Great tzaddikim are able to glean from ordinary life experiences profound lessons for Torah life. One example is an observation made by Rav Moshe Feinstein after visiting the Russian embassy in the United States. He noted that when he walked into the embassy, he felt as though he were back in Russia. Everything in the building — the furniture, the clock, the paper, the pens — was precisely the way it was in Russia. Moreover, if a child is born in the embassy complex, the child is considered to have been born in Russia, and thus receives Russian citizenship. In fact, the laws that apply in the embassy are those of the country it represents, not the country in which it is located. For this reason, fugitives would run to the embassy to obtain legal protection, as it supersedes the law of the host country.

Drawing upon this experience, Rav Moshe said that this was the experience of entering the Beis HaMikdash. Entering the Beis HaMikdash meant entering G-d’s “embassy.”

We live here on earth, but there is a different world: the word of Olam Haba, a world that is entirely spiritual, a world of miracles, a world of closeness and attachment to Hashem. The Beis HaMikdash was the “embassy” of that “country” here in our world, and when one walked into the Beis HaMikdash, he experienced, on some level, the existence in the idyllic world of Olam Haba. And although we do not have the Beis HaMikdash in our time, we have a mikdash me’at (“miniature Temple”) — namely, our synagogues and study halls. Whenever we step into a synagogue, no matter where we are in the world — Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, anywhere — we walk into G-d’s embassy. We pray the same words, read from the same Torah, use the same language, follow the same laws, and feel the same aura.

The Gemara (Berachos 8a) tells that when Rabbi Yochanan heard that there were elderly people living in Babylonia, he was very surprised, as the Torah mentions G-d’s bestowing the blessing of longevity specifically in Eretz Yisrael: “In order to prolong your days and the days of your children upon the Land that Hashem has sworn to your forefathers to give them” (Devarim 11:21). Rabbi Yochanan was then told that these elderly people always arrived early in the synagogue and stayed late, and he said that now he understood why they earned long life. The commentators explain that when a person is in the synagogue, the mikdash me’at, he is, in a sense, in Eretz Yisrael. Every synagogue is the embassy of G-d’s world, which is represented by Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash. And so in order to earn the special blessing of long life that is promised in the Land of Eretz Yisrael, we should spend time in the “embassy” of the Land of Eretz Yisrael: our synagogues and study halls, which are “legally” considered part of Eretz Yisrael.

Shabbos is to time what the Beis HaMikdash is to space. Just as the Beis HaMikdash transcended the earthly realm, and was a piece of Olam Haba in our world, similarly, Shabbos gives us a glimpse of Olam Haba. Furthermore, this sanctuary of time is even greater than the sanctuary of space, as evidenced by the fact that the construction of the Beis HaMikdash was suspended on Shabbos.

We spend Shabbos in G-d’s embassy, as if we were in the Beis HaMikdash. Thus, women light candles when Shabbos begins, just as the Menorah was lit in the Beis HaMikdash, and we place special challos on the table, just as special breads — the lechem hapanim — were placed on the Shulchan in the Beis HaMikdash. Likewise, just as the Shechinah rested in between the two keruvim, which bore the image of a male and female, on Shabbos we are to enhance our shalom bayis, the harmony between husband and wife, to bring in the Shechinah. Rav Tzadok HaKohen similarly explains that the special clothing we wear on Shabbos correspond to the bigdei Kehunah, the special garments worn by the Kohanim in the Beis HaMikdash. On Shabbos we act as though we are in the Beis HaMikdash because we enter a realm resembling Olam Haba, just as one did when he entered the Beis HaMikdash.

When we enter a country’s embassy, we are expected to obey and respect the rules of the country it represents. This is why both the Beis HaMikdash and Shabbos have special rules and demand a higher standard of conduct. Once we enter G-d’s embassy, we must act in a manner that respects the special spiritual nature of the Divine realm.

Actually, on Shabbos, we do not merely visit G-d’s embassy. Rather, we become His ambassadors.

An ambassador is someone sent by his country to represent it in a different country. Although he lives in a foreign country, he is expected to preserve the culture and values of his country so he can serve as a faithful representative. This is why ambassadors do not remain on the job for too long; if they did, they might begin acculturating within the host country, in which case they could no longer represent their homeland. An ambassador must live precisely as he would in his home country in order to represent it. A ben Olam Haba is someone who represents life in the World to Come while living in this world; he is a faithful ambassador, living a life of pure spirituality even while living in our physical world. At any moment, he represents the Divine realm here on earth. On Shabbos, we all become ambassadors; we all turn into the Almighty’s representatives, and our synagogues and homes are His embassy. We stand and recite Kiddush, proclaiming that G-d created the world and that the world belongs to Him, and in our Shabbos prayers we speak about the fundamentals of our faith (creation, Torah, and Olam Haba). Like an ambassador speaking on behalf of his country, we speak about G-d and represent Him here in this world.

This awareness should affect our conduct and speech on Shabbos above and beyond the halachic technicalities of what is forbidden and what is permitted. It would be inappropriate for an ambassador to begin dressing like the people in his host country, or to celebrate the New Year of the host country instead of that of his own country. As the representative of his home country, he must look and act the way he would in his home country.

I recall once visiting the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and being taken aback when I saw a U.S. marine reading an American comic book. Even the leisurely reading material in the embassy is that of the parent country.

On Shabbos, everything about us must reflect the “culture” and ideals of Olam Haba. Wherever we are and wherever we go on Shabbos, whether it’s in the synagogue, around the Shabbos table, or anywhere else, we must remember that we are now in G-d’s embassy, and conduct ourselves accordingly.

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Reprinted from Embrace Shabbos by Rabbi David Sutton with permission from ArtScroll Mesorah.