It’s like mishmar all week. Why not celebrate Shabbos from Monday?

Shabbos is the only commandment in which preparation is part of the mitzvah, so what better way than to start on Thursday – wait, why not even Sunday or Monday?

When a group of bochurim began gathering with their rebbi in Far Rockaway on Thursday nights to celebrate Shabbos, they never dreamed that one day they’d be on the road all week spreading the message

The drive from Cincinnati to Columbus, Ohio is about an hour and a half. The story soon to unfold would prove that distance to be child’s play.

My interactions with Rabbi Mordechai Yehudah Groner, rosh yeshivah of Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway, have been something like a game of cat-and-mouse. For several months he’s been asking me to join his upcoming Hachana L’Shabbos journey — an initiative where he and a group of some 40 talmidim and fellow rebbeim travel cross-country and celebrate Shabbos each night of the week in a different community.

But unlike him, I guess I’m really not a traveler. “Come to Cincinnati,” I told him. “I’m happy to cover the event if you’re local.”

Cincinnati wasn’t on his agenda, but Columbus was. I capitulated, figuring if he could drive from New York to Orlando, then I could make the trek across the I-71 North.

The event is scheduled to start at 7:30. Second seder here ends at 6:25, so it will be a mad rush to get there somewhat on time.

The drive is dark and uneventful. I’m not sure what to expect — I assume there will be food, of course, lots of food, drinks, and some heartfelt singing with a nice touch of accompanying music.

The energy hits while still in the parking lot. A blaring beat is pulsating so hard, it seems like the entire Beth Jacob Synagogue is shaking to its rhythm. The song swelling from some 100 throats is clearly discernible: “Geshmak to be a Yid, geshmak to be a Yid, oyoyoy, oyoyoy, geshmak to be a Yid.”

I race into the shul and join. There is no icebreaking necessary, just slide into the circle, hold his neighbor’s hand, and dance. Then jump. Then sing.

More easily than I’d imagined possible, I join crowds of people I’ve never met in celebrating Shabbos, on a Monday night in Colombus.

Constant Preparation

Rabbi Groner explains that many seforim teach that the spiritual preparation for Shabbos begins on Thursday night. And true to his words, the nucleus of the Hachana L’Shabbos concept began some 20 years ago as a once-a-month event, held on Thursday nights.

A group of talmidim would join together in a small room in Rabbi Groner’s yeshivah, Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway, for what they called “Mishmar.” Food was served, niggunim sung, and divrei Torah shared. The crowd numbered anywhere between ten and 20 attendees — sometimes as few as six or seven. They were joined by a young man, largely unknown by the broader community, who played guitar and sang nicely. His name was Joey Newcomb. “I remember times when it was just me, Rabbi Groner, and one other person,” Joey recalls.

Soon Mishmar became a weekly event, and as the yeshivah grew, Mishmar grew with it. There were several talmidim who were musically inclined, and so the singing element became that much more robust and resonant. There were quieter weeks, there were busier weeks, but regardless, the program continued, week in and week out.

Shabbos is a constant. And, insists Rabbi Groner, our preparation needs to be the same way.