Welcome to the Daily Bitachon: Erev Shabbat Edition The Shulchan Aruch tells us in Siman Reish-Samech (260) that one should cut their nails on Friday afternoon. Simply speaking, cutting one's nails on Friday afternoon is Kevod Shabbat —it is showing respect for Shabbat. The Be'er Heitev , one of the commentaries on the side of the Shulchan Aruch , invokes the Gemara ( Niddah 17a) which tells us that one should not leave fingernails on the floor when they are cut. One should either burn them or bury them, but definitely not leave them out. What is the reason behind this? Why are fingernails dangerous? He tells us that before the sin of Adam HaRishon (the first man), man was cloaked in a clothing similar to a fingernail. That means his body and soul shone through this thin, translucent fingernail material. After man sinned, he was coated with the physical flesh that we have today. The Ben Ish Chai ( Parashat Bereshit ) says that originally it was Kotnot Or ( כותנות אור ) with an Alef —clothing of light—and it switched to Kotnot Or ( כותנות עור ) with an Ayin —clothing of skin and flesh. When Shabbat comes, we will see that Shabbat is all about going back to the state of man before the sin; the job of Shabbat is to lift us up above the sin. So, on Friday afternoon, we cut our nails to beautify them. We are going into Shabbat when our clothing is meant to be the cloth of nails—that is what it was supposed to be. The Transcendence of Shabbat and the Reality of Motzei Shabbat Then, on Motzei Shabbat , we look at our candle and we look at our fingernails. Why do we have a candle on Motzei Shabbat ? It is because God created fire on Motzei Shabbat . Why did God create fire on Motzei Shabbat ? What about Friday night? The answer is that when Adam sinned, there was a change in the light that God had created. Originally, God created a light which we call Or HaGanuz —the hidden light. It was a light through which you could see from one end of the world to the other. Because Adam sinned, God said that light was too dangerous to use because people could misuse it, so He hid that light away for the future. Today, we no longer have that light. When did that light disappear? On Motzei Shabbat . Out of respect for Shabbat, that original light stayed from Friday afternoon at twelve o'clock (when Adam was created) until Motzei Shabbat . So, it was lit for thirty-six hours. Motzei Shabbat is all about the consequences of the sin of Adam taking hold. We have that candle to remind us that we would not have needed artificial fire if not for the sin of Adam. We look at our fingernails to remind us that we should have been totally coated in that translucent material. Similarly, a woman is traditionally not supposed to drink from the Havdalah cup. Why not? Because there is an opinion that the Etz HaDa'at (the Tree of Knowledge) was a grapevine. Therefore, when Havdalah arrives, we do not want to remind anyone that Chavah (Eve) took from the grape when she was not supposed to, which could arouse a prosecution—a Kitrug . The Be'er Heitev explains that the Gemara says if a pregnant lady steps on discarded fingernails, it is dangerous for her pregnancy. Why? The answer he gives is that discarded nails remind us of the sin of Adam and Chavah. Originally, there was no such thing as a fingernail that you cut and discarded; your whole body was coated in it. These clippings remind us of the original sin, and the punishment of Chavah was difficulty in childbirth. We do not want an arousal of that sin, and therefore, a pregnant lady touching discarded fingernails becomes dangerous. The Power of Friday Afternoon Preparations Coming back to our main story, which is the positivity of Shabbat: Shabbat is all about bringing us back to Adam before the sin. The Sefer Chemdat Yamim tells us that the Erev Shabbat Friday afternoon preparation has the ability to atone for the sin that happened on that day. We also see this in a pasuk in Shemot 16:5: וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי וְהֵכִינוּ אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יָבִיאוּ וְהָיָה מִשְׁנֶה עַל אֲשֶׁר־יִלְקְטוּ יוֹם יוֹם "And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." This refers to the Manna. They prepared on Friday, and they received a double portion. He tells us that the word Mishneh ( מִשְׁנֶה )—which means double, like shani —has the exact same letters as Neshamah ( נְשָׁמָה ). This hints to us that the preparation of Erev Shabbat causes us to be cleansed from the sin of Adam HaRishon , which brings down upon us the Neshamah Yeteirah (the extra soul) that we lost. The Neshamah Yeteirah symbolizes the level of man before his sin. Similarly, we say in the Shabbat prayers: Yismach Moshe be-matnat chelko ( יִשְׂמַח מֹשֶׁה בְּמַתְּנַת חֶלְקוֹ )—Moshe is happy with his portion. What does that mean? This might be a little complicated, and you might have to listen to this class twice! The commentators say that when we stood at Har Sinai, the negativity of the original sin disappeared. Adam HaRishon's sin was corrected, everything went back to the way it was meant to be, and we received two crowns on our heads. Those two crowns represent the same spiritual power as our extra Neshamah —the correction of Adam's sin. However, when we sinned with the Golden Calf, we lost those crowns. Who received them instead? Moshe Rabbeinu. And that is why his face shone. Every Shabbat, Moshe is kind enough— Yismach Moshe is very happy with his given portion—to give us back those crowns. Because on Shabbat, in a spiritual way, we return to the state of Adam before the sin, so we get our crowns back. Right after the end of Parashat Ki Tissa (which talks about Moshe Rabbeinu's face shining), the next Parashat , Vayakhel , starts immediately with Shabbat. The Ba'al HaTurim notes this connection because the Gemara says that a person's face looks different on Shabbat than it does during the week. We have a shining face on Shabbat because we are returning to that original Kotnot Or —the clothing of light. The Hidden Light and "Extra Credit" For some real extra credit: that light, as we said, is the light of the Or HaGanuz (the hidden light). That hidden light is symbolized by the Torah she-Ba'al Peh (the Oral Torah) that we toil over. Where did God hide the light? He hid the light in Torah she-Ba'al Peh —in the Mishnayot and the Gemara . That is why the word Neshamah ( נְשָׁמָה ) shares the exact same letters as Mishnah ( מִשְׁנָה ). The Mishnayot bring back that Neshamah Yeteirah ; they bring back that lost light. Again, that's extra credit—we're going a little into information overload here! The Bottom Line What is the practical takeaway from all of this? Through man's sin, he lost what he lost. But on Erev Shabbat, through our physical and spiritual preparations for Shabbat, we receive it all back once again. Then on Motzei Shabbat , we are reminded of what we lose until next week. Our nails—both cutting them on Friday and looking at them on Saturday night—are strongly connected to this profound message. But the main message is that Shabbat, which is what we are constantly working toward, lifts us up far above the sin of Adam HaRishon . The Chemdat Yamim further says that when man was originally placed in Gan Eden , he was given a positive commandment: l'ovdah ( לְעָבְדָהּ )—to serve it, and a negative commandment: u'lshomrah ( וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ )—to guard it. That is exactly why on Shabbat we have the positive commandment of Zachor (Remember) and the negative commandment of Shamor (Guard). He further notes that the beautiful clothing we wear on Shabbat is to remind us of those original spiritual garments. We see from so many different areas that Shabbat is designed to fix the sin of Adam HaRishon . I apologize if there was a bit too much Kabbalah and a lot of information at once, but I came across this recently and I just needed to share it with someone!