The Story Behind Menuchas Shabbos

Vaad 10 – The story behind Menuchas Shabbos

Introduction

As we have mentioned previously, a definitive aspect of Shabbos is that Shabbos is considered mein Olam Habo. However, we still have to understand further what the implications of that definition are in our personal avoda. 

Shabbos – an experiencing that which is intangible

The Ramchal writes in mesilas yeshorim [1] that Olam Habo is the place where we will truly experience להתענג על ה’. That is to say, something which is intangible – 

Hashem/Shchina – will actually touch our lives and give us great pleasure. 

So when we say that Shabbos is מעין עולם הבא [2] – we mean that on Shabbos we are meant to be experiencing an intangible reality, in other words a world of ruchnius.   

Reb Yeruchom said about himself that he did not need a watch to tell him when Shabbos came in; he felt it. He experienced a realm that exists beyond the physical reality in which we live. The fact that we have no shaychus to that sort of experience, means that perhaps we should start asking ourselves some serious questions about how we are living as Jews – because Klal Yisroel and Shabbos are a couple [3]. Ordinarily, when we think of a couple, it’s almost impossible to think of one without the other. So if Shabbos really is our spouse and Shabbos is מעין עולם הבא, we should be experiencing some sort of intangible familiarity every week when Shabbos comes in. 

Looking at our connection with Shabbos as a Sholom Bayis issue

It’s certainly not easy to start working on experiencing Shabbos, because, as we have mentioned previously, Shabbos is only once a week. Nevertheless, we must try and develop our relationship with Shabbos. Otherwise, we will remain like those couples who never thought they needed to work on Sholom Bayis, when they really did need to. They may not end up divorced – but certainly they will not have a healthy relationship. So we must start working on our Sholom Bayis issues with Shabbos. 

Defining the problem as a “Sholom Bayis issue” hints already at the sort of solution we should be looking for because a healthy marriage is never based on something complex. So, the solution to forging a deeper relationship with Shabbos must be to develop a simple aspect of our relationship.

Problem Solving as against other types of intelligence

When it comes to understanding ruchniyos, we can use two very different tools. The one we are trained to use more often than not is that aspect of the mind that we use in problem-solving. Nowadays, that is how people define intelligence – the ability to deal with puzzles and riddles. In fact, that is what an I.Q. test is all about. It tests one’s ability to solve problems. 

However, there is another very different form of intelligence, the sort of intelligence which enables me to write poetry. It encourages expressing feelings and experiencing relationships, but not solving difficulties. 

Klal Yisroel had many great poets. R’ Yehuda Halevi was one of the greatest. 

When R’ Yehuda Halevi sat down to write a poem he was not bothered by finding a word to rhyme with the last line he wrote. He was not a computer writing poetry, he came to tell a sophisticated type of story. He was not coming to solve a problem. 

What is interesting to note is that the tool most people think we use most, and the one they seem to most identify with, is the type of intelligence that is used in problem-solving. People think about writing poetry after they have had a tough day and want to express their feelings. Or perhaps when they can’t sleep at three o’clock in the morning. But on a typical day when all seems to be going well, they don’t feel a need to write poetry. 

What tools will we need to experience Olam Habo?

This presents us with something to ponder. Because in Olam Habo, where everything is clear and when there are no questions or problems to be solved – it would seem that problem-solving intelligence will be completely unnecessary. In which case, however strange this might sound, the Olam Habo which we anticipate, is actually a long wait for a time when we will no longer be what we consider today to be intelligent.  

But if that is so, we must change the way we look at the form of intelligence that enables me to write poetry and which lets me appreciate and experience my life as part of a bigger picture, this is the type of intelligence that is more important. Because that is what will enable me to experience Olam Habo which is our goal, where we come to be להתענג על ה’.  

It’s also that sort of intelligence which also enables me to perform mitzvos with menuchas hanefesh.  We once explained that when we perform a mitzvah we have to see ourselves as being part of a bigger picture – and what a zchus that is. That is how we can begin to approach fulfilling mitzvos with menuchas hanefesh – the feeling that what we are doing right now has meaningful implications. That type of intelligence which allows me to experience my life as part of a world which is moving towards a particular goal is the clearly the same type of intelligence which sees our mitzvos as part of that same process. And by seeing our mitzvos as part of a meaningful process we experience menuchas hanefesh – certainty that our actions have meaningful implications. 

But if when we do a mitzvah all we manage to think of is: “is this a K’zayis” or “is that made entirely of flour – do I have to say bircas hamozon“? If all I am thinking about is the tiny black spots on my esrog, then maybe you can call that mitzvos with yiras shomayim (although it’s more likely to be OCD) but certainly not mitzvos with menuchas hanefesh. 

Experiencing Shabbos as mein Olam Habo

As we have already learned menuchas Shabbos means that we should be feeling that we have reached our goal. So too the way we experience the world of Shabbos should be with the sort of thought processes which are relevant to Olam Habo – to see the world we live in and all we do as part of a bigger story. To live an existence where there are no questions to be answered and no problems to be solved. To live at peace with the world. Menuchas Shabbos means that Shabbos is a day where we are not meant to use that part of the brain which sees a world with problems to be solved. Instead it is a time to use that part of the brain which sees the world as a story to be told – that part of the brain which experiences the bigger picture.

This even has ramification as to how we should learn on Shabbos. On Shabbos a Talmid Chochom should not learn difficult sugyas where he will have to really work hard answering questions, and be troubled by a difficult pshat in Tosfos [4]. Similarly, children in chayder should not learn new topics on Shabbos because they will find it difficult. Our learning on Shabbos should be in an atmosphere appropriate to Olam Habo, where there are no problems and all is crystal clear. Menucha on Shabbos means that the entire day, everything I do –  sleeping, eating learning etc. is all part of a bigger and clearer picture.  

What challos come to remind us of

An example of seeing things in a broader context is the challos on the Shabbos table, which are to remind us of the manna. We are not simply coming to remember the historical event that as Klal Yisroel was traveling through the desert, there was a problem with where to get food, so the Borei Olam gave them manna. When we remember manna we are actually relating to what food is. Certainly, there are the halachos that remind us of how the manna was given to Klal Yisroel. The challo cover and the plate under the challos come to remind us of the dew which covered the manna from above and below. But the essential message of the manna is that it is food that enables the Neshomo to give life to the body [5]. One might have thought that it is the carbohydrates and proteins, or vitamins and iron and magnesium that give us life – mon tells us that that is simply not the case. We need food to enable the Neshomo to give life. But at the end of the day, it is the Neshomo and not the food that gives us life. What was special about manna was – that that is all that it did. It enabled the body to exist, to live only from that which was ruchniusdik – and that is why there was no waste. So on Shabbos we remind ourselves that the very food we eat, the most basic aspects of our lives, are part of a much bigger picture. We see depth instead of basic physical needs. 

The Neshomo Yesairo

We know that on Shabbos we have a Neshomo yesairo [6] which according to Rashi, finds expression in the fact that you are able to eat and drink more [7]. That means that on Shabbos, we experience more intensely and, to a greater degree, the deeper message of food. Food connects the Neshomo to the body – it enables the Neshomo to give the body life. On Shabbos the ability to eat more means that the body experiences the connection with the Neshomo that much more.

We may not be used to seeing our lives in a broader and deeper context. However, we have to realise that that is what Shabbos is all about, and the way we do that, is by looking for and experiencing that which is intangible – seeing ruchniyos in our lives. 

Throughout the week we understand that our mitzvos and our avoda are needed to bring us to our final destination. That our actions have meaningful implications in reaching that goal. But on Shabbos we have reached our destination.  So on Shabbos all that we do, every aspect of our lives, has meaning, and is part of something so much bigger, and that is the menuchas Shabbos that we are meant to be experiencing. 

The challenge 

The problem with this idea is that there is no specific kabbolo we can make in order to see our lives are part of a story. But that is the goal. Experiencing all the different aspects of Shabbos, taking things slowly, so we can really pay attention to the details, and the depth in all we are experiencing, in order to really live in a world of ruchniyos.  

This could well be a Pandora’s box – and it is not clear where this sort of avoda will take us. However, what we are working on is what we might call “focused associative thinking”. Not “associative thinking”, where we connect seemingly random ideas, but rather connecting a number of specific ideas so we see the depth and meaning in our lives. 

That is how we can build a shaychus to Olam Habo, and of course to Shabbos which is mein Olam Habo, for it is in Olam Habo that we will see how all the pieces of the puzzle of history fit together beautifully. It is in Olam Habo that we will see how one big story continually unfolds bringing with it depth and meaning for evermore. It is in Olam Habo that we will see where each one of us played a part in the story. 

These ideas are perhaps lofty. But we cannot ignore problems with our relationship with Shabbos, in the same way that we cannot ignore a problem with Sholom Bayis. For Klal Yisroel and Shabbos are truly inseparable.   

[1] ע’ מסילת ישרים פרק א’ בבאור כלל חובת האדם בעולמו “יסוד החסידות ושורש העבודה התמימה הוא שיתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו ולמה צריך שישים מבטו ומגמתו בכל אשר הוא עמל כל ימי חייו. והנה מה שהורונו חכמינו ז”ל הוא שהאדם לא נברא אלא להתענג על ה’ ולהנות מזיו שכינתו שזהו התענוג האמתי והעדון הגדול מכל העדונים שיכולים להמצא. ומקום העדון הזה באמת הוא העולם הבא כי הוא הנברא בהכנה המצטרכת לדבר הזה”

[2] זמירות שבת – ולכאורה המקור בברכות דף נ”ז: “שבת אחד מששים לעולם הבא”. 

[3] ע’ מד”ר בראשית פ’ י”א ח’ – “תני ר’ שמעון בן יוחאי אמרה שבת לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא רבונו של עולם לכלן יש בן זוג ולי אין בן זוג אמר לה הקדוש ברוך הוא כנסת ישראל היא בן זוגך”.  

[4] ע’ סידור היעב”ץ בסדר שבת קביעת מדרש אות ח’ (בקיצור):

“תלמיד חכם לא יטריד עצמו בלימוד הגמרא בעומק שגם זה נחשב לחילול שבת וגמרא ערוכה היא (שבת קי”ט:) “רבי זירא מהדר אזוזי זוזי דרבנן ואמר ליה במטותא מנייכו לא תחלוניה” וכן שנו חכמים (נדרים ל”ז:) אין קורין עם התינוקות בתחילה היינו מה שלא למדו עדיין דחשו לטורח האבות והבנים יחדיו גם בלימוד התורה החמור שלא יתעסקו בו בשבת ביגיעה כדרך שעוסקין בחול אלא צריך להבדיל את יום השבת בכל דבר שאפילו הלימוד הקדוש צריך להיות לו תענוג ולא יהא כמשא כבד ועבודה קשה, וזה אמת וברור”

וע”ע החיד”א בספר מחזיק ברכה סימן ר”צ אות ו 

[5] ע’ נפש החיים שער ב פרק ו “וכמו שענין חיבור וקיום נשמת האדם בגופו הוא על ידי אכילה ושתיה…כל עיקר חיבור הנפש עם הגוף כאחד, וקיומו מספר ימיו הקצובים, הוא תלוי על ידי המאכל ושתיית הגוף ” 

[6] ע’ לדוגמא ביצה דף ט”ז. “אמר ר’ שמעון בן לקיש נשמה יתירה נותן הקב”ה באדם ערב שבת ולמוצאי שבת נוטלין אותה”. 

[7] תענית דך כ”ז: “נשמה יתירה – שמרחיבים דעתו לאכילה ושתיה

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Written by Rabbi Mordechai Mays