And the LORD put a mark on Cain (Bereishis 4:15)

We are still holding onto the spirit of Yom Tov from just a few days ago – those beautiful memories of simcha, the hectic preparations, and the relaxed and happy aftermath. We now forge forward into the winter knowing that our lives will become tumultuous. This concept is reflected in the Medrash Tanchuma about Cain, who is cursed with being unsettled. Noh v’nod tiyeheh b’aretz. He will be a wanderer, never planting roots for any extended period of time.

Many years ago, when iPhones were first coming out, I met an American businessman who was vacationing here in Israel during Sukkos. This man owned a company with hundreds of workers, and during our casual conversation he was constantly taking out his phone and checking for new emails and instant messages. I asked him, “Do you have any idea how many times you do that each day?” He paused and thought about it, responding, “Probably hundreds.” It was apparent that he was disturbed by this realization, but it was also apparent that he was not willing to change his lifestyle. I was thinking to myself how fortunate I am to have only a regular cellphone with nothing but voice calls on it!

In the world of kiruv, one of the questions that I am regularly asked by the people who are not yet in the know is, “How can you survive on Shabbos when you can’t do anything?! No phone, no television, no car, no Internet, no messaging?!” When this question is asked to those who are themselves baalei teshuva, all they can do is smile and say, “Not only don’t we miss them, but it is an advantage to be disconnected!”

According to the Medrash, Cain was given the “os” (sign) of Shabbos in order to protect him from this curse of being noh v’nod – unsettled (see Koznitzer Magid).

We too are settling down from the euphoria of the holidays. This Shabbos, Shabbos Bereishis, sets the tone for all of the Shabbosim of the year. The more that we have menucha v’simcha on this Shabbos, the easier it will be for us to access menucha v‘simcha throughout the Shabbosim all year. Shabbos is not just a day of rest when we turn off the vices of the week. Rather, it is a time of rejuvenation and rebirth of our world.

May we merit this week to be revitalized with the holiness of Shabbos as Chazal say, “setting the tone for our activities throughout the week” and preparing us for an even more elevated Shabbos Parshas Noach.