As we return to the mundane, Havdalah reminds us to differentiate
When I was a child, immediately after concluding the final brachah, my father would douse the Havdalah candle in a puddle of whiskey. Fueled by the whiskey’s high alcohol content, the fire erupted in an undulating blue flame that circled the whiskey’s perimeter. As the alcohol diminished, the fire’s tempo escalated until, in a flash, it leapt up and faded into oblivion. Now we could usher in the new week.
Even without an elaborate “dancing fire” ritual, Havdalah is an intricate multisensory encounter: We see the fire, smell the besamim, taste the wine, and listen to the brachos. What is the immersive experience of Havdalah all about? Is it simply a “last hurrah” before taking leave of Shabbos?
The Rambam (Hilchos Shabbos 29:1) explains that just as we’re mekadeish the onset of Shabbos by reciting Kiddush, we sanctify it with Havdalah at its conclusion. Shabbos is a day saturated with kedushah, set apart from the rest of the week. Kiddush and Havdalah are the entry and exit stations to this elevated reality.
The allusion of the Rambam to “kedushah markers” is reminiscent of his comments on the mitzvah of mezuzah. There he explains that we affix a mezuzah to our doorpost to ensure that as we exit our home, we aren’t overtaken by the outside world’s spiritual chaos and come to forget Hashem.
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