The Sabbath Foods
Selected Teachings From the Chassidic Masters
"God blessed the seventh day, and He
sanctified it" (Genesis 2:3). [Interpreting this verse,] Rabbi Ishmael
declared: "He blessed the Manna in the wilderness, and He sanctified the
Manna in the wilderness" (Bereishis Rabba, 11:2). This suggests
that God blessed the Sabbath foods, imbuing them with the taste of Manna. It is
known that the Manna was called "Food of the Mighty Ones." Similarly,
the sacrifices in the Holy Temple were called "Food of the Mighty
Ones." Thus, partaking of the Sabbath meals is like partaking of the
sacrifices in the Holy Temple (Imrei Noam, cited in Sefer Kedushas
HaAchilah 299).
***
The holiness of the Sabbath foods is comparable
to that of the sacrifices in the Holy Temple. Indeed, some say that the
holiness of the Sabbath foods is even greater: for a profane thing that became
sanctified through a person's Divine service attains a higher spiritual level
than that which was holy of itself (Yismach Yisrael, Likkutim, cited in Sefer
Kedushas HaAchilah 304).
***
The "Feast of the Leviathan"
[designated for the tzaddikim in the Garden of Eden] will be made up of
the foods consumed by the Jewish people at their Sabbath and Festival tables,
as well as when they showed hospitality to guests or celebrated a religious
event (se'udas mitzvah). These are the foods they are destined to eat in
the Future World. Thus it is written, "And you shall eat, eating (achol)
and being satisfied" (Joel 2:26); that is, they shall partake of that
which they previously had eaten [achol, a play on words] (Rabbi Levi
Yitzchak of Berditchev, Kedushas Levi, Likkutim, 7, as cited in Sefer
Kedushas HaAchilah, 328).
***
[Rabbi Aharon of Karlin once remarked]:
Sometimes thoughts of teshuvah -- remorse about one's past, and yearning
to return to G-d -- occur to a person during the Sabbath meals; for then one
comes closer to the point of truth. These thoughts of teshuvah may be
even loftier than those that arise during prayer." He later added:
"The zemiros (table songs) are the wings by which the holiness of
the Sabbath meal ascends... " (Beis Aharon, as cited in Sefer
Kedushas HaAchilah, 312).
***
One should be extremely joyous on the holy
Sabbath, and not show even the least trace of sadness or worry. Simply
"take delight in God" (Isaiah 58:14), and enjoy all the pleasures of
the Sabbath, in food and drink, as well as in fine clothing according to one's
means. For the eating of the Sabbath is entirely spiritual, entirely holy, and
it ascends to a completely different place than the eating of the ordinary days
of the week (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likkutei Moharan II: 17).
