The Shabbat That Saved a Life

One of the most well-known books in our generation on the laws of Shabbat is Shmirat Shabbat K’hilchata (Observing Shabbat According to Jewish Law), written by Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth. The book, now in three parts, carefully explains the many detailed laws of how to keep Shabbat properly.

Years later, Rabbi Neuwirth shared what had inspired him to write this book in the first place. After surviving the horrors of the Holocaust, he immigrated to Israel on a crowded refugee ship. The journey, however, forced him to board the ship on Shabbat, something he had always tried to avoid, except in cases of danger to life (pikuach nefesh), which is allowed by Jewish law.

Still, the experience deeply troubled him. Throughout the years of war and suffering, he had managed to hold on tightly to his observance of mitzvot, especially Shabbat. And now, after the war was over and he was finally free, how could he be forced to break Shabbat?

In his pain, he made a quiet promise to Hashem: If he was given the chance, he would do something meaningful for Shabbat. From that heartfelt commitment came the idea to write a book that would guide others in keeping Shabbat properly, even in complex situations. That book became a classic in the Jewish world.

But the story doesn’t end there.

One day, years later, Rabbi Neuwirth wasn’t feeling well. A doctor came to see him and wrote a prescription for medicine. At the same time, his family asked the doctor for something to help with a rat problem they were having in the home. The doctor agreed and wrote a second prescription for rat poison.

At the pharmacy, the prescriptions got mixed up. The label for the rat poison was mistakenly placed on the bottle meant for the Rabbi’s medicine and vice versa.

On Friday night, Rabbi Neuwirth went to take the medicine the doctor had given him. But when he tasted it, it was very bitter. Out of respect for oneg Shabbat, the mitzvah to enjoy Shabbat, he decided not to take the bitter-tasting medicine and would wait until after Shabbat.

The next day, the doctor made a follow-up visit and was shocked to discover what had happened. If Rabbi Neuwirth had taken the "medicine" the night before, he would have swallowed rat poison. But because he honored Shabbat so carefully, his life had been spared.

Shabbat not only inspired his life's work, it saved his life.