“Make your Shabbat like a weekday, and have no need [to take from] people” (Shabbat 118a). In Talmudic times, it was the norm to eat two meals a day; Shabbat was special in that three meals were to be eaten. Yet one who had enough food for two meals on Shabbat was not to ask for charity to eat that third meal. It is better to treat Shabbat like a weekday and eat less—quantitatively and qualitatively—than to be a recipient of charity.
This is so despite the fact that, a few lines later, the Talmud quotes that “Rav Shimon ben Pazzi said of [that] Rav Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of Bar Kappara, whoever fulfills three meals on Shabbat is saved from three afflictions: from the pangs of the Messiah... from the judgment of Gehhenom…and from the war of Gog and Magog”. This is immediately followed by Rav Yochanan’s teaching in the name of Rav Yossi that “whoever delights (the rabbinic reference to food) in the Shabbat receives an inheritance without boundaries”. It is important to eat and enjoy three meals on Shabbat. It is even more important to be self-reliant.
Pointedly, the Talmud does not say that one who eats three meals on Shabbat is rewarded. Rather, Bar Kappara says that whoever is “mekayem” (fulfills) 3 meals will be spared suffering. Apparently, there is more to eating three meals on Shabbat than consuming food. Eating is the means to be mekayem the Shabbat. All week long, we focus on the physical—the command to observe Shabbat begins “six days you shall work”, with work being defined as those activities that transform the physical universe.
Shabbat is the day we focus on spiritual pursuits. Eating is the most physical act we do, but we have the capacity to elevate eating to a spiritual activity—by inviting the poor, by not taking from those less fortunate than we, by sharing, by adding the world of Torah to our table, by cementing the family. We are mekayem the three meals of Shabbat when we ensure that those less fortunate than we have three meals to eat for Shabbat.
At the point of creation, there was unity between the physical and spiritual worlds. Physical man had the potential to live forever. It was only with the eating of the forbidden fruit that these two worlds were destined for conflict. Man had to cover up his physical body. Only in the World to Come will this harmony be restored.
Our tradition has many sources teaching that the transition between these “two worlds” will not necessarily be an easy one, for the individual or for the nation; so much so that one of our Sages prayed that he would not live in generation that ushers in the Messianic Era.
Shabbat is the link between these two worlds; me’ein olam haba, a taste of the World to Come. By properly “eating” on Shabbat, by being mekayem Shabbat properly, we can help bridge the gap between these worlds, making the transition a more peaceful one.
