Musar for Shabbat 235:2

מאי לאו דלא אכל לא דאכל והא מדקתני סיפא רבי יוסי אומר לעולם מצילין מזון ג' סעודות מכלל דתנא קמא ג' סבירא ליה אלא מחוורתא מתני' דלא כרבי חידקא

Now, as to what we learnt: He who has food for two meals must not accept [relief] from the tamhuy: food for fourteen meals, must not accept from the kuppah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tamhuy is the charity plate, the food collected from contributors and distributed daily; kuppah (lit., 'heap', 'pile'), the communal charity, from which weekly grants were made every Friday for food. With two meals one has enough for the day; with fourteen he has enough for the week, hence he must not accept relief from either respectively; v. Pe'ah VIII, 7. ');">2 — who [is the authority for this], [for] it is neither the Rabbis nor R. Hidka? If the Rabbis, there are fifteen meals; if R. Hidka, there are sixteen?3

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

This answer seems difficult since we still do not know exactly what is the nature of the reward for Sabbath observance. One can answer this difficulty only by referring to the many statements of our sages equating Sabbath observance with total מצות observance. This is so in spite of the fact that the observance of the Sabbath legislation involves many more pleasant aspects as opposed to the efforts and sometimes deprivations involved in the performance of other commandments. I have enlarged on this subject in my commentary on Song of Songs 7,7: "How beautiful and pleasant are you, befitting the pleasures of love in delights." This aspect of the reward for Sabbath observance has thus been revealed to us.

Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Previous Verse Full Chapter Next Verse