It was nothing short of miraculous: after a horrible start as a servant and then an inmate in prison, Joseph became the viceroy of Egypt—second-in-command to the king. As he was so wise, Pharaoh put him in charge of the entire treasury of the country. Every single Egyptian citizen had to rely on him for their food and sustenance. He had fame and honor as he ran the entire country from top to bottom. But the Bible tells us a fascinating thing: before darkness fell on every Friday night, Joseph closed his palace office and ushered in the Shabbat.1

How did he do it? How did the busiest man in Egypt manage to concentrate on Shabbat and his family, when there was a whole country to run?

Here’s the secret (you can tell everybody): he knew that all of the blessings in his life come from G‑d. But sometimes we forget, and we think we are the ones that are in charge. So once a week, we bring everything to a full stop to remind ourselves who’s really in charge. When we do this properly, G‑d showers us with lots of blessing in our lives.

For Joseph, it certainly wasn’t the popular way to spend Friday evening every week, and he was probably the sole Shabbat observer in the entire country, yet he did it anyway. We are lucky that keeping Shabbat is enjoyable, and that we have our friends and family to celebrate it with. We can go out of our way to ensure that we celebrate it properly and with joy.

  • How do you make Shabbat special?
  • Do you know anyone who is in a situation where keeping Shabbat is challenging?
  • Why is Shabbat so important?
  • Is Shabbat just a day of rest? Or a day to spend quality time with family and friends? Or both? What does it mean to you?