Rabbi's Blog

As I sit writing to you from Eretz Yisrael I would like to thank everyone for their Tefillos and good wishes for my mother Yocheved Bas Yitta. A short vignette to understand how she is doing is the difference in her dealing with food. For the record I think of my mother as the master of ‘creations from leftovers’ in what we call today ‘recycling’ of food’. Ironically my mother (and I’m sure many of your mother’s as well) did this without a recipe book or from google posts that many ideas of what to do with leftovers comes from. A few weeks ago when my mother was at a low she said “I can’t stand looking at that food, just throw it all out”. At that point we all knew she was not well. Baruch Hashem, as I am back visiting with my parents two weeks later, someone was going through the refrigerator I heard her yelling “don’t you dare throw that out”.

One of the many challenges Jews face every week is how much to cook for Shabbos. The entire prohibition of cooking on Shabbos creates a panic that we won’t have enough food. Heaven forbid we run out of food even without having uninvited guests. Therefore it is probably a custom from the time the Jewish people entered the land of Israel that women prepare more than enough food thus insuring we don’t go hungry on Shabbos. This in turn creates an automatic issue of ‘leftovers from Shabbos syndrome’ a rare but popular disease amongst many Jews. There probably is a Shalom Bayis issue regarding leftovers in every Jewish home, some say throw it out and others say keep on serving it.

As I’ve written and said many times before there is a spiritual and physical component to everything we see and do in life. According to many reports today, leftovers can be detrimental to your health. First it might force overeating by feeling I must finish up all of the food no matter whether I am hungry or not. Secondly, the physical side of leftovers has potential damaging effect of mold and microscopic organisms that grow in food that can be potentially harmful. The flip side is the spiritual benefit to leftovers. But there is only one very specific type of leftovers that contains high spiritual benefit, Shabbos leftovers. The first reason that we have leftovers is because we make too much. Perhaps it would be ideal to make just enough, the problem is when we are concerned about making too much we actually may make too little. This directly impacts our Oneg Shabbos, Shabbos delight and the enjoyment that we have from eating on Shabbos. There are other references in Jewish law that suggest spending a little more, eating a little more, and overall doing a little more to ensure our complete fulfillment of a particular Mitzva. For example to eat a little more bread to make sure you eat a Kezayis, an olive size minimum amount required in certain eating Mitzvos. I will blow the shofar a little longer or buy a mitzvah item a little more than the average cost to show the desire and love of the Mitzvos.  The second reason and perhaps an area we need to build up our faith in a little more is the sanctity and holiness of Shabbos that is demonstrated through different parts of Shabbos and in this case, food. When we prepare food for Shabbos, that food is not ordinary food but rather a food imbued with holiness because it was prepared specifically for Shabbos. A Talmudic concept of “Maalin B’Kodesh V’Ein Moridin” we go up in holiness and not down may be borrowed to explain the sanctity of this Shabbos food. Once this food was made for Shabbos it is intrinsically holy and continues to be holy even during the week.

In the second half of Sefer Shmos the Torah teaches us about the building of the Mishkan, the services of the Kohanim and the offerings in the daily life of a Jew. In this week’s Parsha T’Tzaveh chapter 29 verses 29-34 the Torah describes the Kohanim being prepared for seven days in their service and the holy garments that were worn in preparation of going into the Tent of Meeting. Aharon and his sons the Kohanim would eat the bread and meat of the Miluim/service time and if there was leftover it needed to be burned and not be eaten because it is holy. Our leftover food is not holy as in the Beis Hamikdash but it definitely maintains a certain kedusha. All of this was done for seven days which of course represents the seven days of creation related to Shabbos.

In the beautiful poetic Tefillah of L’cha Dodi which we sing on Friday night Reb Shlomo Alkabetz mentions that Shabbos is the source of blessing. The blessing is for the new upcoming week and not the previous one. Shabbos food is kadosh that gives blessing for the upcoming week. This is all dependent on a person’s Machshava/ the proper intent we have when shopping, cooking and eating Shabbos food. It is the perception of Shabbos that we have which creates the influence we have on the food to make it holy or not. If we do it for the right reasons and proper sake then the leftover food is beneficial. If we prepare and cook for Shabbos with a desire and love then we will merit blessing not only eating it on Shabbos but even more so when eating the leftovers during the week.

Another teaching of the Rabbis is that harm does not befall a person who is doing a Mitzva. In my humble opinion Mitzvos must be done with the highest and best of intentions in order for us to merit of not being harmed by doing a Mitzva. Therefore in the case of leftovers if we have food that was made for my personal benefit of eating then those leftovers are susceptible to the dangers mentioned earlier. But if the food is prepared for Shabbos for the sake of honoring Shabbos then the leftovers eaten during the week have a TAAM a taste of Shabbos that has the blessing still from Shabbos day itself. The main ingredient to the food we make for Shabbos is the attitude and intent we have when making and eating it.

These parshios direct us in the proper manner of our service to Hashem when done only for the sake of God and not for us. Let us take the lesson of the Mishkan, the Avoda and Korbanos and apply it to our weekly Shabbos food preparation and its potential Nosar/leftovers to make it beneficial and spiritually healthy for all of us.

Ah Gut Shabbos from Eretz HaKedosha

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky