The Aruch HaShulchan (and others) bring down (from פסוקים) that "Shabbos is a ברכה for the entire week". What does that mean on a Practical Level?

Question

I didn't understand the Aruch Hashulchan's intro to the laws of Shabbos, then of course we see it echoed in davening "כי היא מקור הברכה".

My question is NOT Why is Shabbos a "sign" or why does our week revolve around The Shabbos. My question is simply what does the Aruch Hashulchan mean when he says we say that the Shabbos IS our week. Is it "What we do on Shabbos predicts how our week will go?" Or if we're happy on Shabbos we'll have a good week (implied from a Zemir)?Or is it if keep Shabbos, we'll merit a week of Torah and Mitzvahs?

Answer 1

On Shabbos, we are more in touch with the spiritual aspects of our life and less connected to the physical aspects. This acts as a "reset" every week and hopefully some of this emphasis is drawn into the following week. This following week therefore is more spiritually meaningful than it would otherwise have been and this is the (ultimate) blessing.

I see these thoughts expressed in the article from Rav Noah Weinberg zatzal; a few extracts follow:

Observant Jews will tell you that Shabbat is one of the greatest sources of inspiration.

Thus the Sages say: Shabbat is "a taste of Heaven on Earth." If Heaven is pure spirituality, then Shabbat is a taste of that experience.

Shabbat is our break. It empowers us, not to discard our workaday world, but to retain our ability to be independent from it. Shabbat gives balance and perspective to our lives and to our week.

The article from Hillel Goldberg contains this sentences which supports my thesis:

Shabbos may be seen as a one-day-a-week respite—and a glorious one at that—or Shabbos may be seen as the day that both colors the rest of the week and constitutes the week’s yearning and anticipation. If the latter, then we become not merely Sabbath observant, but erev Sabbath observant.

And from Rabbi Shraga Simmons

More than a single day, Shabbos must "spill over" into the ensuing week, elevating all our actions and thoughts.

Shabbos is not the end of our week, rather it is the midpoint and source of energy. The second Shabbos, approached after a week so influenced, is completely different. It marks a spiritual apex, not a spiritual island. This is the type of Shabbos whose observance will bring about redemption. This is the Shabbos of a week, and a world, uplifted. (see Kedushas HaLevi, Ki Sisa 31:13)

Answer 2

The Pri Tzaddik and the Maharal say that the entire hashpaah for the coming week comes into the world on Shabbos, which is why it is the source of blessing.

For example

• The Maharal says that the reason that the Shabbos before Pesach is called Shabbos ha'gadol is because the hashpaah of Pesach comes into the world on that Shabbos.
• The Pri Tzadik says that the hashpaah of Rosh Ha'shanah comes into the world on the shabbos before Rosh Ha'shana.

I.e. nothing can happen during the following week, whose seed was not planted on the previous Shabbos.

Answer 3

Something we say every week in Lecha Dodi is:

".לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת לְכוּ וְנֵלְכָה, כִּי הִיא מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה"

The meaning of the words based on yeshiva.org:

השבת היא "מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה", היא היום בו אנו חווים כיצד המציאות כולה חוזרת למקורה הראשוני. בשבת אנו רואים התנוצצות כיצד העולם צריך להיות: עולם מלא ברכה, נועם ואושר, ולא כפי שהוא כעת – במגבלותיו ובמיצריו, כאשר "אין יום שאין בו קללה" (סוטה מח, א). לכן, אותה תשוקה של הנפש להיות חופשית מן הקטנוניות של העולם הזה, לחזור ולחדש את ימיה כקדם, היא זו הדוחפת אותנו לחזור ולומר כל ליל שבת - "לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת לְכוּ וְנֵלְכָה".

Answer 4

The Zohar states that Hashem is not a creator. It's infinitely beneath Him to be a creator and creating a universe is, k'vyachol, completely out of character for Him.

During the 6 days of creation, Hashem created. However, on day 7, He stopped creating, which means He was simply Himself. This is why Shabbat is so holy.

Hashem's goal in creating was so that He could invite us to be with Him (as it says in Derech Hashem, Olam Haba is Hashem's community living with Him in an eternal state of intimacy).

That's why Shabbat is me'ein olam haba. It's the day of the week where we join Hashem at His eternal table. It is the day of the week where Hashem is Himself, and our goal is to reach Him not while He working, creating, but join Him when He is being Himself.

The purpose of all creative activity is to create something that one can enjoy. Creativity is so fun though, we can get lost in it and never sit down and enjoy what we created, we'll just move on to the next project. This is not the right way to approach creativity.

The way we keep Shabbat, therefore, is the blessing for everything else in existence. If we are keeping Shabbat properly, it means we have the right approach. We are creating for 6 days, but we aren't making the creating the point, we are making the result the point. Hashem is getting His "someone else" to join Him, and the purpose of the 6 days of creation is being fulfilled, so therefore He blesses another 6 days of creating for another me'ein olam haba day.

I hope that makes sense. There are sources for all of the above easily found in much of Chabad Chassidus.