails or something like that, is that michalell shabbos?

#8 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 07 January 2012 - 09:59 PM

what if you dont notice that your doing something wrong like biting your nails or something like that, is that michalell shabbos?

That's called Mechalel Shabbos B'Shogeg, meaning, unintentionally At that moment you either forgot it was Shabbos or forgot that what you are doing is prohibited. While you would be accountable for not being more careful, it does not put you in the category of a Mechalel Shabbos. For that, you need to make a conscious choice that "I am going to be Mechalel Shabbos." That would not apply to you case.

#9 sandythedog

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Posted 08 January 2012 - 12:56 AM

How does it work if someone went to yeshivah but doens't keep shabbos? Also, are they still allowed to be counted for a minyan?

#10 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 09 January 2012 - 04:01 AM

How does it work if someone went to yeshivah but doens't keep shabbos? Also, are they still allowed to be counted for a minyan?

If they break Shabbos publicly, according to the conditions listed above, then they should not be counted as part of a minyan. If they only fulfill some of the conditions, we need to examine it on a case-by-case basis.

#11 gettingbettereveryday

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 08:38 PM

but...i really have a problem with not putting on some makeup- ive heard many different halachos on it, like, i dont put on any creams or oils on. but ill put on powder. is that assur? every time i do i try 2 do it in a way thats not outright, but afterwards i feel really bad about it