Vayeitzei
Shabbos, the Source of Infinite Blessing

The Talmud teaches that someone who takes delight in the Shabbos (Oneg Shabbos) is granted an inheritance beyond limitations. This is derived from a verse in the book of Isaiah If you... call the Shabbos a delight and the holy (day) of Hashem, honourable...Then you will delight in Hashem and I will feed you the inheritance of Yaakov your father. The uniqueness of Yaakov's inheritance (compared to that of the other patriarchs) is that it was without boundary;

Avraham was told to walk the land in its breadth and length. Yitzchak too was given a geographically restricted inheritance of ‘these lands' only. Yaakov however, in his vision of the ladder ascending the heavens was promised that he would spread out to the west, east, south and north. Yaakov's inheritance would be unlimited like the directions of the compass.

The Mitzvah of Oneg Shabbos refers to physical delight in celebrating Shabbos by eating and drinking special foods which enhance our Shabbos experience. In Talmudic times fish and beets were on the menu, nowadays each community has their customary Shabbos cuisine; gefilte fish, cholent, kugel, sushi...

So what's so special about Oneg Shabbos that its reward is unlimited? Rabbi Yosef Karo (author of the Shulchon Aruch) explains that the divine system of justice dispenses reward commensurate to the effort we exert. Someone who spends beyond limit to ensure that he has the finest foods for Shabbos is deserving of blessing beyond limitation.

This answer is somewhat lacking. Oneg Shabbos in terms of one's expenditure on food and drink is never going to be truly ‘without limit.' No matter how much gefilte fish and kugel a person buys, it will only be to a certain amount.

The Talmud assures us that money spent on Oneg Shabbos does not come out of the annual income that was ordained for us on Rosh Hashonah. This means that no matter how ‘all-out' we go on our pre-Shabbos shopping, our net disposable income will not be adversely affected. Despite this assurance, closing our business for Shabbos and then spending opulently for our Shabbos needs requires a great deal of trust in G-d. One who has true Oneg Shabbos places full trust in Hashem who is infinite, meriting a reward that is infinite too.

Kabbalah offers a mystical interpretation. Limitation refers to the Tzimtzum - the contraction of G-dly light necessary to create a finite world. As a result of this Tzimtzum, G-dliness is hidden within the physicality of creation. During the 6 days of the week we involve ourselves in the world in a way of giving - trying to refine and elevate the world by revealing and separating the G-dly light from its material constraints. This involvement is always with a weariness of becoming too absorbed in pursuit of physicality for itself.

Shabbos however is different. On Shabbos the world experiences a spiritual elevation whereby its physicality no longer obstructs its G-dly core. Therefore our mundane involvements on Shabbos are not for the purpose of refining, but rather we partake of the material world as an open revelation of G-dly light. So a lavish meal that would be considered gluttonous during the week, on Shabbos it becomes a Mitzvah!

Someone who has Oneg Shabbos rises above the limitations that physicality represents. His reward, measure for measure, is an inheritance of spiritual delight which is unrestricted, bursting out infinitely in all directions; A Shabbos experience of pure spiritual revelation, unconfined by the façade of physicality.

 

~ Rabbi Yoni Johnson

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