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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Observe Shabbos with full devotion, treating it as a time of connection with the Ribono shel Olam, because Shabbos brings both kedusha (holiness) and protection. Rabbi Paysach Krohn supports this with two stories: Rabbi Zalman Grossman, whose late-night Shabbos vigil led to a timely rescue, and the Chofetz Chaim's reaction to a yeshiva student who smoked on Shabbos.
Key Points
- Rabbi Zalman Grossman stayed awake most of Shabbos, calling Shabbos "the Queen" and himself "the King," and saw his Shabbos vigil as time spent with the Queen.
- Rabbi Zalman collapsed from a severe appendix attack while alone making kiddush in his Lower East Side office in 1912; Rav Nachum, a meshulach who couldn't sleep, found him only because Rabbi Zalman was known to stay awake, and the doctor said another hour could have been fatal.
- Rabbi Zalman himself, recalling the episode, linked it to the Ibn Ezra's song "Kal Yismarni" ("if I watch Shabbos, Hashem will watch me"), and Rabbi Krohn cites this as presenting Shabbos as a source of protection.
- A Radin Yeshiva student caught smoking on Shabbos was confronted by the Chofetz Chaim, who wept over the violation and never let go of the boy's hand.
- The student kept Shabbos for the rest of his life; Rabbi Krohn heard this story as one told by a rav giving a speech on the Chofetz Chaim's yahrzeit (24 Elul) in Miami, who in turn said he did not recall who originally told it to him.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The speaker gives no explicit step-by-step procedure. The actionable advice is to observe Shabbos "in the best possible way," to learn Hilchos Shabbos (the halachos of Shabbos) and to ask, when unsure whether something is permitted, what the Chofetz Chaim would say or how he would feel.
- The Chofetz Chaim's Mishnah Berurah is cited as a resource for Shabbos halachos, which the speaker describes as complicated but worth the effort.
- Rabbi Zalman avoided meat in America unless from shochtim he knew from Eretz Yisroel, and had no milk, which is why he lived on limited food there.
- Rabbi Zalman had left his family in Eretz Yisroel in 1912 to raise funds for Yeshiva Mishkan, working from a small Lower East Side office.
- The story is presented as personal recollection and tradition, passed down through Rabbi Yisroel Grossman and the rav who told the Chofetz Chaim story, so details are not independently verified.
Bottom Line
Shabbos is presented here as both a holy time to be cherished and a source of Divine protection, and the speaker encourages listeners to take its halachos seriously.
