T167 PNC - Shabbat With Torah Scholar = Like a Fast Day — Presence as Purification (1 seg)

Know and believe: the Shabbatot (Sabbaths) spent in the presence of a true Torah scholar — resting together with him, being in his spiritual proximity — carry the same spiritual significance as a fast day. This is a striking teaching: Shabbat, which is a day of eating, drinking, pleasure, and delight, is spiritually elevated to the level of a fast day when spent in the right company. How? A fast day is a day of spiritual purification, of emptying oneself of the physical in order to receive the spiritual. The presence of the true Torah scholar accomplishes the same purification without the physical deprivation: his Torah, his conversation, his very presence causes the same spiritual cleansing and elevation that a fast day achieves through abstinence. Shabbat with the right teacher is therefore not merely rest — it is a complete spiritual purification.