 The Foundation Stone wishes a Refuah Sheleimah to Rav Goldberger's father N"Y, Shlomo ben Chanah. The Talmud (Shabbat 113b) tells us that one who runs or walks too fast during the week while doing
his weekday activities loses 1/500 of his eyesight. It is restored to him when he drinks from the wine at Kiddush on Friday night.
Why 1/500?
Why must you drink the Kiddush wine, and how does that restore your vision?
The number 500 is found in the Torah as the age at which Noach first had a child.
No one else before or after him had to wait as long for his or her first child.
500 is the number that represents the triumph of a human being realizing that God has a Plan that can explain the delay of a blessing in a satisfying way (see Rashi Bereshit 5:32).
The same way that reaching 500 and having his first child enabled Noach to understand that there truly had been a Plan, reaching Shabbos allows us to understand that all the effort we had to expend during the work week was actually all part of a larger and satisfying Plan.
Running during the week expresses a certain panic and anxiety that comes from forgetting that there truly is a Plan. It takes away 1/500 of our sight – just enough to no longer be able to see that there is a Plan.
Drinking from the wine of Kiddush – the first “active” role we are asked to take after Shabbos begins – puts all the activity of our previous week back into perspective. There truly was a Plan all along. Our “500” vision is back.
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