We read in the Torah that immediately following the world’s creation, G-d declared Shabbos a special day: Vayevareich Elokim as yom hashevi’i vayekadeish oso — “G-d blessed the seventh day and made it sacred” (Bereishis 2:3). Shabbos was “blessed” and declared “sacred.”

Indeed, a strong connection exists between these two concepts — berachah and kedushah. Namely, sanctity brings blessing. When we experience kedushah, we bring upon ourselves berachah. This is why, as we recite in Bircas HaMazon, our Avos Hakedoshim, our sacred patriarchs, were blessed bakol, mikol, kol — with abundant and endless blessing. As they epitomized kedushah, they earned unlimited berachah.

I recently escorted a group of women to meet with a number of outstanding rebbetzins in Bnei Brak. On one visit, we met with Rebbetzin Borenstein, the wife of Rav Shmuel Yaakov Borenstein a”h, a revered Rosh Yeshivah in Bnei Brak. The rebbetzin spoke to the women about this vital message, that kedushah brings berachah, and she applied it to tzniyus (modesty). Rashi, in the beginning of Parashas Kedoshim (Vayikra 19:2), writes that avoiding all forms of promiscuous conduct brings holiness. Not surprisingly, then, many stories have been told of women who raised their standards of tzniyus as a source of merit when they confronted a difficult situation, and they earned the help they needed through this merit. By raising their level of kedushah, they brought upon themselves great blessing.

Besides tzniyus, we experience kedushah also through the study of Torah, which is sacred, and through the proper observance of Shabbos, which is a sacred day. The rebbetzin noted the Gemara’s comment (Beitzah 16a) that a person’s finances are determined for the entire year on Rosh Hashanah, but his expenses for Shabbos, Yom Tov, and Torah education for his children are not included in this allotment. This means that if, for example, G-d decreed that a person will have $100,000 to use over the course of the year, this does not include these expenses. He may spend as much as he needs on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and his children’s Torah education without any concern, because these expenses are covered separately from the annual “budget” allocated for him at the beginning of the year. The rebbetzin explained that Shabbos and Torah learning bring kedushah, and therefore, by extension, they bring berachah. We thus have no reason to fear spending money for Shabbos and Torah, since they bring us the blessing we need to cover these expenses.

These three sources of kedushah all merge on Shabbos. For many, Shabbos is a time when men spend extra time learning Torah, and when women pay greater attention to proper standards of tzniyus. Shabbos is a time of kedushah, and so it is the time when we raise the level of our devotion to Torah and modesty, the two main sources of kedushah. (We should add that the Gaon of Vilna wrote that the primary source of kedushah for a man is Torah learning, and for a woman is tzniyus.) And Shabbos is therefore the mekor haberachah, the source of all blessing, because it is a time when we experience kedushah at an especially high level.

Earlier, we noted the description in Bircas HaMazon of the boundless berachah bestowed “upon our Patriarchs: bakol, mikol, kol. The gematria (numerical value) of the word bakol is the same as that of the word ben (“son”). The ultimate berachah that we earn through kedushah is the blessing of children who follow our traditions and grow to become committed Jews.

My father-in-law, Rav Nosson Scherman, told the story of Mr. Benzion Feldman, an outstanding askan who served as the treasurer of Yeshivah Torah Vodaath, who passed away over 30 years ago. Despite raising his family under conditions that made it very difficult to maintain an observant lifestyle, he was blessed with many outstanding children and grandchildren who became esteemed leaders in the Orthodox Jewish world. During the 1930s and 1940s, American Jews endured great challenges with regard to Shabbos observance and to affording Torah education for their children, and yet Mr. Feldman succeeded in raising religiously devoted children. When he was asked to identify the secret of this success, he told two stories of how he withstood difficult challenges. Significantly, one had to do with his children’s Torah education, and the other involved Shabbos observance.

Yeshivah tuition in those days, Mr. Feldman told, was $3 a month. While this might sound to us a tiny sum, for many during the period of the Great Depression, this was a major sacrifice. Mr. Feldman was unable to pay this amount, and people told him that most parents did not make their tuition payments on time, and so he shouldn’t worry about it. At first he thought they were right, but then he realized that he owed it to the school and to the teachers to make his payments in a timely fashion. In order to come up with the money, he decided to forego the 25-cent lunch he used to buy himself each day. He instead brought with him a piece of bread and an onion from home, and ate that as his lunch. This sacrifice for Torah education brought him the great berachah of outstanding children and grandchildren.

Mr. Feldman earned a living by collecting remnants of material from a factory toward the end of every week, on Thursday, and then peddling these remnants. The owners of this factory were non-observant Jews, and one day they informed Mr. Feldman that they no longer had time for him on Thursday. They asked that he come collect the scraps of material on Saturday, instead. He explained to them that he observed Shabbos, and could not come to work on Shabbos.

“Come on, Feldman,” they said. “Who are you kidding? You’re not religious! You’re one of the boys, like us.”

He insisted that he was observant, and he showed them his tzitzis. The factory owners were impressed, and they agreed to continue the arrangement whereby he came every Thursday.

This, too, Mr. Feldman believed, brought him berachah. His insistence on observing Shabbos and experiencing the special kedushah of the day brought him blessing and resulted in his outstanding offspring. When a person sacrifices for Torah learning and for Shabbos, he earns blessing.

My father-in-law also told me another story about Mr. Feldman. A fire once broke out in the Torah Vodaath building, which was then situated in Williamsburg, and the facility was evacuated. The rebbeim stood outside watching the flames, and wept. They realized that the building would be unusable for an uncertain period of time, and they worried how they would be able to continue teaching their students. As they stood there weeping in anguish, Mr. Feldman was busy making arrangements to hire contactors to create makeshift classrooms in local synagogues that agreed to house the yeshivah in the interval. The students did not miss a day of learning, thanks to his efforts.

This is what brings blessing — working to increase kedushah through Torah learning, Shabbos, and tzniyus.

In the merit of our efforts to grow in these areas and increase our levels of kedushah, may we all be blessed like our sacred Patriarchs bakol, mikol, kol, with all the blessings we could ever wish for.

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