“Speak to the children of Yisroel, and say to them, the festivals of Hashem…Six days shall work be done: on the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest…” (Vayikra 23:2-3)

In general, when we think about Shabbos, we understand its importance as a “wellspring of kedusha” for the rest of the week. But how does this increase in kedusha on Shabbos benefit the weekdays?

The medrash (Vayikra Raba 27:10) tells us that before a baby boy has a bris, he must “meet” the Shabbos (This is one of the reasons we make a shalom zachar on Shabbos). Similarly, before an animal offering is brought, it must pass through a Shabbos. Hence the halacha is that the bris is done on the 8th day, and likewise one cannot offer an animal less than 8 days old as a korban. This is so that Shabbos can effect a change in the baby or the animal, increasing their kedusha, so that they can be ready for their next level of service of Hashem.

Rav Yitzchak Hutner (1906-1980) was fond of making the following statement: “People ask after Yom Tov, ‘How did your Yom Tov pass?’ but they should ask instead, ‘What did you gain from the Yom Tov?’” In other words, we should not merely pass through Yom Tov; rather we must take something from the Yom Tov just observed and bring it into our lives. So too, Shabbos is not just a day for reaching higher levels of kedusha only for itself; instead, its ruchnios is supposed to be a catalyst for our growth the rest of the week. It should turbo boost all the things we do because we are now more kodesh people.

Generally speaking, people do not think much about Shabbos during the rest of the week except when they are preparing for it. To counteract that, at the end of shacharis, Chazal have us relate each day to Shabbos (“hayom yom rishon ba’shabbos”). By remembering the Shabbos that just passed, our days will be better.

Sometimes we feel down and out, and we don’t think we have the energy right now to serve Hashem as we should. One should be aware that if they were shomer Shabbos last week, that automatically puts them in a place where they have a greater wherewithal to succeed.

The Ksav Sofer (Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer 1815–1871), points out a contradiction between two midrashim. One medrash says that if all Yisrael was shomer Shabbos for one Shabbos, then Moshiach would come, while a second medrash says that klal Yisrael needs to keep two Shabbosim to bring Moshiach. He answers this contradiction with the following thought: We really only need one Shabbos to bring Moshiach, but for that to be achieved, it needs a full week of preparation, which includes keeping the previous Shabbos. This once again demonstrates the concept that each Shabbos has a cumulative effect on us in our service of Hashem.

Perhaps this explains why Shabbos prefaces the discussion of the holidays in the parsha. It is to teach us that our success at gaining what we are supposed to from each Yom Tov, is also dependent on the Shabbos before.

Let us try our best to fill our Shabbosim with ruchnios so that when we reach Shavuos after the seven Shabbosim of sefira, it should already be observed in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt speedily and in our time.