A Letter From Shabbos

It is told that the poems and commentaries of the Ibn Ezra so impressed Rabbeinu Tam, the greatest of the Baalei Tosafos, that he wrote to him in the humblest terms, calling himself a servant of Avrohom and bowing before him. The Ibn Ezra, in his humility, answered that it was not fitting for the leader of the generation to lower himself before one so lowly, just as an angel of Hashem should never bow to Bilom.

On Shabbos night, the fourteenth of Teves 4919 (1159), while he was in London, the Ibn Ezra fell into a deep and pleasant sleep and dreamed. A tall, dignified man stood before him holding a sealed letter and asked whether he was the Ibn Ezra. When he said yes, the man told him the letter came from Shabbos HaMalka. The Ibn Ezra bowed low. From the day he first spoke the holy name of Hashem, he said, he had loved Shabbos. On Friday evening he hurried out to welcome her before she came, and when she departed he escorted her with song and joy. He was her most loyal servant. "I know," said the man. "That is why she has written to you."

With trembling hands the Ibn Ezra opened the letter, and its words entered his heart like drops of sweet honey. Shabbos introduced herself: she was adorned with holy laws, the fourth of the Aseres HaDibros and the sign that binds Hashem to His children for all generations. On her day Hashem rested from His work, and on her day no mon fell. She is the one day of gladness, light and enjoyment for weary mortals, and even those in Gehinnom bless her for the rest they are given on her day.

Then the letter turned to a plea. One of the Ibn Ezra's talented students had published a commentary on the Torah that urged people to give up the Friday-night Shabbos and begin it only on Saturday morning. He tried to prove from the Torah that Shabbos was born in the morning and not on the evening before. Shabbos begged her loyal friend to help her, for the author was cutting her in half.

The Ibn Ezra woke with a start and hurried to his library. He took down the sefer that a talmid had given him, and there it was: Shabbos should be kept from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. Seeing in this one more attempt to uproot the holy Torah, he gathered his strength to fight for his beloved Shabbos and wrote his famous Igeres HaShabbos, "A Letter From Shabbos." In sharp words he denounced the author, wishing that his arm wither and his eyes grow dark for daring to speak ill of Shabbos HaMalka. Then he dismantled the weak arguments one by one and pointed to the verse in Vayikra 23:32, "From evening to evening you shall rest."

Shabbos HaMalka, it is said, still smiles with pleasure each time the Ibn Ezra is mentioned. The Shulchan Aruch of the Arizal records the details of this letter, and they teach how much Shabbos deserves honor.