Two Shabbos candles glowing over a linen-covered table
לכבוד שבת קודש In Yissachar’s memory

Counting
the Minutes

Be ready before Shabbos candle-lighting. After Shabbos, add the minutes you completed toward our shared goal of 1,800 minutes.

Add completed minutes
In memory of Yissachar Berish Mayer a”h↓

לע"נ ישכר בעריש ע"ה בן יבלח"ט ר' אלימלך ראובן הי"ו

Our minutes.

0Goal 1,800
—minutes completed

Add your minutes.

Our community.

    Yissachar Berish Mayer a”h smiling

    ישכר בעריש ע״ה

    Background:

    This initiative was set up l’ilui nishmas Yissachar Berish Mayer a”h Counting the Minutes (ישכר בעריש ע"ה בן יבלח"ט ר' אלימלך ראובן הי"ו) who loved Shabbos with a passion. Every element of Shabbos was precious to him from his special setting at the table replete with becher and challah to going to shul for davening when his strength allowed. He would anticipate Shabbos each week and would genuinely cry at Shabbos’ end when he would hear the song “Shabbos is going away…” It seems that Shabbos was part of Yissachar’s essence: He was born on Shabbos, final experience was Shabbos, and his very name "ישכר בעריש" is the same gematria as"שבת קודש". Especially now, when Rosh Hashanah joins Shabbos for two consecutive years and we are encouraged by our Gedolim to renew our relationship with Shabbos, let us do something concrete together. Let us take chizuk from this seven-year-old who valiantly faced cancer for two years and yet never wavered in his connection and value for the Seventh Day.

    How it Works:

    Now that winter is setting in and we (B”H thankfully) changed the clocks, erev Shabbos has become gaspingly short. Although the yetzer hara tries to interfere even in the summer months, there’s nothing like the challenge of welcoming Shabbos in calmly and on time in the coming weeks. To that end, each week that you are ready for Shabbos any amount of minutes before the zman hadlakas neiros, take note, and enter it in after Shabbos toward a unified goal of 1800 minutes l’ilui nishmas Yissachar. This doesn’t require a weekly commitment and even ONE MINUTE early is worthwhile. Let us invite the bracha of Shabbos into our homes while bringing a zechus to Yissachar’s neshamah. *Make sure to verbally state “bli neder” before accepting Shabbos early (also stipulate for the future) so you don’t establish a chazakah (3x doing a good practice) *If the time allows, in that extra moment of early Shabbos acceptance, you can say a perek Tehillim in Yissachar’s zechus.

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