The children in cheder were studying the Talmudic passage that deals with the case of someone who loses track of the days. “One who is traveling through the desert,” read their teacher, “and doesn’t know when Shabbat is, should count six days and observe the seventh.”[19]
One student had difficulty comprehending this law. “I don’t understand,” asked young Yisrolik, who would later become the famed chassidic master Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin.[20] “How can a person possibly not know when Shabbat is? All one has to do is look at the heavens. The heavens look different on Shabbat.”
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[19]. Talmud, Shabbat 69b.
[20]. 1796-1850.
