Moshe Sagron: "After My Son's Passing, We Decided – The Light of Shabbat Will Illuminate Our Darkness"

For twelve years, the global Shabbat laws quiz has been held with great public participation and excitement. Thousands of children take part in the quiz after a whole year of learning and reviewing the laws.

It's hard to find a child across the country who doesn't know about the quiz, but not everyone knows who's behind this wonderful initiative - Moshe Sagron, who throughout these years has had one and only goal: to spread the Halachot of Shabbat as much as possible, everywhere possible, to honor and cherish it.

"Shabbat Gave Us Strength"

So how did the idea really start?

"It all began twelve years ago," Sagron recounts, "The Creator of the world summoned my 24-year-old son Yosef to the yeshiva above. It was a Friday, right before Shabbat. My wife called Yosef, and he did not answer. She called again, and again no answer. I was already dressed in my Shabbat clothes, ready to welcome it, and then there was a knock on our door, and we received the harsh news."

How does a father feel losing his son so suddenly? Moshe says words cannot describe the shock, the mourning, and the loss. The funeral took place before Shabbat, but he found the strength to cope specifically from Shabbat itself. "Yes, exactly that," he asserts, "It was clear to me that for the elevation of my son's soul, I had to gather the whole family and hold the Shabbat meals as usual, including food, words of Torah, and songs. That's what we did, and I felt how Shabbat itself gave me strength. This is exactly what led me to decide afterward to establish the 'Joy of Moshe Rabbeinu' organization, which focuses on one thing - distributing booklets for learning the laws of Shabbat in schools in Israel and around the world, with a global quiz on the learned Shabbat laws taking place annually.

"For me, it was also closing a circle because as a Jew who believes in the Creator and knows there is a world even after a person's passing, I always wanted to do something for the soul's elevation of my friends, IDF soldiers, but it always stayed in my heart. After my son's passing, the decision was made: The light of Shabbat will illuminate our darkness... Shabbat will be the memorial for our beloved son and soldiers of blessed memory."

Little by Little

Learning Shabbat laws is very complex. How do you manage to make it accessible for learners?

"You're right," agrees Sagron, "it's indeed very complex. Naturally, one might think: 'To learn all the Shabbat laws? Who can learn it all? Maybe yeshiva students, learned scholars, perhaps law deciders and judges, yes, maybe even students in a school setting, but me? Where do I start? When will I finish? It's overwhelming, unrealistic.'

But let me share a story: Once my wife's grandmother was at our home and saw a huge pile of laundry. My wife looked at it and mumbled: 'How will I manage to fold all these clothes?' But the grandmother, instead of talking, simply asked: 'Bring me a little more' and then 'a little more,' and so on, until it was all done. That's exactly what we did with the laws. They are indeed many and complicated, but once we broke them down to 'little by little,' it becomes completely feasible. And as Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught the approach to serving Hashem and learning when he said: 'A little is also good.'

This led to the 'Joy of Moshe Rabbeinu' organization releasing new and updated booklets summarizing the entire learning in a wonderful and clear manner over the past months. "These are three thin booklets," Sagron explains, "that contain all the Shabbat laws divided into study dates. It involves no more than three to four minutes of study each day, to be able to finish all the laws by the end of the year. I think it's a true merit for anyone who decides to study from these booklets, as Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz's words are well-known about how it is impossible for a person to avoid desecrating Shabbat if he doesn't learn all the laws, and anyone who hasn't studied will not be able to entirely escape desecrating Shabbat. Now, with divided and organized booklets, all that remains is to dedicate only 3-4 minutes a day. Just a little, and a little more... and thus we finish. Just like grandma said..."

Sagron also notes that he has received blessings along the way from great and important rabbis, including Rabbi Zamir Cohen. "I asked Rabbi Zamir: 'If all our thousands of students mention the same request every day - will it be accepted?' and he replied: 'The prayer of the many on the same matter has great benefit and knows no obstacles.' "As a result," he says with excitement, "we decided to include in the new booklets, at the end of each day's learning, one request that all learners will say - a request for redemption, or healing, or livelihood or matchmaking. Every day, anew, all the thousands of learners will say exactly the same request, and it is such a significant thing."

Sagron also mentions that dedicated activists whose hearts were touched by this venture have joined. He wishes, on this occasion, to thank them, especially Rabbi Amos Shushan, who prepares the quiz.

And who are the learners exactly?

"In the early years, the learners were mainly students from grades 5 and 6 from across the country; they were the ones participating in the quiz. Later we spread the materials worldwide, and today the booklets are not only for children but for anyone who wishes and wants to invest in learning the laws of Shabbat. Because it's clear that we all want to know the laws, but on the other hand, it's impossible to be knowledgeable if we don't study them. Anyone who truly wants to learn about Shabbat properly must study the laws in depth. It is very important for us to have as many participants as possible in learning the laws, as this is our goal, and therefore representatives from our organization are willing to travel all the way to Eilat just to bring a booklet to a child who wishes to join the learning."

According to Moshe, during the last years of Rabbi Ovadia, when he hardly left his home, he made sure to attend the Shabbat laws quiz because he saw it as so important.

Thanks to Shabbat

Moshe can't help but share: "Towards the end of the first year after my son's passing, my daughter told me she saw him in a dream. She described him: 'He was all glowing and white, I've never seen such a bright light. I asked him: 'Yosef, did everything we did for the elevation of your soul do anything for you, or is it just to comfort us?' And Yosef told me: 'In this world, they don't know what Shabbat is, but I have a ticket to enter all the palaces thanks to Shabbat.'

"The Creator of the World granted us a merit," Moshe concludes with emotion, "now we just need to grant others."

For details and to join, you can contact Moshe Sagron at phone: 053-4202617